Playing Through

Illustration by Doug Potter

Guys who watch games in sports bars are probably not the most discerning of fans. That the Cowboys were taking a regular-season-ending 27-6 thumping at the hands of the Washington Redskins two weeks ago or that they went only 2-2 in the month of December or that the secondary has been porous, Terrell Owens has been hampered by an ankle sprain, and Tony Romo has been all thumbs in recent weeks (all injured thumbs, I should say) – none of that had the faithful particularly worried.

"I think we're already there," said Sloan Harris, an architect watching the Redskins game at the Tavern, meaning we might as well just fast-forward past Sunday's matchup against the New York Giants to a Feb. 3 Super Bowl showdown with the Patriots. "We've got the first-round bye. We've got home field. There's really nobody in the NFC who can stop us. Oh, shit!"

Just then, Washington's Todd Collins and Santana Moss took it deep to go up 26-3.

Harris made a minor adjustment.

"Well, okay," he said, "our deep-pass coverage is a concern. That's been a problem for us all year. But the way to overcome that is with a better pass rush, and ours is probably the best in the league. So, no, I'm not worried. Romo? Yeah, he's had a pretty average December. But the guy is completely clutch."

We'll see. Romo wasn't clutch in last year's playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks, fumbling a snap for what would have been a game-winning field goal. In his last three starts, he tossed five interceptions and only one touchdown.

And Wade Phillips' playoff record as a head coach doesn't exactly inspire confidence: He's 0-3.

Winning teams usually have a bit of momentum going into the playoffs, playing with purpose and intensity. Certainly the New England Patriots are oozing confidence. The Cowboys, on the other hand, treated the entire month of December as if it were the preseason, when nobody cares who wins, when it's all about staying healthy, making personnel adjustments, and working out the kinks in the system.

After dispatching the Green Bay Packers back in Novem­ber, Dallas saw a clear path to the Super Bowl – and haven't looked nearly as sharp since. Before that game, the Cow­boys were averaging nearly 33 points a game. Since then, they're down to 15 points per game.

No matter, said Phillips after the Redskins loss. "You take the whole season; you don't take one game, the last game of the year. You don't say, 'Hey, the sky is falling.' It's not. You can ask the players; I think they're going to be ready to play. They know we won 13 games. I don't know why you wouldn't have confidence."