With the lockout in place--thus far delaying free agency, OTAs, rookie mini-camps and just about anything else an NFL team blog would normally be covering this time a year--there’s a good chance we’ll see a good deal of analysis in the coming weeks or months, dissecting rosters and past NFL seasons while we cross our fingers and hope for football.
With that in mind, a ranking of the top-ten most disappointing playoff teams of the past 25 years, compiled by the Football Outsiders, recently caught our eye--because the Dallas Cowboys effort in 2007 ranks third. Here’s what the article had to say about that edition of the Cowboys, per ESPN Dallas:
"We all saw this one coming. The Cowboys raced out to a 12-1 record in 2007, then declared "mission accomplished" and sleepwalked through a few ugly late-season losses. Tony Romo and some teammates then spent their playoff bye weekend in Cabo, Mexico, just in case you weren't 100 percent certain that they thought they already won the Super Bowl. The Cowboys actually held 14-7 and 17-14 leads in the playoff game, but after Brandon Jacobs scored a 1-yard touchdown near the start of the fourth quarter, the Cowboys' offense collapsed in a heap of ugly sacks and sloppy penalties. Lesson learned: Cabo is a great place for players to visit in early February, not early January."
Whether or not the infamous Cabo trip had a significant effect on the Cowboys in their loss to the Giants is debatable, and it’s worth remembering that the loss came to the eventual Super Bowl Champions. But after the close loss, in which Dallas left a few prime opportunities on the field, there’s no doubting that the 2007 season that looked so full of promise was a monumental disappointment.
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