Cowboys OT Loss: Worst of the Season - Here's Why
By now, we've all seen the play dozens of times either on a screen or in our heads. The third-down pass from Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott to receiver Noah Brown which would've been a first down to extend an overtime drive into Jaguars territory ... went horribly wrong.
Brown juggled the near-perfect pass from Prescott, and it bounced into the waiting arms of Jags safety Rayshawn Jenkins, who returned the interception 52 yards for a touchdown, shoving a dagger into the heart of Cowboys fans everywhere.
It's hard to blame the loss on that one play, as the Dallas defense had one of its worst outings of the season. This once-smothering D allowed 192 rushing yards, and what's more alarming, a whopping 7.2 yards per carry. ... and more than 500 yards total.
That's not what we're used to seeing from this group, and it happened at one of the worst possible times.
An offense that is both high-octane and mistake-prone.
A defense full of both playmakers and leaks.
Is Cowboys Nation being set up for another playoff disappointment?
A win would've clinched a playoff spot for the Cowboys, never mind that that came later with the Washington defeat by the Giants.
This felt like the worst loss of the season. Worse than the November loss to the Packers, worse than the Week 1 loss to Tampa Bay that saw Prescott leave for the game and the next five games with a broken thumb.
And this truly feels like the worst loss any team suffered in Week 15, and that's saying something. In a week that saw the Jets horribly mismanage the clock late in a loss to the Lions, the Ravens fail in every aspect of their game in a loss to the Browns, and yes, even the league's largest comeback in history - regular season and playoffs - by the Minnesota Vikings, somehow the Cowboys loss feels worse.
Yet despite all of this, the 10-4 Cowboys could still be in good shape to erase 26 years of playoff failures. This group probably can still be "good'' and definitely can still "get hot.'' But after a season-low valley in Florida?
It sure doesn't feel that way.
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