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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Cowboys Against The Giants: Lucky Or Good?

   Ah, the Joy of Six.
   I said six.
   The Cowboys were the benefactors of six – count ‘em, six – turnovers last Sunday night in their 36-31 win over the New York Giants. Dallas hadn’t created six takeaways in 10 years (since a win over the Washington Redskins in ’03) and never in the history of the 54-year-old franchise had it produced three takeaways in the first quarter of a game. It was reminiscent of Super Bowl XII (eight takeaways of the Denver Broncos) or even Super Bowl XXVII (nine takeaways of the Buffalo Bills), though obviously the stakes were a tad less significant.
   In all, the Cowboys – who produced only 16 takeaways under defensive coordinator Rob Ryan in 2012 – recovered three fumbles and picked off three Eli Manning passes to finally beat New York in Arlington. Call it the Full Monte (Kiffin). Usually an NFL home team with a +5 turnover margin wins by 21 points. The Cowboys had to survive, escaping only when Sean Lee recovered an onside kick with 11 seconds remaining.
   Still, a win is a win is a win is a …
   “You can’t win turning the ball over,” said Giants’ head coach Tom Coughlin. “That’s the bottom line.”
   But were the Cowboys good? Or just at-the-right-place-at-the-right-time lucky?
   Let’s break down all six takeaways and make a fair determination.

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2 comments:

  1. I smell a hint of references to my posts yesterday...but way to scratch out a decent post here RW. Yes it is definately better to be lucky AND good rather than lucky OR good. And the Cowboys needed ALL of the 6 turnovers to win by a MEASLEY 5 pts. You cannot expect lady luck to save your ass next week, so the Cowboys better thank their lucky stars and get some good reps in practice this week (especially the secondary).

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  2. Sometimes being lucky is a product of being good. Like my dad always said, "The harder I work, the luckier I get." Let's hope that theory applies here, but overall it's a product of both.

    The upside is over the past few years, the Cowboys have invariably lost these types of games, committing a turnover late, giving up a long game-winning drive, or failing to convert a scoring opportunity late to tie or win. They won this one. We should realize that and see that that is the ultimate step in the right direction.
    -JC

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