Ugly Football

Parcells sees hopes fading (Richard Justice, Houston Chronicle)

Now it’s the Cowboys who’ll wonder where this season is going. No Dallas team has ever missed the playoffs after starting 7-3.

[snip]

If they end up out of the playoffs, a dozen issues will come up.

Will Parcells return? He was never considered a long-term solution in the first place. He has a history of leaving abruptly.

Parcells wouldn’t address any of those issues on Sunday. It was as if he wanted the game to speak for itself. Which it did. Loudly.

That was an U-G-L-Y game for Cowboys fans.

The Cowboys started off surprisingly well in the first half of the season, but have not been good in the second half. The loss of Flozell Adams hurt the offensive line, but the decline can’t be pinned on one player who’s had an erratic career at best. The whole offensive line seems to be regressing. The kicking game is bad (good that Parcells fired kicking coach Steve Hoffman, eh?). DeMarcus Ware has disappeared after a nice first half. Roy Williams hasn’t had his number called much lately. Injuries have hurt the cornerback position, a strength in the first half of the season. It just seems like every part of the team is going backwards.

It’s not likely to get better at Carolina, but who knows? I can’t read this team. Maybe they’ll put out a great effort. They’ll need to.