The Morning After, Wk 9 - The Game of Inches

Cowboys unable to find one last play to grab the victory in the Philadelphia showdown.

What a game.

Two teams that have no love for each-other are battling it out in a setting that seems made for the spectacle. Two teams that have high levels of quality and countless excellent players were locked in the middle of the ring going toe-to-toe for three hours.

It was a fantastic football game that probably demonstrated to the rest of the world why we get so caught up in this sport we love so much.

Back-and-forth action with dramatic moments in each direction. It was all on full display on Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia.

In the end, the Dallas Cowboys came up short. We could say by a few yards or by a few inches, but in the end, it was probably the outcome that most people expected. The home team won by one play, because that is what the odds tell us about games like this, in places like this.

Most people reading this will say that I should use the word “again” at the end of suggesting “the Cowboys came up short,” I’d wager. That makes it easier to consume for all involved if we would just admit that they remain stuck and are not making any progress towards the goals of 2023. And there are times when we can all agree that this is a true statement. In October the Cowboys went to San Francisco and got smashed so badly that it looked like everything was a lost cause.

I just have a very hard time feeling that a 28-23 loss in Philadelphia was anything close to a lost cause. I thought that Dallas played an impressive game on Sunday and had every right and opportunity to that game. They didn’t get it and that is what will truly matter in the standings. We get that. I am not selling you on a moral victory, because there are no such things.

But, it would be crazy not to see massive progress in trying to figure out the true quality of this football team.

In the end, they lost this showdown game because they couldn’t make the last play. In somewhat typical Cowboys fashion that now spans several decades, they set themselves up beautifully after a series of events to a spot on the field where you actually now felt they had percentages in their favor.