Well, the Dallas Cowboys winning that football game last night against the Tampa Buccaneers was not on my bingo card, and the defense was all over Baker Mayfield for the entire night.
Surrendering only 24 points to one of the hottest offenses in all of football was impressive.
Last night, the team showed a lot of fight despite officially being eliminated from the playoffs with the Washington Commanders coming from behind to win against the Eagles who lost Jalen Hurts to a concussion.
A Lot Of Fight
The football game last night was a really good football game, and this Dallas Cowboys team found out about four hours before kickoff that they had been officially eliminated from the playoffs, and they came out and fought hard for the win and I think it saved Mike McCarthy’s job.
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1871053717002141997
If the Cowboys decide to extend McCarthy, it won’t be a popular decision.
The Cowboys fanbase is reactionary and has wanted McCarthy out after every playoff disappointment. Retaining him because of a good finish after the Cowboys’ playoff hopes were practically finished will get a lot of criticism, yet here we are, and we are going to see him return in 2025.
The Cowboys have won four of the last five games, but tonight just looked and felt different than the last few games.
This was probably the best game they have played on both sides of the ball at the same time this season. Although Cooper Rush did nearly throw an interception with about 4 minutes left when McCarthy should have been running the ball.
Rush and the offense did not do much in the second half, and the defense is the reason they won this game. The Jourdan Lewis interception, the DaRon Bland strip tackle.
CeeDee Lamb is out here playing with one shoulder and continues to show that he is QB proof, it does not matter who is behind center, he just balls out.
He said after the game he was putting his body on the line.
“I’m hurting. I’m hurting bad. I’m not even gonna lie to you. Just trying to keep my arm attached to my body. … [But] I love this game. I’m trying to win. “… I’m literally willing to put my body on the line for my guys.”
“I’m hurting. I’m hurting bad. I’m not even gonna lie to you. Just trying to keep my arm attached to my body. … [But] I love this game. I’m trying to win.
“… I’m literally willing to put my body on the line for my guys.”
— CeeDee Lamb after #Cowboys win over the Bucs
— Patrik [No C] Walker (@VoiceOfTheStar) December 23, 2024
Jerry Jones Is Loyal
The last head coach that was fired in season was Wade Phillips and we knew that Jerry was not going to fire McCarthy in season, but I thought after they lost that game to the Eagles, this would be his last year.
Yet, now after the last month, Jerry has seen enough fight from this team to keep him here for another year.
Jerry made a big mistake in the 1990s when a battle of egos led to Jimmy Johnson leaving the Cowboys after leading the team to back-to-back championships.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones with a lot of praise for Mike McCarthy after tonight’s win. He’s gone out of his way to give credit to the Cowboys head coach while answering multiple questions pic.twitter.com/sASH6FzN0S
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) December 23, 2024
From the outside looking in, it feels as though Jones has spent much of the last three decades over correcting that mistake.
When see the type of fight we saw tonight from this team, it has you thinking, where is this all the time?
I have not seen this type of fight in a long while, and it happened when they had nothing to play for.
At the end of the day, this team has now probably shown enough to reel Jerry back in and look to bring McCarthy back on a one or two year deal, and we will see what happens.
It is just going to be frustrating if we don’t see this type of effort when they are healthy and have everyone ready to play when the 2025 season kicks off.
Id be surprised if mccarthy and zimmer are not back. Jerry does not really like change and he works well with mccarthy. And you can blame injuries on this season a lot. Thing is going forward, when Dak gets back it can’t be pass pass pass. You found a formula that works and with some tweaks might be the way going forward. I don’t think guyton is ready for prime time. I would try him on the right and let him get used to speed and competition then move him to left. Not sure it could be worse than steele.