As I've said since since, oh, I dunno, last January, this Dallas Cowboys' season was doomed the moment owner Jerry Jones decided to bring back head coach Wade Phillips. There were times when his promises to be tougher and hold players more accountable almost tricked me, but ultimately this Cowboys' season - like the 12 before it - will end without a playoff victory.
Won't it?
I know Phillips yesterday said "It's not doom and gloom, it's an opportunity," but the Cowboys must win two of their last three games to have any hopes of making it to the post-season. Dismiss a win Saturday night against the undefeated Saints in New Orleans and that would raise Dallas' degree of difficulty to sweeping season-ending games at Washington and at home against Philadelphia.
Doable I guess. But I'm not the only naysayer in town who thinks it's not probable.
Most ominous sign: The Cowboys are 1-5 against winning teams. Simply put, they're just not good enough. Not consistent enough.
To shake his team out of yet another December decline, Wade will apparently stick with kicker Nick Folk, the NFL's worst this season with nine missed fielg goals.
Not surprising, because Phillips has never changed kickers during a season in his seven years as head coach. Last kicker to be as bad as Folk from 40-49 (4 of 11) was Buffalo's Steve Christie in '99, coached by, you got it, Phillips. Phillips also hasn't won a playoff game and his teams are 12-21 in December and January.
Why? Instead of a cattle prod, Wade wraps his team in a Snuggie. His teams are the NFL's "successful losers", their regular-season accomplishments adding up to, well, nothing of substance.
The Cowboys can go 3-0 and win the NFC East, 2-1 and hope for a little help, 1-2 and forget it or 0-3 and start looking for their next head coach.
"We lost a ball game, we haven't lost a season," Wade says. "The only way you lose is if you give up or quit."
Fine, call me a quitter because I believe in Santa Claus more than Wade Phillips.
You? You think they'll go:
3-0.
2-1.
1-2.
0-3.
