Lots of blame has been thrown around after the Dallas Cowboys loss to the New York Giants on Dec. 11. Blame on the kicker, defense, coach and injuries have all risen to the top of the excuse pile. However, only looking at the negatives can cause a fan to lose track of the finish line. The season is not over and Dallas still holds their own destiny in the NFC East.
If Dallas wins out, the worst they can finish is a tie with the Giants and Dallas wins the tiebreaker. Both teams will have exchanged a win with each other. Both teams could conceivably have the same division record. The third tiebreaker is common games win-loss records, and if both teams win out, they remain tied there too. That brings us to conference record and Dallas has a game up on the Giants.
So, with Dallas still a favorite to win the NFC East, let's look at what worked in Week 14.
Laurent Robinson moved back to the third receiver position but led the team in receiving yards with 137 on four receptions. He also caught his team leading eighth touchdown reception of the season. This was after he missed practice most of the week leading up to the game. Robinson has enjoyed a career revival in Dallas and should be a play maker for the Cowboys for years to come.
Tony Romo completed 21-of-31 for 321 yards and four touchdowns. He did not throw an interception and led Dallas into position for the game tying field goal in impressive fashion. Romo has only thrown two interceptions over the last six games and is guarding the ball well. With the running game in shambles, Dallas needs him to keep it up.
When DeMarco Murray fell to his season ending injury, Felix Jones got a chance to shine. He finished the game with 16 carried for 106 yards (6.6 ypc) and caught six receptions for 31 yards. That is the type of showing Dallas needs from the small speedster it they hope to survive the loss of Murray.
A lot of fans want to implode the team, but at this time, Dallas still controls their own destiny and the playoffs are a realistic goal.
Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and has been a Dallas Cowboys' fan since he was a child. His favorite players range from Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett to the Triplets of the 90s and he enjoys talking about all Cowboys' related news, good or bad
Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.
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