What I Liked:
The Cowboys built such a large lead in the first half that even their inept 4th quarter play couldn’t give the game away, although they did try. The Cowboys dominated a down-on-its-luck team. That’s nothing special. What’s important is that the Cowboys got a big win to stay close to the Giants. Ideally, the Cowboys and Giants will be set up for a winner-take-all game in week 17. The Giants won the first matchup between the two, so they could enter week 17 a game behind the Cowboys and still be in good shape. That’s not a luxury the Cowboys have, and the Cowboys didn’t hurt their chances with a December win tonight.
What I Hated:
The Buccaneers played well in the second half to give themselves a chance, but they were so far behind that the Cowboys were able to coast to the finish. The Bucs looked like an utterly beaten team with no fight left in the first half. I’m not sure why they decided to wait until halftime to begin playing, but that has to be on the shoulders of the coaches. It’s their job to have the Buccaneers players ready to play by game time, and that just wasn’t the case tonight. A great effort late was wasted by a terrible first half performance.
Where They Go From Here:
As I mentioned earlier, the Cowboys are now just looking for a win in week 16 at home against the Eagles. If they can win that game, they assure themselves a chance to win the NFC East in week 17. A loss by the Giants tomorrow would guarantee them that opportunity as well.
The Buccaneers have now lost an astounding 8 in a row after starting the season 4-2 with wins against the Saints and the Falcons. At this point, Raheem Morris would appear to be a lame duck coach, and the organization will likely transition to evaluating which players have completely mailed it in for the year, as appeared to be the case in the first half of tonight’s game.
