land bar, maryland – That question has been asked me many times. If it's not a question, it's a comment from a fan, media, or other follower of this team.
Does this season feel different from other seasons?
And the answer to that question has been hard to come by all season. In some ways, it has felt the same way. In other cases, it's completely different.
But I think things are pretty clear now after the Cowboys had a blowout 38-10 win over the Commanders and finished the regular season 12-5 for the third consecutive year. “Yes, this is different.”
And the fact that the Cowboys won this game on Sunday is another reason to think so.
Now, we all know how this season ends will determine the real answer to that question, even if it matters.
But I'm old enough to say I covered Dave Campo's 5-11 seasons three years in a row in the early 2000s. I also covered Jason Garrett's team, which went 8 wins and 8 losses for the third year in a row. And almost everyone reading this probably remembers both eras.
So before you start analyzing exactly how “this” 12-5 season compares to other seasons, you might want to pause and think about that part for a second. This Cowboys team was his third straight year and he won 12 games.
No manager in franchise history has ever had three consecutive 12-win seasons. Not Tom Landry, not Jimmie Johnson, not Barry Switzer, not anyone else. Of course, all three have won Super Bowls, so it all comes down to how McCarthy is judged.
But keep in mind the fact that the Cowboys are this good. They are 12-5 with him, his third consecutive year doing so.
Still, this game and this team are different in several ways. I don't have time to explain all the reasons, but the biggest one is the fact that Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb are playing at completely different levels right now. Dak probably won't win league MVP, but he will finish second behind Lamar Jackson. Depending on how he bounces back this season, he could be a candidate for Offensive Player of the Year or even Comeback Player of the Year.
He led the league in interceptions last year and currently leads the league in touchdown passes. can't believe it. And Sheedy was right there, finishing the season with 133 catches, the sixth-most in NFL history.
So that's probably the biggest difference for this team right now – how well the offense is working. But I have one more, and it showed up midway through this game Sunday at FedEx Field.
Honestly, did you shift your focus to the Eagles vs. Giants game when the Cowboys turned the ball over in the middle of the field and Washington went for the winning field goal? Honestly, I think that was the first time I saw the score. I will.
I'm not giving up on the idea that the Cowboys will win this game, but we've seen this type of game many times before, especially here in Washington. This is a place where a lot of weird and wacky stuff happens, and perhaps this is it when a Commanders team on a seven-game losing streak looks like it's going to make a difference on fourth down with every trick play at its disposal. It's not your day.
Seriously, Brandon Aubrey's first mistake of the season was blocking a field goal? So did the chip interception at the line of scrimmage lead to Washington's next score? At that point, I think many doubters were already expecting this to end badly.
But the Cowboys didn't just bounce back, they bounced over their managers' heads. They completely controlled this game and immediately provided the type of ass-kicking you want to see in a playoff-bound team.
Now, I think it's fair to point this out. The Cowboys were terrible in Week 18 in Washington last year, and it didn't really matter as they beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road the following week and forced Tom Brady to retire. .
On the other hand, just like last year, this final game of the regular season can be said to be meaningless. On the other hand, you could also say that the Cowboys righted the ship and blew the Commanders away this time so they wouldn't even get to that point.
And I choose the latter because it proves, at least to me, that this team is different.
got it. Washington has never been a good team. That's why he will be the No. 2 overall pick in April's draft. That's not an issue here. The managers were a team that was playing desperately for a win, and for a moment in the second quarter it looked like there was enough spark to achieve it.
That's when the Cowboys put their foot down. That's what good teams do — whether it's home or away, turf or turf, when they play an elite team, they play against a team that's ready to fire its head coach and enter the offseason. even when.
When the moment comes to eliminate a team, that's what you have to do, and that's exactly what the Cowboys did Sunday.
And we all know they didn't do that every game. We couldn't finish the game in Miami. They couldn't pull away from the Lions and had to claw and claw to win.
A 17-game season is long enough to see just about every example. They won some close games, some close games, some good teams.
The one thing they haven't been able to do consistently is win on the road. Thanks to this Sunday's road play, we don't have to worry about that for at least two weeks.
Yes, this team feels different than usual. But we're trying to find out if they really are.
