Cowboys Humiliated In Minnesota

For me, the football season ended yesterday, when the Dallas Cowboys were thumped soundly by the Minnesota Vikings. I have to give Minnesota their due. They simply outplayed the Cowboys and deserved to win the game. But I was a little irritated by the last drive. It seemed like that last touchdown was just to run up the score, and I lost a little respect for Favre and Coach Childress.

I will have to console myself by remembering the Cowboys had a very good season (much better than I thought they would have). They won 11 regular season games and a play-off game. There are a lot of teams in the league that would have loved to have done that well.

I know there are some out there who would like to blame the coaches -- especially head coach Phillips and offensive coordinator Garrett. I am not among them. I think both of them did an excellent job with the players they had, and I would not mind seeing both of them back next year.

I am also happy with the defense. They got better with every game they played this year and even did well in most of the games we lost. I think they played well yesterday also, but the offense just kept letting them down and putting them in bad situations.

However, I don't think there is any doubt that the offense needs to be improved. They played well in some games and horrible in others, and that just won't do. A really good team's offense will play well every week. The team is pretty well set at quarterback, running backs and tight end. But both the run-blocking and pass-blocking needs to improve.

But perhaps the biggest improvement needs to come at wide receiver. When the season started this was identified as a weak spot, and it was hoped that some receivers would step up and show significant improvement. Mile Austin did that. He was great all season long, but he was the only one. Roy Williams was a big disappointment and dropped way too many passes. Patrick Creighton was at best an average receiver, and Oglethorpe didn't get enough playing time to be judged (or Sam Hurd).

I would like to see Oglethorpe get more playing time next year, because he showed good potential in the little time he got. I would also like to see the Cowboys draft a really good receiver (wouldn't Jordan Shipley look good in a Cowboys uniform).

I probably won't watch any more of the games (even the Super Bowl), because I really don't care which of the remaining teams wins. I comfort myself with the knowledge that it's only about seven months until training camp starts (and just a couple of months until the draft). Then we start this all over again.

P.S. -- A new field goal kicker would be nice too.