Though capped by a pair of AFC snoozers, the NFL’s Wildcard Weekend began with four straight one-score thrillers, demonstrating just how close the teams are. At least in the NFC.
On Saturday, Matthew Stafford engineered a late touchdown drive to vault the Rams over the upstart Panthers 34-31. The Bears managed another Caleb Williams-led miracle rally, overcoming an 18-point deficit in the second half to take down the Packers 31-27. The collapse was so bad for former Cowboys DB Travon Diggs’ new digs, there are rumors it could put Head Coach Matt LaFleur on the street. Then on Sunday, Josh Allen single-handedly (albeit assisted by a late pick thrown by opposing QB Trevor Lawrence) carried the Bills to a 27-24 victory over the Jags before the Niners did Cowboys fans everywhere a favor by ensuring the Eagles would not repeat, surviving the NFC slugfest 23-19.
The SNF game with the Patriots hosting the Chargers was so boring I somehow let my kids convince me to switch over to the Golden Globes. Do you know how bad a football game has to be to entertain the idea of sitting through Nikki Glaser telling the same tired “DiCaprio dates girls half his age” jokes between people I’ve never heard of accepting little gold statues for their work on movies I’ve also never heard of? Instead of the electric shootout between two of the leagues brightest young quarterbacks in Justing Herbert and MVP-frontrunner Drake Maye that we anticipated, viewers were treated to an uninspiring 16-3 slog, making a roomful of self-important Hollywood bubble-dwellers sniffing one another’s farts for three hours the actual better viewing option. Somehow, despite doubling the offensive output, the Texans’ 30-6 win over the Steelers on Monday was even worse.
Despite the Wildcard round ending with a whimper, the majority of the slate provided some damn good football. One thought, however, kept worming its way into my brain while watching. Though (most of) the games were entertaining, no team appeared to be particularly dominant. The play, for the most part, was pretty even. Aside from the Steelers late in the game, no one was getting trucked. Each game looked like it was there for the taking by either team. There seems to be as much parity among this year’s playoff teams as I’ve ever seen.
I suppose it’s possible that the potentially dominant teams this weekend were enjoying the first-round bye they earned by having their respective conference’s best record. Seattle and Denver each look formidable, but I don’t see either necessarily as a lock to make the Super Bowl. Wouldn’t surprise me to see either (or both) bounced in the Divisional — the remaining teams are so close.
The evenness of the competition wasn’t just an observation. It was a lament. I couldn’t shake the thought of what a wasted opportunity this Cowboys season has been. Had they even a middling defense, they could absolutely hang with any of the teams that played this past weekend. The path to this year’s Super Bowl appears as “easy” as it’s ever been. Of the teams considered among the league’s best over the last five or six years, only two remain: the Bills and the 49ers, and each looks as beatable as ever. There’s no Lions, no Mahomes and the Chiefs, no Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, no Joe Burrow and the Bengals. The defending champion Eagles had dropped off so steeply they fell (at home) to an injury-depleted San Francisco. Hell, even the post-Micah-trade Packers, the odds favorites to make the Super Bowl in Week 1, let a second-year QB and rookie head coach, each in their first playoff game ever, come back and send them to the links for the offseason. This, the same team that managed to pull out only a tie against the lowly Cowboys, likely sporting the worst defense in the history of the league.
What this tells me is if the Cowboys’ 32nd-ranked defense could have even been Top 20, their league-best offense would have easily carried them to the playoffs and Dallas could just as easily be prepping for the Divisional Round as any of these other teams. Poor talent and an even worse scheme wasted an MVP-caliber performance by Dak Prescott and cost the franchise its best shot at breaking its 30-year NFC Championship-game drought.
Now DC Matt Eberflus is the latest scapegoat for the Joneses’ roster-building deficiencies. Not that the former Chicago bench boss is blameless. His confounding dedication to zone coverage despite decidedly man-suited personnel and his devotion to playing linebackers Jack Sanborn and Kenneth Murray, though both consistently scored at the very bottom of their position in every metric, should have gotten him run out alone. The season isn’t his fault, but when you give up a franchise record 511 points, someone has to fall on the proverbial sword.
If Jerry is to be believed, he recognizes the situation the Cowboys are in and what it will take to improve it, even going so far as to intimate he’s willing to “bust the budget” in free agency this offseason to ensure they don’t waste another year of Prescott’s prime (and his own life) middling around trying to just stay in the mix. Could this offseason see the real “all-in” approach Jones tried to deceive us into believing they were taking after the Wildcard loss to Green Bay in 2024? Will it be enough to finally get over the hump? Time will tell.
I do believe that they will improve the defense from last year. How could they not? Only one way to go when you’re dead last. However, I’m afraid many of these other teams that played this past weekend that all looked so beatable are going to improve, too. History says in the face of the Joneses’ relentlessly reactionary philosophy that regardless of their best efforts, the rest of the league will adjust and neutralize any progress made by the Joneses, who will end up having done just enough to keep the Cowboys right where they are.
