ARLINGTON — If you’re a fan of the 2018 Tampa Bay Buccaneers – and, I mean, who isn’t? – Sunday’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys was a brutal example of what the Bucs’ season has become.
Turnovers. Penalties. Mental errors. Wasted opportunities.
If, on the other hand, you’re a Cowboys fan, you had to be thinking, “Thank heaven for the Bucs.”
The fan boys among the DFW media seem to be putting a high-gloss shine on the 27-20 victory. True, the Cowboys clinched first place in the NFC East for the third time in five years.
But somebody had to win the division.
The Cowboys wanted to win it in style, not squeeze in posterior-first, if both the Redskins and Eagles had lost.
Instead, they had to settle for a gritty, hard-to-finish afternoon, the rough edges of which rankled many. In other words, your heroes failed to cover the seven-point spread.
In truth, though, this was exactly who the Cowboys are. They are a team blessed with enough defense to make the NFL playoffs, but chained to an offense that may not know what to do when it gets there.
Which is why it makes sense for coach Jason Garrett to want to play his offensive starters in Sunday’s regular season finale against the Giants. If healthy, they need to play.
The offense needs the practice, frankly. After scoring on their first possession Sunday, the offense didn’t produce a touchdown until Randy Gregory recovered a Tampa Bay fumble at the 4-yard line.
Garrett has a good reason to be concerned. The new guy, Amari Cooper, caught only four passes Sunday for 20 yards. He was no factor.
The Washington game, when Dak Prescott threw for 289 yards and Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 121, seems like months ago. Since that game, the Cowboys offense has displayed a troubling trend:
Scoreless in the second half against the Saints.
Only three field goals in the first three quarters against the Eagles.
Zero points against the Colts.
And Sunday’s offensive output, which consisted mostly of one notable touchdown drive.
But you tell me. Did the Cowboys offense on Sunday look like a well-oiled machine that was ready for the NFL playoffs?
Not by a long stretch.
Don’t they have something, anything, to work on?
After Sunday’s game, Owner Jones used the phrase “dangling participles” to describe his team’s situation. He nailed it – there are things dangling.
After the shutout loss in Indianapolis, observers say Garrett held some robust midweek practices, unusual for the third week of December. His point was made.
I bow, therefore, to Garrett’s decision, should he play Prescott, Cooper and Elliott for three quarters Sunday. He doesn’t want his team to forget the message of last week’s pads-popping practices.
The risk of injury is always going to be there, but sheltering starters is like the guy who’s afraid to take his new car out of the garage. Garrett probably isn’t going to play anyone whose name shows on this week’s injury report.
What the Cowboys need, more than anything, is some semblance of offensive momentum. Garrett isn’t going to say that, but I tend to think that was what was behind his remarks Monday:
“We’ve been in this situation before. There will be people on the outside who say you have nothing to gain from this game. We just have to go to work this week, practice the right way and play the right way.
“This is an opportunity to improve our team. We have some guys hurt, and those guys won’t play.
“But for the most part, everyone else will play. And we’ll prepare to play the best game we can play.”
It’s a healthy approach, all injury possibilities notwithstanding.
After all, the playoffs begin in two weeks . . . and the Bucs won’t be back in Arlington for an encore.
The participles clearly need polishing.