Dallas Cowboys’ loss in Buffalo shows why you can’t bet on them reaching the Super Bowl | Opinion

The Dallas Cowboys were not expected to beat the Bills, but they were scheduled to show up in Buffalo.

Instead, they passed on playing the Bills.

The Cowboys played as if it was snowing on Sunday in Buffalo, when for most of the game it was cloudy and in the 40s.

For more than one half, the good Lord handed the Cowboys decent weather for Buffalo in December, and Mike McCarthy’s group showed they prefer football to be played at 72 degrees, with no wind, and indoors.

With 10 wins the Cowboys are good enough to “think” Super Bowl, but what they showed us all on Sunday is they are no favorite to get there.

Against the Bills the Cowboys were out-hit, out-coached, out-played, out-GM’d, out-quarterbacked, out-running back’d, out-line’d, out-defense’d, out-receiver’d, and a host of other verbs and words that aren’t actually words.

One word that is a word to describe this game: Disasteriffic (that’s a word, trust me).

Once this game looked hard, the Cowboys checked out. Do not give these guys the excuse that about 10 players came down with stomach bug through the week.

For those of us who stomached watching all four quarters of this Erie embarrassment, by half time we all felt sick, too.

Eject any talk of referees or blown calls, even though there were a few; the Bills put it on the Cowboys from the time the team’s plan landed in Buffalo on Saturday afternoon. The Bills won 31-10, ending the Cowboys’ 5-game winning streak.

This wasn’t quite as bad as the Cowboys’ loss against San Francisco in Week 5, only because ... wait. That’s not true. This loss at Buffalo is worse than than that 42-10 loss against the 49ers.

That Cowboys team was 3-1 going to San Francisco.

This Cowboys team was 10-3 going to Buffalo, and had convinced themselves, and many others, that the loss against the 49ers was just a bad day at work.

The Cowboys should not have been expected to beat a talented Bills team on the road in the December. The Bills are better than their now 8-6 record, and they needed this game far more than the Cowboys.

If you are a Cowboys fan (which, that’s on you), you can deal with a loss in Buffalo. It’s how the Cowboys lost that would prompt even most nuns to throw a Bible through the 52-inch HD flat screen.

The Cowboys defense turned Buffalo running back James Cook into a combination of Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders. Cook ran for 179 yards, and accounted for 221 yards total in the best game of his life.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen completed only seven passes in 15 attempts for 94 yards; it was no problem because the Bills offense turned into Air Force. The Bills ran 49 times for 266 yards.

The Cowboys entered the game with the top-ranked offense in the NFL. Since the bye week, the team had averaged 38 points per game over a seven-game stretch.

Against Buffalo, that same offense did not go over the 100 yard mark, total, until there was a little more than 11 minutes remaining in the game.

Through three quarters the Cowboys had 92 yards. That figure felt heavy by 90 yards. It was their lowest output through three quarters in a game since 2010, when Dak Prescott was still in high school.

Speaking of the Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback, suspend any talk that Dak is the leader to win the NFL MVP award. Against Buffalo, the only thing he did right was barely miss throwing interceptions.

At least five of his passes were of the “shoulda been picked,” but only one of them actually was. By the time the Bills intercepted a Dak pass, in the fourth quarter, the game was over.

Of course, a compelling argument can be made this game was over early in the second quarter when the Bills took a 14-0 lead.

The Cowboys have had these late-season disasters before.

Watching the Cowboys elect not to play football against the Bills on Sunday brought to mind their game in Indianapolis on Dec. 16, 2018. Dak and the Cowboys went to Indy on a five-game winning streak, and after a nice OT win over Philadelphia, they lost to the Colts, 23-0.

That Cowboys team responded by winning its next two games, and its season ended in the divisional round against the Rams in Los Angeles.

These Cowboys have qualified for the playoffs, and have three games remaining to improve seeding, and change minds.

That starts on Christmas Eve in Miami, and the Cowboys may want to think about at least showing up.