It's Only Taken One Win For Everyone to Lose Their Minds

Unless you hate the Cowboys, there hasn't been much to laugh about during this football season but everyone should find a chuckle in the way that just about everyone who predicted big things for the Cowboys in the preseason has completely disavowed their previous beliefs.

The Cowboys suddenly became an undertalented, overconfident band of shiftless layabouts who simply ignored Wade Phillips, who was a crap coach anyway. The team's dismal record was nothing more than the obvious outgrowth of Jerry Jones' madness and only a fool would think that the Cowboys could win big with such an egomaniacal fool for an owner.

Pay no mind to the fact that that same group of players, coaches and owners were an exceedingly popular choice to win the NFC title or more. Clearly we should believe everyone burying the Cowboys now and simply forget that they were praising them just a couple of months ago. The same goes for Tony Romo, whose injury was widely believed to be the moment the Cowboys season absolutely, positively stopped mattering.

Jon Kitna helped beat the Giants last week, however, and that means that there's a new pardigm at work in Big D. Kitna's heart and leadership is what the Cowboys really needed all along, right Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News?

"Kitna is an outstanding leader, which the position demands. He spans all elements of the team and knows how to bring people together with one goal. Romo does not have that makeup. Maybe it is because Kitna has more experience. Maybe it is not in Romo's nature. (Players can spot another player forcing himself to be a leader.) Kitna does have some admirable qualities."

It's true, Kitna has some wonderful qualities. He's kind, never forgets anyone's birthdays, knows how to tie a bow tie and just try to beat the guy at Boggle. You'll notice that a strong arm, quick feet and a talent for reading defenses don't make the list. That's a shame because that's what a quarterback really needs to succeed in the NFL.

The idea that Kitna is a better choice than Romo or that Romo is unable to get his team pointed in the right direction is asinine on the surface and gets even worse under closer scrutiny. The Cowboys failed this season for a zillion reasons, with Romo deserving some of the blame and they didn't get better when Kitna took over. They got worse for two weeks, which is why the fired their coach, and no one was spouting this nonsense about leadership.

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Crediting Kitna for the turnaround against the Giants is mistaking correlation for causation. The same thing has happened with Yankee fans for years when Alex Rodriguez makes an out in a clutch situation. His prodigious offensive totals go out the window with people lamenting the loss of light-hitting Scott Brosius because Brosius had grit or heart or whatever other intangible any player who is actually talented can't possibly have because they don't win games all by themselves.

In professional sports, the simple truth is that talent wins. Maybe Romo isn't the guy that will win the Cowboys a Super Bowl, but he's a lot more likely to do it than a guy whose only positive trait is an ability to reach everyone on the team.  

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