Has there ever been a team like the Dallas Cowboys of the 21st century?

[lastcat3]

Has there ever been a team that has underachieved as much as they have come post-season time? I think very few people would try to deny that top to bottom they have been a very talented team for many years now but they consistently fail to turn it up a notch come playoff time like the teams that have success in the playoffs do.

There are lots of various reasons for this and many people will say that Jerry Jones tries to get too involved and at the same time probably hasn't made the best head coaching hires ever since Jimmy left. One thing though that doesn't get talked about a lot and is one of the biggest factors in my opinion in them being good but just not quite good enough for the past decade plus is the fact that they havn't drafted a quarterback in the first round since Troy Aikman. They may be the only team in the NFL who hasn't drafted a first round qb since 1989. They have brought in aging quarterbacks who were once first round picks but havn't drafted a quarterback in the first round themselves. Now that isn't necessarily their fault as they haven't had a real high draft pick since probably the early '00's and these days the vast majority of the time the really good qb's will be gone in the first ten to fifteen picks. Tony Romo and Dak Prescott did pretty well for being an undrafted free agent and a fourth round pick and sometimes later round picks can turn out pretty well. But the vast majority of the time if you want to get a quarterback who can take you to Super Bowls you are probably going to need to take him in the first round. And that is something Dallas hasn't done since 1989.

[Brian wolf]

Sadly for Cowboys fans, Romo and Prescott simply cant win enough big games. Every year, young fans belly ache about Aikman being in the HOF but there was a reason for him being elected ... simply clutch in the biggest games and the teams' last champion QB.

I still think Stephon Gilmore has had a HOF type career but not a great game tonight. Bland and the secondary seemed to take these young receivers for granted.

[lastcat3]

Sadly for Cowboys fans, Romo and Prescott simply cant win enough big games. Every year, young fans belly ache about Aikman being in the HOF but there was a reason for him being elected ... simply clutch in the biggest games and the teams' last champion QB.

I still think Stephon Gilmore has had a HOF type career but not a great game tonight. Bland and the secondary seemed to take these young receivers for granted.

Yep. Although that 3-13 season was embarrassing to the franchise at the time because they had been so good for nearly two decades. In hindsight though that 1988 record was the best thing that could have happened to the team. Consistently having average to just above average teams is one of the worst things that can happen to the future of a franchise. It looks better to fans at the time because it keeps them in the post season hunt but at the same time it often will keep them from being able to get new players that can turn them into a true title contender.

[Jay Z]

This game was sort of incredible. The Packers got some contributions from players who missed a lot of games this year. But Jayden Reed didn't even catch a pass. What an egg lay by the Cowboys. Perhaps unrivaled in playoff history. I tried to come up with a game that was this bad, by a home team. A few ideas but none seem quite this bad. Outplayed and outcoached. It will be interesting, McCarthy's leash will be short at best.

[Bryan]

What an egg lay by the Cowboys. Perhaps unrivaled in playoff history. I tried to come up with a game that was this bad, by a home team. A few ideas but none seem quite this bad.

I found it weird that analysts were so high on the Cowboys going into the game. I caught one of the many lame betting shows on ESPN Radio, and the 'analysis' given was that "I don't see how the Cowboys can lose this game". Uh, you still have Mike McCarthy as coach and Dak Prescott as QB....but I agree that the immediacy of Green Bay's dominance was incredible. It was 27-0 pretty early in the game. I don't really have similar playoff "egg". It reminded me of watching the 1985 divisional game between the Dolphins and Browns, with the 8-8 Browns being up 21-3 on the defending AFC champs & Dan Marino. No one saw that happening, but since the Browns were coached by Marty Schottenheimer, they still ended up losing 24-21.

[Mark]

I think there were signs that this could happen. The Cowboys had been blown out by the 49ers and Bills earlier in the season. While those games were on the road the teams they blew out at home were mostly bad teams at the time [The Rams improved later on]. They almost lost at home to Seattle and Detroit, two winning teams they played at home. I was shocked they lost so badly and I thought they could win the Super Bowl but I didn't find it very likely.

