Be sure to tune in to NBC Saturday night at 7. It might be your last chance to watch Terrell Owens drop passes. It will likely be your last chance to watch Bill Parcells grimace. And it will definitely be your last chance of the season to watch the Dallas Cowboys play football. Because if you watched Sunday's embarrassing loss to the pathetic Detroit Lions, you know full well the Cowboys will be hopeless in Seattle in their NFC first-round playoff game.
To summarize: Quarterback Tony Romo is human after all, and the defense has suffered a mind-boggling collapse of epic proportions. Hard to believe there was a time not all that long ago that the Cowboys had us tricked into believing they were only a kicker away from winning a Super Bowl.
Toughest to swallow is that Dallas has been amazingly healthy and played five of its last seven games at Texas Stadium. here are no logical explanations nor acceptable excuses. But, as he's done every December as Cowboys coach, Parcells has lost this team. As soon as he announced after Thanksgiving that he gave his team his old "championship approach" speech, the focus and fire vanished.
After the Lions debacle Parcells was a deflated, beaten coach. He and his team showed signs of life this season, but in the big four-season picture, Parcells is 34-31 without a single playoff win.
Dallas' despicable situation churned in my stomach even more on New Year's night while watching the Fiesta Bowl. Not only did enthusiastic and entertaining Boise State coach Chris Peterson literally vault me from my couch with his creative, refreshing, gutsy play-calling -- how about a hook-and-ladder to convert a fourth-and-18, a receiver throwing the game-tying touchdown, going for two in overtime and finally upsetting Oklahoma with a Statue of Liberty?! -- but Fox's post-game show featured side-by-side analysis from two coaches who would've never let the Cowboys sink this low: Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer. --Richie Whitt
