Two years ago the Dallas Cowboys were in a different, yet somewhat similar, situation as they are today.
It was 2015 and the Cowboys had fallen apart. After losing their most important offensive player in quarterback Tony Romo on Thanksgiving Day, the Cowboys season was officially over. Sure, there was an outside shot they could have gotten themselves in with a late run, but no one truly believed it could happen.
Their next game? Monday night against the hated Washington Redskins. Most expected them to fold to the eventual division winners, and probably get blown out on prime-time for the world to see.
Instead they stood up and fought. In an incredibly ugly game the Cowboys found a way to get their only win without Romo that season, and though it was just their fourth and final victory of the season, it still felt good.
That team played hard for Jason Garrett. That team decided they had had enough of the losing week after week. And, that team won a divisional game on the road.
Fast forward to this week.
The Cowboys, once again, are coming off of an embarrassing Thanksgiving day loss which virtually ended their season. Like 2015 they now face the Redskins on national television for the whole world to see.
While this game doesn't have much importance to the NFC playoff race, I do believe it holds importance for the future of the Dallas Cowboys. If this team is to come out flat, and suffer a blowout loss at home for the third straight week, there is no way this coaching staff should be safe.
The one area which I have always given Jason Garrett credit is for his teams fighting. Even during that disastrous 2015 season, you saw that undermanned team fight every week. They never quit, and they were rarely blown out. They certainly were not blown out in the ways the 2017 Cowboys have been, three weeks in a row.
So, I think we will learn a lot about the 2018 Cowboys Thursday night. Another flat performance could mean the end for the Garrett, Linehan, Marinelli trio as we know it.
Regardless I believe the Cowboys are in need of some change, and I think that change is coming at the coordinator level. Or, maybe that's just my own optimistic view of how Jerry and Stephen Jones will handle the coaching situation creeping in.
