Can Cowboys - and 'Lame-Duck Garrett' - Ease Their Frustration at Bears?
FRISCO - "Frustrated.'' If the Dallas Cowboys had to select one word to describe their collective mood, to describe their condition, to describe themselves, some form of "frustrated'' would universally be that word.
“Guys are definitely frustrated,” said All-Pro guard Zack Martin. “We know what we have in this locker room -- we’re not getting it done and being where we’re at.”
"Where we're at'' is in first place in the NFC East. But that perch is more of a reflection on the ineptitude of the division as it is on the accomplishments of the ballyhooed Cowboys, who have lost two in a row, three of four and six of nine. Dallas has been favored in every single outing but one this year (New England was a 6.5-point favorite two weeks ago), but the odds are about all that's gone the way of the 6-6 Cowboys.
“We need to start to get this going now,” said star running back Ezekiel Elliott, who said his locker room is "pissed off'' at where this team's performance has left it. “Not many games left. It’s really crunch time now. We’ve got to win some ballgames.”
Ultimately, it might not take a pile of wins to win the division and to qualify for "The Tournament,'' as COO Stephen Jones smartly called it the other day. But this team's level of play doesn't figure to make it an oddsmaker's pet should it play at Minnesota or at New Orleans or at San Francisco at some point in the postseason.
Week 14 sends the Cowboys to Chicago for a Thursday Nighter to play a Bears team that is also 6-6. Sound familiar? It should, as in the 15-team NFC, 11 teams fall short of having winning records. Martin said something before the Thanksgiving loss to Buffalo about "blocking out the noise'' and he is saying it again this week.
“We’re still in control of our own destiny and it’s up to us to block out the noise and come in this week and get it done,” said Martin, and while the intent of his message is good, the quality of Cowboys speech-making around here is about the only thing that is.
'Our guys are into it,'' Garrett said of this week's workouts. "Sometimes it gets chippy. Sometimes there are fights ... Our guys practice hard.''
The truth is, "the noise'' includes the likelihood that Dallas is being led into this game by a lame-duck head coach in Jason Garrett. Maybe the players pull together in December in support of one last Garrett stand. Or maybe a visit to Chicago will reveal that "frustrated'' is an emotion that runs so deep in this organization that it's even reflected in top-to-bottom relationships that impact winning and losing.
