The journalist in me says the Cowboys just didn't show up in Philadelphia on Sunday night. The Eagles had an extra week to prepare for the game. And it's never easy to win in the City of Brotherly Love.
But the Cowboys fan in me, the one who grew up going to so many games at Texas Stadium, feels this is a bad sign of things to come.
Back in 1985, the Cowboys were coming off the "season of embarrassing forgetfulness" of 1984. You remember, when Tom Landry changed starting quarterbacks, but was so flustered, he said Pozderek instead of Hogeboom. And then the team tanked it and missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade. (The loss in Buffalo was the most memorable and most inexcusable, but that's another story.)
So in 1985, with Danny White back at helm, the Cowboys were looking good. And, as a freshman in college, maybe I was a little too vocal about it, living in a dorm with so many Houston Oiler fans who knew Warren Moon would take them to the promise land.
So when the seemingly unbeatable Chicago Bears were going to play in Dallas in November, I knew the Boys... My Boys... would put up a great fight.
At the end of the day, I tried to hide with my tail between my legs.
44-0.
So many people reminded me of that score for the next several days.
44-0.
A roommate put the Sports Illustrated cover on the wall. The cover that only had numbers.
44-0.
Dallas did make the playoffs that year, and promptly got shut-out by the Rams. And they went downhill fast over the next four seasons, culminating with 1-15 in 1989 with Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones.
I'm not saying this year's Cowboys are headed toward that result. But falling behind 37-0 is not a good sign. It points to problems that we can't see. Problems we don't know about. Problems that need to be fixed.
There were problems on that team in 1985. Old players. Some young and not-as-good-as-we-thought players. A coach who couldn't connect with his team as well. The list goes on.
You hear about Dez Bryant's troubles running routes. You see Tony Romo have problems and wonder if his teammates have lost their belief in him. You see the team make mistakes and wonder if Jason Garrett is really ready to be the head coach.
Lots of questions. And no answers.
Just reminders of dark days of long ago. Dark days that got even worse.
But hey, 34-7 is a lot better than 44-0, right?
