Sunday’s beatdown in Philadelphia felt so meaningless and that is a big problem.
The Philadelphia Eagles had a party on Sunday afternoon. Wearing their throwback uniforms (I hate them as much as you do, but that is a great look), the Philly faithful saw their team officially take the NFC East title away from the Dallas Cowboys while playing America’s Team and blowing them out 41-7.
Philly was able to drop that score despite starting the game with Kenny Pickett, not Jalen Hurts, at quarterback and eventually having to turn to Tanner McKee. The Eagles also saw their prized free agent running back (who they did not even have to break the bank to sign) reach 2,000 yards rushing on the season as Saquon Barkley positioned himself to chase the single-season record in their final game of the season next week.
The point in saying all of this is that the game was about as soaking wet in fun and fandom for the Philly side of things which should be a highly annoying thing to us as Cowboys fans; however, this season (and much time before then) has broken us in certain respects so all of this unfolding just felt like random things happening.
This leads our day after thoughts from the drubbing.
Blowouts in general, but certainly to division rivals, should mean something
It goes without saying that 41-7 is not 44-6. And I imagine that it also goes without saying that if you know what I am talking about with the latter that this overall point resonates with you.
When the Cowboys got blasted 44-6 in the final game of the cursed 2008 season it ate at all of us. It was a kick in the teeth after getting smashed in the face the week before by the Baltimore Ravens in what was the final game ever played at Texas Stadium. It was insult upon injury.
Did Sunday in any way feel like that for you? Sure, maybe you were annoyed on some level. But this Dallas Cowboys season has been so DOA and it was the case well before the regular-season ever began. Sure this sounds hyperbolic, but the overall calendar year of 2024 was among the least enjoyable in following the Cowboys that many of us have experienced in quite some time. It all reached such a low point that getting destroyed while the Eagles were laughing and partying didn’t move the needle one bit.
Consider that during this game the aforementioned Tanner McKee threw his first career touchdown and that Eagles wideout A.J. Brown threw the ball into the stands after in celebration. Brown getting the ball back, with the help of the infamous Big Dom, became a bigger storyline during the broadcast and commanded the attention of so many people on the Eagles sideline because it did not need to be on the Cowboys that they were destroying so easily.
It should not be this way.
Recent efforts are nice, but they cannot be what is remembered most
Early in the game on Sunday we saw Jalen Tolbert catch an impressive touchdown. It was nice. Later on in the contest Rico Dowdle hit 1,000 rushing yards on the season. That was objectively great to see.
Tolbert and Dowdle have been important soldiers in the final weeks/months of this lost season and have given admirable efforts. The failures of the organization are in no way their fault and shouldn’t associate them with any negative slant or light.
Acknowledging that Tolbert, Dowdle and other similar players have nothing to do with this personally or specifically, the Cowboys cannot let themselves fall in love with recent form or play from any coaches or players. The point here is not to say that the front office should completely ignore what has happened since whenever they determine the season was ultimately lost, but they cannot allow themselves to let the emotion of certain things inhibit their decision-making to the point that it further contaminates the future.
The Cowboys are at a point where they are so far and away behind teams like the Eagles and would do themselves such a disservice if they do not fully acknowledge and admit this to themselves. It is imperative that they stay calm and reasoned in the final days here.
Maybe a Brandon Aubrey 70-yard field goal is never going to happen
This is a little tongue-in-cheek, but if you rewind the clock back to August we all believed on some level that Brandon Aubrey was at the very least going to set the NFL record for longest field goal ever recorded in 2024.
To be clear, Aubrey tied the record (66 yards) in the preseason against the Las Vegas Raiders. We all remember that. To be even more clear, attempts from that deep downtown are circumstantial and depend on a variety of factors and they just were not in the cards this season for the team.
Brandon Aubrey is one of the best things that the Cowboys have going for them these days and the focus in no way should be splitting the uprights from 70 or even 66-67 yards out at any point in time. But it sure would be cool to see!
