It always is something with the Cowboys. What can go wrong, will go wrong — Jerry’s Law, the football equivalent of Murphy’s Law.
It’s Tony Romo fumbling a field goal snap in the 2006-07 playoffs in Seattle; Romo throwing an end-zone interception to Giants cornerback R.W. McQuarters in the next season’s playoffs; it’s Romo throwing a dagger pick at the end of a 500-yard duel with Peyton Manning and the Broncos in Week 5.
It’s Jerry Jones serving as GM. It’s playing musical defensive coordinators and musical offensive play-callers. It’s over a decade of underachievement.
And now? Now it’s the disturbing prospect of Rex Ryan’s twin brother Rob aiding and abetting the New York Football Giants.
The NFC East has crumbled all around the 5-4 Cowboys as they go marching into the Superdome for a Sunday night showdown with the 6-2 Saints. It looms as the kind of statement game that would go a long way toward proving these Cowboys are for real.
Or it could be the start of yet another Cowboys choke.
And the final eight games of Jason Garrett’s coaching career in Dallas.
It is foolhardy in this NFL — where the only certainties are death, taxes and the Jaguars sucking — to attempt to hazard a guess which way this turns out. But if you see Dez Bryant on the sidelines acting like Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali at the weigh-in for the first Sonny Liston fight if the noise inside the Dome starts to disorient him, you can assume the wheels are coming off again.
The Cowboys may be playing with house money for the moment, but keep in mind the Giants are feeling frisky now that they’ve got their bearings back, and Nick Foles just threw seven TD passes against the Raiders, silencing the talk that Chip Kelly’s offense is more Revolutionary War than revolutionary. Robert Griffin III is looking more dynamic, but he can’t yet overcome his defense.
And keep in mind the Saints returned home an angry outfit after being upset by the Jets.
But really complicating matters for Romo is having to face Rob Ryan’s ninth-ranked defense. Rex’s twin, you may recall, was fired as Cowboys defensive coordinator by Jones after the 2012 season. Remember how badly Jets defensive players wanted to show how his defense was better than Rob’s last week? Well, the Saints defensive players are plotting redemption for Rob this week.
“I think you get humbled when you’re fired and you’re not fired with the entire staff,” Rob has said. “I think that has a way of humbling you and a way of pissing you off. And I’ve got a lot to prove. I know I’m great. … I haven’t lost any confidence. But I know I’ve gotta earn my respect.”
Rob, undoubtedly taking his cue from Sean Payton, has toned down his high-profile ways, and they have meshed well together. It’s not Rob’s fault the cameras are mesmerized by his overflowing gray hair.
“I like his personality,” Payton said. “He’s passionate about the game. You’re always looking for people that have that passion about teaching, about coaching football.”
Payton said he believes the personal nature of so-called grudge matches are overblown.
“Last week he had a chance to compete against his twin brother,” Payton said. “Each week with our league, there’s always going to be a connection. It’s not like ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ where you had the one defensive tackle that just blew up the whole game. Guys are trying to do their best.”
Rob?
“ If I worried about every team that fired me, hell, I’d have a grudge every week.”
Rob downplayed whether he feels vindicated by his resurrection of the horrific Saints defense. Asked why he thinks Jones fired him, he said: “I’ve read too many things. I don’t care to read them anymore, so whatever it was, I’m sure it was a great decision on everybody’s part.”
Rob knows Romo and Bryant & Co. better than his replacement, Monte Kiffin, knows Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham & Co.
“They’ve seen us as much as we’ve seen them,” Rob said. “They know about us, but they don’t know about our players, as much and we have some great players on defense over here that are going to show up Sunday night.”
That, of course, was meant for his players to read. With the Cowboys so one-dimensional — Bill Callahan has called for a pass play almost two-thirds of the time — Rob will target the wondrous Bryant, who has pooh-poohed his back issues this week.
“Obviously, we know the history behind his departure from Dallas last year,” Saints cornerback Jabari Greer said. “So hopefully we can go out there and play the absolute best for him.”
Cowboys DE DeMarcus Ware (thigh) returns from a three-week absence, but that doesn’t completely solve the Graham problem. TEs Antonio Gates (10-136-1 TD) and Julius Thomas (9-122-2 TDs) have dominated the Cowboys.
“[Graham is] a guy, even if you’re on him, Drew Brees can put it in places and he can go to where, hey, he’s covered but he’s not covered,” Cowboys LB Sean Lee said.
All parties in Dallas said all nice things and all the right things about Rob, whose unit was decimated by injuries late last season. Whose owner wanted a a less sophisticated philosophy … and scapegoat.
“They’re going to give us fits on Sunday,” Jones said.
Saint that the truth.