The goat of Texas is upon you

Six weeks ago he was the toast of Texas, today he and his team are just plain toast.

The team that the rest of America has grown weary of had one of those playoff horror moments that will go down in football history. The Dallas Cowboys led by the unlikeliest of former heroes this season in Tony Romo, lost their chance to advance in the NFL playoffs by losing a wild one of a wildcard playoff game 21-20.

The Cowboys who rode the season on the throwing arm and moving legs of young Mr. Romo crashed down to earth on his fumbled snap, denying Martin Gramatica a chance to kick what would have most likely been the winning field goal late in the playoff game.

Romo who had become the thing of legend since taking over the offence earlier this season, had added to his mythology by taking the team down the field just minutes earlier to keep his Cowboys alive in a game that featured just about everything you can imagine.

It was the kind of performance that had been associated with the never say die Romo of recent play, late game heroics that snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat, Saturday in Seattle that process would be reversed.

With the game on the line, Romo who has been holding snaps for field goals all season long had one of those miscues that will be forever etched in NFL fame and one destined to be played over an over again on football shows until the second coming of Vince Lombardi. An event that will forever be archived in the world of You Tube.

The sequence of events was surreal, a bobbled snap and then a desperate run for the goal line that was stopped short, turning the ball over to Seattle who would then run down the clock as best they could protecting their one point lead. It was like being on the side of the railway tracks as the train suddenly careened off the rails leading to one heaping wreck.

Romo would get one final chance for redemption on Saturday a last second, Hail Mary of a pass into what looked like a parking lot full of Cowboys and Hawks, only to watch the ball be knocked away securing the win for Seattle and securing Romo’s place in Cowboys history, though for this year not in the heroes and builders category.

It was certainly a remarkable moment and the final chapter of Romo’s sudden rise to fame. When Bill Parcells handed the ball to Romo and he took over the teams quarterbacking duties from former Patriot Drew Bledsoe, he quickly began turning the Cowboys season around.


Romo would begin rattling off wins and would bring back that ancient cry of all Dallas fans of “How about them Cowboys”. With the trappings of Cowboy fame on the field, came the extra curricular events that take football players from athletes to pop culture celebrities.

Romo found himself the topic of television shows, the hottest of guests. He was the biggest of the boys and most requested cowpoke of the Cowboy corral, overshadowing the always flamboyant Terrell Owens and even eclipsing the fame of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. He found new girlfriends and the paparazzi like attention that such things bring and most of all he found himself the centre of the Texas universe, one where its football stars are treated like Roman Gods high on a pedestal.

Sunday morning, the fans were decidedly not in the mood for worship, as only five, that’s 1,2,3,4,5 (only need one hand there folks) fans bothered to show up at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport to greet their local heroes. Everybody loves a winner, but lose and it’s get you own baggage and hail your own Cab buddy!

Romo will no doubt play another day, he did by all standards have a remarkable year, and his success on the field over the course of the season was reason for Cowboy fans to celebrate and for the other fans of the NFL cities to begin to rekindle that serious dislike of the Boys.

But for now he’ll simply be known for that one play, those nine or ten seconds that ended in horror for the Cowboys and their fans.

Below are just some of the headlines available for clipping, though we suspect none will end up in the Tony Romo scrapbook.

Hold on, Romo drops it!
Romo has no one else to blame after 'Boys fall
Blown FG attempt by Cowboys keeps Seahawks alive
Cowboy's fall short on Romo's mistake
Botched hold sinks Dallas
Season Slips Through Cowboys’ Fingers

And there's nothing like the hometown coverage to make one want to leave home!

Dallas Morning News website
Dallas Star Telegram website

You can coach em, but you can't play for them!

It's a head coach's nightmare, your team takes an early lead runs up the score and looks set to cruise to victory, then you have to play the second half of the game.

Monday night's football game between the Bears and the Cardinals offered up the chance to watch one of the great upsets of modern time. The Bears undefeated thus far in the season were expected to walk all over the Cardinals, an under performing team that seems to have trouble finishing off their game.

For the first thirty minutes Monday night though, it was all guts and glory for the Cards and their fans as they took a remarkable 23-0 nothing lead over a team many have pencilled in for a Super Bowl berth. The highlight of the early part of the night, the continuing maturity of rookie QB Matt Leinart, who has been given the reins and told to make his horses run. And run they did for thirty minutes it was a mastery of domination over one of the most feared football teams in NFL history. And what was even more impressive was the fact that they could have scored even more!

As the second half kicked off, many were in shock, no doubt trying to contact their bookies to lay off a few bets to even up the nights impending losses. But then DA BEARS, took charge. Or more correctly the Bears defence took charge and the Cards imploded, a second half collapse to rival the worst days of the Buffalo Bills.

In one of the great but bizarre finishes to a Monday night game, Chicago punished the Cardinals for their lack of understanding of how things were supposed to work. They recovered fumbles, snared interceptions and ran back kicks all as they chipped away at the score, eventually taking the lead 24-23.

Still til the end, the Cardinals had the chance to win the game, marching down the field in the dwindling moments of the game to set up a 41 yard field goal attempt by Neil Rackers, normally a chip shot in the world of pro football.

Of course though nothing is automatic and with a chance to take the lead and win the game the automatic became the dramatic and then something ecstatic, but for the BEARS.

Rackers, a most reliable kicker for the Cards (only two misses all of last year) trotted out on the field set up his attempt, made his approach and then shanked it wide left. Game Over, Bears win.

It's enough to send a coach over the edge, which judging by this clip of Head Coach Dennis Green, is exactly what happened under the hot lights of the post game press conference.

It's just the latest bizarre ending for a Cardinals team that can't find the killer instinct to put a game away, a team that seems perpetually cursed to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory. The next week of practice is not going to be a very enjoyable time for the Cardinals and if Mr. Rackers is a smart man he'll be keeping a very, very low profile.