Sometimes you’ve gotta be able to acknowledge the chaos and dysfunction around you and do something to change it. That seems to be the lesson ringing in my ears tonight as I watch the Dallas Cowboys take on the Houston Texans. In what feels like the most predictable outcome possible this game started off as a comedy of errors even before opening kickoff.
This match up to decide Texas bragging rights in the NFL was special enough that the Dallas Cowboys planned on opening their roof for it. Cowboys stadium long had an opening in their roof so that “God could watch his favorite team“ but their new stadium has a retractable roof and they’ve been playing with it closed. That is, until Monday night, when a couple hours before kickoff, the Cowboys opened their retractable dome and metal debris began to rain down on the field. It was determined that the roof needed to be secured so that players on the field wouldn’t be in danger.
This comes just one week after Cee Dee Lamb missed what appeared to be a sure touchdown catch because the sun was shining in his eyes through the window walls of the opposite end zone. You’d think a new multi-billion-dollar stadium wouldn’t have these problems, but that’s the Cowboy way these days.
Once the game started, things didn’t get much better. The first quarter was a calamity of errors from the opening snap. What appeared to be a near-80 yard touchdown was erased by a penalty for illegal man downfield by the Texans. The Texans recovered and ended up scoring on a 45 yard touchdown. The ensuing drive Dallas tried a fake punt on fourth and nine only to fall 4 yards short giving Houston the ball back with good field positioning. Of course when you’re playing in Dallas, dysfunction is contagious so the Texans promptly failed on fourth down, throwing an interception. Houston didn’t have to worry as Dallas threw an interception just a couple plays later.
With the seesaw of errors tilting in Dallas’ direction, Houston got a big pass play, converted on a fourth down, and scored a touchdown as the first quarter ended. Dallas promptly got a false start penalty on a wide receiver with the first play before the highs and lows of the Dallas Cowboys experience swung back, giving them a 64 yard touchdown — their first touchdown at home since week three. Houston nearly gave the ball right back to Dallas with a muffed kick return, but were able to recover it before being tackled inside the 10.
I decided to do myself a favor at this point and stop watching so intently. I’ve never been one to slow down and rubberneck at a car accident, and even though I grew up a Giants fan, seeing the Cowboys, vexed by this brand of football, still leaves a sour taste in my mouth. They seem pathologically incapable of observing their own shortcomings and doing the difficult things to build the discipline necessary to be successful. For some reason they still seem to think it’s supposed to be easy instead of something that you have to work at and test yourself through so that you might be able to be good enough to with stand the hardship that is a football game.
One of my biggest blessings I ever received from getting to play football was experiencing being a part of a team that is willing to endure and work toward near impossible goals, knowing that perfection is never within our grasp but always something we hold ourselves accountable toward.
One of the biggest curses football ever brought me is that I learned to believe that the rest of the world could be this way. That ego could be put aside and that shared goals could be carved out and accountability could be maintained. That when you ask someone what went wrong, they could tell you so that you could find a way to help them instead of shrouding themselves in ego and defensiveness keeping the problem hidden. That’s what I imagine team meetings of the Dallas Cowboys to be like because there’s no other explanation for how an organization could fail to do the little things for two decades while having an over abundance of ability.
STATSdraft is a game created to show why the Dallas Cowboys couldn’t win the Super Bowl and watching the first quarter of this game that message is as clear to me today as it was that day. Winners can accept responsibility for their shortcomings and don’t hide from the work necessary to overcome them and that’s just not the Cowboy way.
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