Situations in New York, Dallas Deteriorating Rapidly

The New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys are two of the premiere franchises in the NFL, which is probably why they’re not particularly gracious losers. They don’t have the long and storied history of failure of teams like the Browns and Jets. Although, you’d think the Cowboys would have at least gotten used to it by this point.

Over the weekend both teams lost in extremely different, yet equally questionable fashion in front of their home crowds. The Giants were absolutely embarrassed at home, getting blanked by the Seahawks 23-0. The Cowboys, on the other hand, after dominating the first half, allowed the Packers to match their biggest comeback win in franchise history.

Despite an abysmal 0-6 start, the situation in New York didn’t really become dire until now. The team, which has remained largely behind Tom Coughlin, may not be feeling as supportive in the wake of his post-game comments. Yesterday he referred to the G-Men’s offense as “pathetic” and accused many of his players of quitting.

In Coughlin’s defense, it did and they did.

Eli Manning was positively putrid, going 18-of-31 for 156 yards, zero touchdowns and five interceptions—a career high. The defense was able to contain Russell Wilson, who threw just one touchdown and one interception, and was sacked four times. Unfortunately it wasn’t nearly enough to overcome their consistently terrible offense.

The prevailing sentiment on Coughlin is that he’s done enough in the past to keep his job safe in the present, and that’s probably true. That assumption wasn’t enough to silence Giants great Lawrence Taylor, who made a very respectful and reasonable argument for why it may be time for a new coach in New York.

Said Taylor, “Tom Coughlin has done wonders for the Giants … the guy is a winner, he is a fighter. But I think it is time for him to take his talents on the road. … After awhile, the players just stop listening. I respect the man, but ti’s time. As much as I like Coughlin and the job he has done, it’s time for a shakeup.”

That is seriously the most sense LT has ever made. But we all know that coaches are allergic to graceful exits, so this will continue to fester until next season. If the Giants win, the Coughlin talk will be shelved. If they lose, we may be currently experiencing the beginning of the end. He and Manning are actually in the same boat with that.

At least they’re not on the sinking ship with the Cowboys. Some will say this team has a problem with consistency, but the truth is that they may be the most consistent team in the league. Wait. Does being consistently inconsistent count as consistency? Because that’s been the case in Dallas for over a decade now.

We may have no idea what Cowboy team is going to show from week-to-week—or even from half to half—but there are at least a few things in Dallas that we can count on most weeks. And all of them just so happened to be on display during and in the immediate aftermath of their epic choke job against the Packers.

Tony Romo will do Tony Romo things. He’ll put points on the board and carry far more of the offensive burden than he should have to. This week he’ll be the hero with a game winning drive, next week he’ll be a zero with a crippling interception or two.

The media will exaggerate whatever he does.

Dez Bryant will do Dez Bryant things. He’ll put points on the board and carry far more of the offensive burden than he should have to. This week he’ll be the hero with a career day, next week he’ll be the zero because he was too vocal on the sidelines or decided to leave the field with time on the clock.

The media will exaggerate whatever he does.

Jason Garrett will do Jason Garret things. He’ll win some games and lose some games and speculation about his future with the team—not to mention his disposition—will swing wildly from win to loss. He’ll get no credit when they win and he’ll share most of the blame with Romo when they lose.

The media will exaggerate whatever he does.

Jerry Jones will do Jerry Jones things. Win or lose, he’ll have his own press conference after every game and answer questions about the job status of Tony Romo and Jason Garrett, needlessly putting extra pressure on all those involved. He’ll continue to deny that he’s the problem, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

And the media will downplay his role in the Cowboys futility because they don’t want to lose access.

Which is why the Giants situation is still salvageable, while the Cowboys is not.