Maybe the Vikings could be somewhat of a comparison? They have been consistently one of the better teams but just have never put it all together. Some differences between the Vikings historically [not just the 21st century] vs. the Cowboys of the past 20 years.

1] I cannot point to a season in which either team "should have" won it all. The Vikings could have done better but I don't see a season they underachieved in the playoffs except maybe 1998 and even then I didn't expect them to beat the Broncos. The Cowboys on the other hand should have at least made a championship game or two though in none of the years would I have expected them to necessarily win it all.

2] The Vikings just do not generally get over hyped in the same way the Cowboys do. It seems like whatever Dallas does, good or bad, gets blown out of proportion to other teams.

[JohnTurney]

1970s Rams. Depends on how you characterize the Vikings of the 1969-76 era. At least they got to the Super Bowl

Cleveland browns of the 1980s also kind of fit ... not sure the exact criteria you are referring to other than failing in the playoffs. Browns not a a team that was a frontrunner ... like Cowboys are no considered ... Brown didn't have a wealth of talent but they were overachievers, IMO. A tough team or winner-types. But they did lose 3 AFC title games

[GameBeforeTheMoney]

Probably more than we could count. The Cowboys get a lot more publicity and focus than most teams. I remember KC had a couple of 13-3 teams that lost immediately in the playoffs. And for quite a while, there was at least one team that got the bye week and came out flat, sometimes losing. There was the 15-1 Packers that lost. Titans a couple of years ago. A lot of #1 seeds have lost in the first round. The Chargers often seemed to implode in the playoffs several times - take 1979 for example. We're not even getting to teams that flopped during the regular season before the playoff era.

That said - Dallas was shockingly bad against the Packers. A lot of teams would have defeated the Cowboys yesterday. A Cowboys fan friend of mine mentioned the pressure of playing in Dallas might be a factor. Whatever contributed to it, it's hard to figure out. Dak looked like a third-string qb yesterday. The pass defense was awful. So was the run defense. But again, teams have played poorly in the playoffs and sometimes it's been the same franchise.

It often comes down to quarterbacks. I've followed the Packers since the 1970s so I've seen all of Favre, Rodgers and now Jordan Love, who started a game against KC a year or two ago and almost won at Arrowhead. The guy I compared him to before yesterday is Phil Simms. Love is a highly efficient quarterback who is remarkably even keel. What I hadn't really seen before yesterday was how well he can throw deep. I think part of it was that players often dropped his longer passes until yesterday. They were all caught yesterday. I don't see Love as being a superstar quarterback - but he has what it takes to be highly effective and not let emotions affect his performance. To me that's a guy like Phil Simms - who won one SB and probably would have won a second if he hadn't been injured.

The Packers aren't as talented as the Cowboys and they're not as talented as the 49ers either. But every now and again in sports you get teams that somehow get in the playoffs, they have nothing to lose, there aren't any expectations on them, and they go a lot further and play a lot better than anyone could expect. I think yesterday was another example.

[GameBeforeTheMoney]

This game was sort of incredible. The Packers got some contributions from players who missed a lot of games this year. But Jayden Reed didn't even catch a pass. What an egg lay by the Cowboys. Perhaps unrivaled in playoff history. I tried to come up with a game that was this bad, by a home team. A few ideas but none seem quite this bad. Outplayed and outcoached. It will be interesting, McCarthy's leash will be short at best.

The Sherman Packers against the Falcons is the one I remember that was really bad on our end. I think that was the first home playoff loss for the Packers. That game was pretty much over at halftime. In the snow.

[JuggernautJ]

The Packers aren't as talented as the Cowboys and they're not as talented as the 49ers either. But every now and again in sports you get teams that somehow get in the playoffs, they have nothing to lose, there aren't any expectations on them, and they go a lot further and play a lot better than anyone could expect. I think yesterday was another example.

I know it is trite but I've always believed in the two truisms:
"It's 98% half mental..." -- Yogi Bera
and
"The man who thinks he can and the man who thinks he can't are both right." Attributed to Bill Parcells (That font of wisdom... *rolls eyes*)

One way to say it is that the 'Boys came out flat and the Pack played the game of their (early) lives...
But Dallas had their mental reservations and Green Bay believed they could.
And they were both right.