Does momentum really exist in sports? Many believe it does. Others disagree. Maybe it’s one play to the next or from series to series or game to game. But how about season to season?
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seems to think that it does. He referenced that Tuesday morning when talking about the team finishing strong despite its very slim playoff chances.
“There’s no question that you can carry over good play from one season to the next,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. “Potentially we even did that, we carried over not-so-good play against Green Bay that we had in our last game in the playoffs last year. I think it’s naive to think that you don’t have carryover.”
It’s interesting that Jones mentioned potential carryover from January’s stunning 48-32 playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers. The No. 2 seed Cowboys were a seven-point favorite over the visiting No. 7 seed Packers. Green Bay dominated from the beginning, building a 27-0 lead late in the first half and taking a 41-16 lead into the fourth quarter. It can be argued with how everything unfolded that it’s the worst loss in Cowboys history.
The team distanced itself from any carryover talk once the offseason program started last spring, but Jones could be onto something with how poorly this season has gone for a team that won 12 games each of the last three years. Of course, a major factor is also that Jones and company did very little to upgrade the roster in the offseason. So while head coach Mike McCarthy deserves blame, the owner and general manager deserves a significant share as well.
Pro Bowl voting
The Cowboys’ underwhelming season was reflected Monday when the NFL released the top 10 fan voting by position for this season’s Pro Bowl Games. When business is booming for the Cowboys on the field, they’re usually among the league leaders in Pro Bowlers. They had 10 last year and eight the year before. This year? They might only get two or three. That would be their fewest since 2012. Every year since then, the Cowboys have had at least five.
From the vote totals as of Dec. 2, KaVontae Turpin leads the way among return specialists, Brandon Aubrey is second among kickers, CeeDee Lamb is fifth among wide receivers and Zack Martin is sixth among guards.
You can see the position-by-position voting here.
Fan reaction
Just because the Cowboys won on Thanksgiving Day doesn’t mean the fans are all that excited about the team. I posted on X during last Thursday’s game that I couldn’t remember a season when the home team had been booed as much as this one. And deservedly so.
A 27-20 win over the New York Giants, arguably the NFL’s worst team, doesn’t erase much disappointment. Although the tickets are being sold, empty seats have been noticeable the last couple of games, particularly in the club areas behind the Cowboys’ bench.
Some of the disinterest also appears to be showing when the AT&T Stadium doors open. While there will always be some fans of either team with standing-room-only tickets running, this was the least amount of runners I’ve seen since I started recording these entrances seven years ago.
AT&T Stadium doors have opened for today’s Thanksgiving Day game between the Cowboys and Giants pic.twitter.com/hkVUwN2uZu
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) November 28, 2024
This one is probably the craziest:
AT&T Stadium doors have opened for Cowboys vs. 49ers pic.twitter.com/OtewlvaL82
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) January 16, 2022
Or maybe this one:
AT&T Stadium doors have opened for Cowboys vs. Seahawks pic.twitter.com/UTl68lVNwr
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) January 5, 2019
What we’re talking about
In our latest “One Star Cowboys Podcast” episode, we discuss some of the highlights from Thanksgiving Day at AT&T Stadium, from Dallas getting its fifth win to the halftime show to the chicken-nugget celebration that never happened. We also looked ahead at the rest of the season, including playoff chances and top coaching candidates.
Well played
You may have heard by now, the sun coming through the AT&T Stadium doors can be a real problem for players during afternoon games. Well, it appears to also be a distraction even when the games aren’t being played at AT&T Stadium. The folks at Baylor’s McLane Stadium used a photo of the sun coming through the doors at the Cowboys’ home venue to distract Kansas kicker Tabor Allen during their game on Saturday. Allen missed this 38-yard field goal attempt on the game’s opening series. Baylor went on to win 45-17.
.@BUFootball put up the glare from @ATTStadium in an effort to distract the KU kicker. It worked. @realcamstuart pic.twitter.com/gryjJiSpyO
— Matt Mosley (@mattmosley) November 30, 2024
(Photo: Kevin Jairaj / Imagn Images)
