Can this Dallas Cowboys Team Perform on the Big Stage?

It has been quite awhile since Dallas Cowboys fans had an actual end result to be excited about. This past Sundays game performance by the Dallas Cowboys is only the latest of end results that left so much to be desired by fans.

Dating back to the 2009 wildcard round of the playoffs against the division rival  Philadelphia Eagles to be exact. The 34-14 victory over the Eagles at Cowboys Stadium was truly that last time Cowboy fans had anything to be excited about.

Of course there was week 3 last season in which the Cowboys completely dominated the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium which gave fans hopes of turning around a 0-2 start by the Cowboys. Three weeks later Tony Romo is sacked while playing the New York Giants, breaks his collar bone, and is lost for the season amidst a 1-5 start.

Fast forward to September 11th, 2011. Opening day in the NFL and the Dallas Cowboys travel to New York to face the Jets on Sunday night football. On a night in which for three quarters of the game the Dallas Cowboys was shocking a nation and readily handling the New York Jets at the new Meadowlands Stadium. Everyone knows exactly what happened during the final quarter of the game. especially so are the Dallas Cowboys players, coaches and fans.

The colossal meltdown by Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys leads to this one burning question that seems to be eating at the football soul of everyone to ever rep Dallas Cowboys blue and silver.

Can this Dallas Cowboys Team Perform on the Big Stage?

Going back once again to the 2009 Divisional Round of the playoffs when the Dallas Cowboys traveled to Minneapolis to face the Vikings in front of national audiences, the Cowboys have lost all five of their prime time match-ups since then including that game.

Last year the Cowboys played the Washington Redskins to open up the 2010 NFL season on Sunday night only to lose 6-13 in the nation’s capitol. Everyone is familiar with the Monday night match-up last season on ESPN in which QB Tony Romo was knocked out for the season and lost 35-41.

Many will remember last years Thanksgiving day loss to the New Orleans Saints in which the Dallas Cowboys seemed to have a win virtually in the bag. However, as ex-Cowboys wide receiver Roy Williams gallopped toward the end zone for what seemed to be a sure touchdown, that would have sealed a win for Dallas. Williams had the ball stripped from behind during his run, New Orleans recoverd, and Drew Bress lead the Saints 89 yards for the go ahead touchdown.

Once again on Christmas night December 25th, 2010,  the Dallas Cowboys traveled to University of Phoenix in Glendale Arizona to face the once division rival Arizona Cardinals during prime time. And yet once again the Dallas Cowboys gave up to early interception returns for touchdowns in which they never recovered from. Jon Kitna, who was starting in place of injured Tony Romo, was pulled in favor of third string QB Stephen McGee.

Last years previous debacles in front of millions brings us up to speed and to this last Sunday night when the Cowboys traveled to New York in order to play the Jets. Revisiting the game mentioned in the opening of this post only lends proof to our proposed question, can this Dallas Cowboys team perform on the big stage?

Tony Romo had a 130+ QB rating going into the 4th quarter only to display a dismal 33 QB rating during the entire 4th quarter of play. Jason Witten ran out of bounds with around eight minutes left that would have taken more time off the clock and failed to get into the end zone on a pass from Romo, allowing a much smaller Jets safety to puch him out of bounds at the two yard line. The Dallas special teams allowed a Jets blocked punt to be returned for a touchdown and instead of running the ball three consecutive times from inside the two yard line the Cowboys elected to run once and go play-action pass on 2nd and 3rd downs. 3rd down was the unfortunate scramble by Tony Romo in which he fumbled on the one yard line giving the ball back to the Jets and coming away with zero points. Dez Bryant started off the game on fire but disappeared after the first quarter.

The Dallas Cowboys have five more games this season in which they will be playing in front of a national audience. Four of which will be night games during prime time, the next one is a week from tomorrow against the Washington Redskins here at Cowboys Stadium.

If there ever was a means to a answer for a defined questionin regards to the Cowboys performance on teh big stage, its this seasons schedule. While asking the question was the easy part, sitting through the answers to the question may not be very easy at all for the Dallas Cowboy faithful.

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