Fighting A Trend

Failing to put the Seahawks away when they needed to, cost the Dallas Cowboys a precious win. Breaking that trend is a problem the players and coaches face together. They share the blame together.

“Well I don't know, maybe we're not good enough to get separation,” says Head Coach Bill Parcells. “That's such an ambiguous thing we're talking about here. I mean its competition. Sometimes the sides are pretty even, you know. Fifty percent of these games are close games in the league. I mean, that's one of the NFL's goals’ is to have some kind of parity.”

Dallas could easily have put Seattle away, but didn't. The trend is obvious. In the first three games of the season, Dallas scored 9-touchdowns after 10-trips into the red zone. In the last four, Dallas has scored only 4-touchdowns in-15-tries.

“Your not going to get Philadelphia Eagle type games every single week,” says Wide Receiver Keyshawn Johnson. “It just doesn't happen. Even the best teams in the league, don't put teams away like that.”

All three of their losses have come down to the wire. Players on defense know, who gave are establishing a history of letting games get away in the final period, know that the whole team shares the blame.

“We put a limit on it at first, but it looks like its happening every game now,” laughs Defensive Tackle Jason Ferguson. “So that number is already blown out of proportion.”

Defensive Tackle La’Roi Glover says, “We can't allow this to be something that destroys the next two or three games for us. You have got to rebound from it.”

“It’s stressful when you watch our games,” says Linebacker Bradie James. “You better have your battery and your heart monitor, because you never know what you are going to get.”

“We played well for 58-minutes,” reflects Cornerback Aaron Glenn. “The last 2-minutes we didn't play well enough. So, that's what it boils down to.”

Somebody has to take the blame when the Cowboys have a loss like they did on Sunday, and in this case, Field Goal Kicker Jose Cortez is the fall guy. He was cut, and replaced by Rookie from Bowling Green, Shaun Suisham.

Says Parcells, “There were just too many problems with Cortez. Too many erratic things.”

Suisham will be kicking for a team that is having a tough time winning close games.