Week 15 Analysis: 14-2

Can't say I didn't see this coming. The Cowboy's have been slacking in their past few games and the Eagles have been getting better and better lately, evidenced by the fact that their are among the few that have almost beaten the Pats.

Offense:
Romo's girlfriend, Jessica Simpson, was in attendance. Once we saw that Jessica was there, we all knew where this was going.

It reminds me of that scene in Robert Redford's, The Natural, when Roy Hobbs starts dating Kim Basinger (sorry, can't think of her character name and I'm too lazy to look it up) who becomes a curse to his game. While Basinger shows up to all of his games, Redford plays the worst baseball he ever played. Redford's attachment with Basinger continues to grow stronger, while his baseball game grows weaker. Yes, there is a correlation there. Sure enough, when the chick is out of the picture, he returns to being the phenomenal player he "naturally" (sorry, I couldn't resist) is.

We see sports movies all the time (especially those coaching movies) where the coaches say something like "No girls, they are just a distraction" or "they will distort your thinking", blah blah. I've always kind of hated that about coaching movies because it doesnt seem realistic at all to me. However, after what Romo did yesterday, they have a good argument against my theory.

Romo had the worst game of his career. No TDs, 3 INTs, completed a little over a third of his passes, fumbled twice, and sprained his thumb. He completed just 13 passes (8 to Witten, who apparently was the only one on offense who realized there was a football game to be played). Witten had 8 catches for 113 yards. The player was virtually non existent, although he has no room to whine about this one. The player was the intended receiver on all 3 of the interceptions. Owens had 2 for 37, Crayton had 2 for 54.

Running the ball wasn't much better. MB3 led the team with a whopping 37 yards (7 attempts). JuJo had...6 yards....on 6 carries...making his average calculable for one of Jenny's Pre-K students.

Please, Romo, for the sake of America's team, ditch the girl and save the hanky panky for the offseason.

Defense
It's a crying shame the offense was so bad yesterday because the defense was arguably the best we've seen all season. McNabb completed a good percentage of his passes and threw a TD, but still didn't have as many yards as Romo did on his off day. Westbrook rushed for 81 yards, but the Eagles had trouble putting it all together. The Cowboys front 7 put up a strong showing sacking McNabb 3 times and making several key third down stops along the way. The coverage completely eliminated any deep threat the Eagles may have, which forced McNabb to rely on those tailback, banana routes.

I giggled in the 4th quarter when Westbrook broke free towards the endzone, but then dropped at the one yard line. IMO, it was a smart move because that really sealed the deal. But I wonder how many fantasy football players wanted Westbrook's head for forfeiting the touchdown.

Tip of my hat to the defense. Sorry the offense had you on the field so long. But it was a good showing that we can build upon into the playoffs.

Stat of the game:

Dallas 3rd down conversions: 1-13