Uh, oh: Garrett no longer trusts his quarterback

By Clarence E. Hill Jr.

chill@ star-telegram.com

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The Dallas Cowboys went to New England on Sunday looking to make a statement.

This was not the time to make good on quarterback Tony Romo's hollow Super Bowl promise of earlier in the week.

But this was their opportunity to show they were ready to show progress and maybe take a baby step in that direction against Tom Brady and the big, bad Patriots.

In the end, the Cowboys were left cursing themselves for letting a golden opportunity slip away in a 20-16 loss.

There was talk about Brady playing like a future Hall of Fame quarterback at the end, driving the Patriots 80 yards in 10 plays, throwing an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Aaron Hernandez for the game-winner with 22 seconds to go.

There was talk also of untimely penalties and the need to learn how to finish games.

But what we really learned about the Cowboys Sunday is that coach Jason Garrett no longer trusts his quarterback.

Too many bad trips on the Tony Romocoaster over the first month of the season made Garrett gunshy when it mattered most.

Simply, this is what Romo's five second-half turnovers in two come-from-ahead losses to the New York Jets and Detroit Lions have wrought.

It was a conservative game plan and conservative play-calling in the fourth quarter that were ultimately the Cowboys' undoing in what was their third loss of the season in which they blew a fourth-quarter lead.

Even a frustrated owner Jerry Jones admitted as much.

After trying his best not to second-guess Garrett, Jones spoke at length about not going for the dagger late in the game.

"It could have been a tremendous boon for us," Jones said. "That is the whole point. This is the kind game you throw off the goal line like we did in the championship game against San Francisco. You don't usually make that call. But it won us the game. It was a very similar situation in my mind."

You have to excuse Jones sometimes because he has those three Super Bowl titles of the 1990s still dancing his mind -- even though the Cowboys have a 124-121 record since the most recent title in 1995.

But he is right about one thing: If you are going to make a statement on the road against a supposedly superior opponent, you don't go in playing patty cake with them.

Remember then-coach Jimmy Johnson's quote following the aforementioned 1992 tile game victory against the favored 49ers?

"When you go up against a 600-pound gorilla, you don't hit him lightly, you hit him with all you got," Johnson said triumphantly.

Well, Garrett went up against future Hall of Fame coach Bill Belichick and Brady, who might go down as the best ever to play and hit them ever so lightly.

But again this is maybe what Romo's penchant for mistakes in crunch time has wrought.

This was the first game since the three-interception meltdown in the 34-30 loss to the Lions when the Cowboys blew a 24-point lead, the largest in team history.

It didn't help that Romo was intercepted on the opening series of the game, either.

But the devil is in the details.

Consider the third-quarter series in which the Cowboys, trailing 13-10, had a first and goal at the 7. A first-down pass in the flat was dropped by rookie running back DeMarco Murray. Romo was sacked on second down, then threw a short pass to running back Tashard Choice as Dallas settled for a 22-yard game-tying field goal.

Not one pass was thrown into the end zone.

Certainly the sack set them back, but the Cowboys were already in field goal range. Why not throw one in the end zone?

It's the same second guess in the fourth quarter when, after a Sean Lee interception, the Cowboys drove to the New England 10-yard line.

A 5-yard pass to tight end Martellus Bennett on first down was followed by an incomplete pass to Choice.

Garrett then called a shovel pass to Choice that was stuffed for a loss of 3. The Cowboys had to settle for a Dan Bailey field goal, this one for 26 yards, giving them a 16-13 lead.

Not one pass was attempted into the end zone. Not one high ball to receiver Dez Bryant against the Patriots' miniature defensive backs.

The killer for Jones, however, came two series later after the Cowboys' defense held Brady and the high-octane offense down again, forcing a punt with 3:46 left in the game.

The Cowboys had a first down at their own 28 and this is when Jones wanted to throw and give the Patriots the dagger as they did against the 49ers so many years ago.

Garrett, however, called three straight runs against a defense they had mustered nothing on the ground all game. Of the 77 rushing yards, 17 came from Romo on a scramble. The running backs gained 60 yards on 23 carries.

"As a competitor, you always want be in a situation to have a chance," Romo said of throwing a pass. "At the time of the game, I can understand definitely why we did that."

Garrett said it was about managing the game, running clock and trusting a defense that held the Patriots under 30 points for the first time in 14 games dating to last year.

Jones would have preferred to go for it rather than put the ball back in Brady's hands.

"Last week we didn't go conservative and we second-guessed that," Jones said. "This week we went conservative and we're going to second-guess that. I would have like to have seen him go for the first down. "

The Cowboys are here because Garrett no longer trusts his quarterback in crucial situations.

He won't admit it. But he is the one who preaches to the players about swinging the bat, yet he took a walk on Sunday.

The players in the locker room saw that as well.

This could be potentially divisive down the road, especially when the defense is playing so well and deserving of a victory.

That doesn't even count the future Bryant meltdown on the horizon. He was deserving of an opportunity to make a play in the red zone. He didn't get that chance.

This is what Romo has now wrought.

Clarence Hill

817-390-7760

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