Life has gotten better for the Dallas Cowboys this season

Posted Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009 Comments   (0) Print Share Share Reprints
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By RANDY GALLOWAY

rgalloway@star-telegram.com

galloway First, the important stuff:

Today is the day this newspaper loses so much of its foundation/heart/soul. After 40 years, Jim Reeves retires. Thanks Revo, for all you did, and, from a personal side, for decades of friendship. You’re my man.

PHILADELPHIA — Go back 10 months, or to the exact date of Dec. 28, and there’s no way.

No way Wade Phillips returns here tonight as the head coach of the Cowboys.

No way Eldorado Owens is not here tonight, still being neck-nuzzled by Mr. Jones.

No way to know where Tony Romo’s head would be tonight, not after one of the most infamous postgame concession speeches a losing quarterback has ever delivered.

Then again, maybe Romo was actually accurate 10 months ago, even though his words were entirely inappropriate for the occasion.

"Life goes on."

The final score was 44-6 that day. The Eagles and the Linc fandom wildly celebrated the embarrassment and the demise of a hated foe.

A season was over for the Cowboys, after yet another choking stretch-run finish, but 44-6 was a failure-to-compete moment that took the ending to a deeper, darker place.

The joke was on Jerry. The rest of the NFL laughed while Cowboy Nation had an entire off-season to debate the hopelessness of the situation. Does football life really exist?

Well, yes, it does. At least the preliminary indications are currently trending to the positive side.

Tonight, here in Philly again, the Cowboys are at least back on their feet, moving around on their own, showing some signs of being a team, with the emphasis on team, that has some potential.

But the irony and the timing of another visit here is juicy, what with the Cowboys having won three straight, matching the Eagles with a 5-2 record.

Tonight, however, is a critical midway point of the season barometer, just because it is here, and here is where the bottom of the ditch was reached less than a year ago.

The changes Mr. Jones did and didn’t make from 10 months ago are well documented. Since then, we have also been introduced to such verbal dandy items as "Romo-friendly," or "the Cowboy way," or " addition by subtraction," or "touchdown, Miles Austin."

Some of those I laughed at. One of those, "the Cowboy way," I had to stifle a hoot when Romo mentioned it to me in training camp.

But, whatever works, huh?

And in the Eagles camp they seem to be noticing something different about the Cowboys.

Because this city’s media was all caught up in the World Series last week, the Cowboys’ visit was not treated to the usual World War III coverage. Even by Friday, two days after the Phillies fell, the football buildup was still limited.

A quote, however, from the fiery Eagles safety, Quintin Mikell, did jump out there, and he was obviously taking a shot at a former Eagle/Cowboy with this:

"The Cowboys don’t have a guy who wants the ball every play, one guy you can key on. [Romo] is now spreading the ball around to different guys, and they’re running the ball more, and everyone is happy."

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