After all, reaching the Super Bowl is really difficult.
The Dallas Cowboys suffered humiliation in the playoffs. As a team, the Cowboys were outclassed in every aspect and had no answer to any of the adversity they faced. They adhered to every stupid stereotype and thus opened themselves to perfectly fair criticism.
We can be angry, sad, frustrated, angry, and everything in between. The team showed a lot of promise throughout the regular season, but all that was ruined by becoming the first team in NFL history to lose to a No. 7 seed in the playoffs. Drought™️ lives on and officially celebrated his 28th anniversary on Sunday at the conference championship. It has been a long time since it has been possible to legally rent a car.
This isn't going to make anyone feel better, but if there's one lesson to be learned from Super Bowl LVIII, which is now official, it's that getting there is, in some ways, very difficult.
It's really, really, really hard to get to the Super Bowl.
The NFC Championship Game was the most polarizing game about Sunday's events, but let Dan Campbell chime in and say it was the AFC title that got me thinking the most about the Dallas Cowboys. It was a game. Near the end of next week, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson will win his second MVP award. Dallas Cowboys signal caller Dak Prescott will most likely finish second. This shouldn't shock anyone.
Jackson has been great all season for the Ravens and deserves to be MVP, but he was suffocated on Sunday and couldn't overcome what the Kansas City Chiefs threw at him. Even Jackson, the soon-to-be two-time MVP, was overwhelmed and underperformed when everything was on the line. he failed. Baltimore failed. Their fans are probably furious.
It's always disappointing when a team loses in the playoffs, but it's even more disappointing when the matchup is heavily favored, like the Cowboys vs. Packers. Like Baltimore, the Cowboys had a lot on their plate, including being literally favored by the oddsmakers, playing at home, and having a quarterback playing at an MVP level.
But what sets the Ravens apart is that they were literally one of the best teams Until now Played in the AFC Championship Game against Kansas City. seriously. Until now.
The Ravens are super hot right now. Basically, they are the hottest team DVOA has tracked at this point in the season. Baltimore's 34-10 win over Houston had a DVOA of 52%, marking the Ravens' seventh game this season with a DVOA above 50%. Four of those games are in the last six games. That means the weighted DVOA (which puts more emphasis on recent games) absolutely loves the Ravens right now, even without adjusting for the fact that he was the starter in Week 18.
Currently, Baltimore has a weighted DVOA of 55.2%. The Ravens became the first team to reach over 50% after the divisional round.
When the Ravens continued to struggle and Zay Flowers taunted, tried to reach the football across the goal line, and got injured by slamming his helmet on, it drove home the fact how painful it is for a team to waste a moment. It was done. Opportunities like Baltimore.
We've seen the Cowboys squander home-field advantage and become the favorites with a first-round bye, and the list goes on and on. And just to be clear, just because someone else is doing it doesn't in any way make it go back or make you feel better, but it at least provides some context for the discussion. It means that you will receive it.
The Ravens will spend the next few months struggling with a mistake here and a mistake there, but Kansas City has that effect on the team. Given that the Buffalo Bills, who also played at a high level at quarterback, lost three games in the playoffs to the Chiefs, perhaps they too are circling around in their own version of purgatory. You probably feel like you are.
On Monday morning, people all over 313 were wondering how the Detroit Lions blew a 17-point lead in the second half and missed out on their first-ever Super Bowl appearance. Football is difficult. The Miami Dolphins scored 70 points in a game at one point this season, but were far from competitive in their only playoff game.
Another year has passed, and the Cowboys can only make it to the Super Bowl if team officials give Radio Row a car wash the week leading up to it, but there's a lot of time between now and the start of the offseason. As time goes on, they look more and more like many other teams and less of an individually unique embarrassment.
The Cowboys failed to make it to the Super Bowl again, but walking among mortals is like walking among the populous. Maybe there is some consolation there.
Or maybe we're all just sad and frustrated.
read more
