True Life – I’m a Hopeless Dallas Cowboys Fan

Dec 12, 2013

As a young, impressionable child growing up in the 1990’s, I was enamored with the Dallas Cowboys and ‘America’s Team’. The Cowboys dominated the decade with three Super Bowl wins in four years. With four Hall of Famers in Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irving, and Deion ‘Primetime’ Sanders, the fans worshipped these players as if they were Roman Gods themselves.

Fast forward two decades later – the Cowboys look NOTHING like their glory days in the 90’s. While the offensive skill players are supremely talented in their own right, the team’s achilles heel is their atrocious defense.

Monday night’s game against the Chicago Bears is a prime example of how poorly the Cowboys defense played. Dallas gave up 45 points to a Cutler-less Bears – Josh McCown had a career day, with 341 yards passing, four touchdown passes and ran one in as well. Bears’ running back Matt Forte also had 20 carries for 102 rushing yards.

The undersized Cowboys secondary struggled mightily against the Bears’ two big and physical wideouts in Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffries. The two combined for 11 catches, 184 yards and a receiving touchdown against the underperforming Cowboys secondary. Kiffin employed a steady mix of man and zone coverages but the secondary gave up five passing plays of 20 yards or more to the Bears passing attack.

During the game, the Cowboys lost their heart and soul of the defense, middle linebacker Sean Lee to a neck injury. Lee plays the Mike position which requires a tremendous amount of responsibilities as the de facto ‘quarterback’ of the defense. Demarcus Ware is in his prime but hasn’t been playing like it because of injuries to the defensive line. Ware has just five sacks so far this season which is low for him.

Statistically speaking, the Cowboys are ranked at the bottom of every defensive category. The Kiffin led defense is ranked 32nd in opponent passing yards per game and 28th in opponent rushing yards.

Simply put – the Dallas Cowboys defense cannot stop anybody. It’s a shame because Tony Romo and his offensive counterparts are putting up decent numbers this season. Currently, the Cowboys are 7-6 and trail the Philadelphia Eagles by one game in the NFC East race.

After owner Jerry Jones fired defensive coordinator Rob Ryan last season, he hired Monte Kiffin. With decades of experience in both the NFL and college football, Kiffin is an excellent defensive mastermind. Unfortunately, it is not panning out that way so far this season.

Despite the obvious struggles on defense, Jerry Jones has expressed confidence in his defensive coordinator, saying “There’s nobody I would rather have than him and Rod Marinelli (defensive line coach).”

Although, Jones did reiterate that he wants more aggressive play-calling from Kiffin to pressure the quarterbacks and force turnovers.

If only time machines really did exist – most Dallas fans would rewind back to the glory days of the 90’s when the Cowboys were a virtual lock to win the NFC East each year. Instead, we have to watch three more regular season games and pray that somehow the Cowboys can squeak into the playoffs.

Such is the life of a Dallas Cowboys fan. Granted, it could be much worse – the Browns, Texans, and Jaguars are pretty much guaranteed lottery picks for next year’s draft.

But then again, the Cowboys are America’s team after all. Start playing like it fellas.