Many of us, especially the East Coast of Cowboys Nation given the late night, still haven’t recovered from Sunday night’s wild stalemate between Dallas and Green Bay. The unusual result and the performance dichotomy between the Cowboys’ offense and defense have raised numerous questions. Here are a few of the big ones.
1. Is a tie good or bad? Should they be allowed?
Ties are only as good or bad as the circumstances dictate. If we get to the end of the year and there are a bunch of 9-8 teams vying for a wild card spot, and you’re 9-7-1, then you absolutely
love that tie. If those other contenders are all 10-7, then you curse it. The same goes if we change directions and start looking at draft order instead of postseason goals. Either way, we can’t really judge the impact of this outcome until December and see what’s going on with the other teams we’re trying to get ahead of.
The bigger debate since Sunday night has been whether ties should even be allowed. They don’t exist in the three other major American team sports. You get as many extra innings, overtimes, or periods as it takes for a winner to be decided. Even gentlemanly golf will keep playing extra holes until someone finally claims first place.
But football is different in terms of physical toll. The benches aren’t that deep and the risk of major injury increases with fatigue and worn bodies. You saw how both Cowboys and Packers players were sucking wind even late into the fourth quarter, let alone overtime. Tired players become sloppier players, and sloppy play leads to things that can get you or the nearest guy hurt. If you genuinely care about player safety, you have to draw a line somewhere.
Is 10 minutes too soon? Maybe, but the change was done in 2017 to reduce injuries, so that would be hard to walk back. A better solution might be, once that time has expired, to have the game decided by a field goal shootout. Kickers get asked to win games every week, so why not expand that?
2. Should LB Jack Sanborn keep his job?
Sanborn was basically handed the middle linebacker job when he came to Dallas, following Matt Eberflus from Chicago. It made sense as Dallas’ last MLB was Eric Kendricks, who wasn’t re-signed after Mike Zimmer’s departure. Sanborn was supposed to bring stability and strong communication to the center of the defense.
Well, given that the Cowboys are currently defending at a pretty horrific level, it’s hard to see where Sanborn’s leadership is helping much. Individually, he’s not the most athletic and has been caught more than once making the wrong read or reacting slowly. It’s not all bad all the time, but enough that he feels like a big part of what’s broken right now defensively.
Unfortunately, there’s only so much you can do right now. Kenneth Murray is not a middle candidate, and Marist Liufau is still too green. Damone Clark was just a healthy scratch in favor of rookie Shemar James. And even if he comes back from injury, DeMarvion Overshown is a piece you want to move all over the place, and especially keep near the edges for his speed and blitzing potential.
Outside of dipping into the draft pick war chest and trading for a new option, the pressure falls on Eberflus to scheme up better utilization of the players he has. But unless someone gives Sanborn the Super Soldier Serum, no amount of coaching may get him past being a liability.
3. Can we ask anything more of the offense?
Yes, we actually can. While Dak Prescott and his gang deserve so much praise for what they’re doing, it’d be nice if they started doing it sooner in games. Since Week 1, when Dallas put up two touchdowns on its first two drives in Philadelphia, here’s how the first three drives from Week 2-4 have gone:
- Punt
- Punt
- Field Goal
- Fumble
- Field Goal
- Field Goal
- Punt
- Punt
- Punt
No, these aren’t the biggest reasons for the Cowboys’ problems so far this year. But you probably don’t need OT to beat the Giants in Week 1, and there’s a good chance that last Sunday night becomes a win instead of a tie. And even in Week 3, allowing the Bears to jump out to an early 14-3 lead set the tone for the rest of the game.
Again, credit the offense for all of its heroics. But if they’d get off to hotter starts in games, maybe they could move a little further away from the razor’s edge.
