Cowboys 24-Lions 20

Finish the Fight

By A. Govea

January 5, 2015

At the start of the season Coach Garret’s team slogan was “fight” and fight they did all season.  After the first game of the season, against San Francisco most of the sports pundits had them dead in the water.  Romo looked like a man with two recent back operations; some said the Jedi, as some had labeled him early in his career was no more.  As for the defense, well nobody expected much from them and they did not disappoint. Ware was gone and so was Hatcher worst defense in NFL history was surely a label this defense would earn this season.

But Garret saw some things in that first game that most didn’t, he saw a team that ran the ball well against a good defense, and he also saw a defense slow down a good offense.  That game showed me (Garrett) what we were capable of doing and what we had to change.  Most may have thought just more coach speak, but he was serious and the players started believing as well.  After the season opening loss came 4 straight wins which had the Cowboy fandom cautiously optimistic.  But next on the schedule were the Super Bowl Champion Seahawks and we had to play them at home.  Again most including myself thought a loss but if we play hard that will still have value for the team.  And yet again the sports talking heads were wrong, what was expected to bring the Cowboys back to earth instead launched them into orbit.

   Which brings us to Sunday’s Playoff game against Detroit, that had our Boys trailing 14-0 and mistakes beginning to pile up some of the “oh no not again” were creeping in again.  It appeared that the defense would be unable to stop local boy Stafford and Detroit and the offense could not gain any traction.  Suddenly the offense came to life, Demarco started getting through the line, and key 3^rd downs fell into place.  The defense that calls itself a defense, started making stops when it counted.  I kept thinking this year is different we can win.  Murray was held to under 100, Dez was under 50, Romo struggled early but came back to lead his team to a game winning touchdown throw to T. Williams in the 4^th quarter.  Even though the triplets struggled they all had a key role in this win along with our Tight End extra dire Whitten who had a huge 4^th and 6 first down catch.

All this led to the Cowboys clinging to a 4 point lead with a little over 2 minutes left in the game, it would now be left up to the defense.  Would they be up to it, they had been in bend not break mode all day, the fans wanted to believe but we have been here before and know what can happen with 2 minutes left. And as to answer this question the defense came to life in swarming attaching fashion, almost saying don’t worry we got this. Why not believe them, at this point I believe they have earned our trust. And then it happened on third down Antony Spencer gets in for a sack and a strip, rookie Demarcus Lawrence picks it up and instead of just falling on it, he tries to run with it and he then immediately fumbles, “Damn why didn’t you just fall on it.” was echoed in Cowboyland. Clearly that is all he had to do and game over, instead it gave Detroit a first down and new life. But somewhere in his life Lawrence must have gained favor with the Football Gods, because instead of becoming a huge scapegoat 8 plays later he was back to hero status. Lawrence rushed in and not only sacked Stafford but caused a fumble that he immediately fell on. So for all of us that may have ever wanted a do over we at least got to witness one today. Romo and company then go into victory formation and thus shed the many years of frustration and mediocrity to enter a new Cowboy winning era. But the new mantra is Finish the Fight, the next fight is in Green Bay; I expect they and we will be ready.