The 22-20 loss to the Miami Dolphins didn’t finish the Dallas Cowboys hopes of winning the NFC East division. It’s still possible if the Philadelphia Eagles drop another game.
The Cowboys still have two games remaining on their regular-season schedule before the playoffs can get underway. Today, we’ll look at some of the good, bad, and ugly things from Dallas’ Week 16 loss to the Dolphins.
THE GOOD – Battling it out
Things unfortunately didn’t go the Dallas Cowboys way in the Week 16 matchup with the Miami Dolphins. Early on Hunter Luepke’s fumble on the goal line looked as if it was going to set the tone things were going to go poorly for the Cowboys. But, instead of hanging their heads and throwing in the towel, they continued to play hard and battle it out to the bitter end. The fight/energy the team played with Sunday afternoon is encouraging because they could have easily gone into a road game tailspin. If they can continue to play like that, and cut down the mistakes, they could be a hard team to beat in the playoffs.
THE BAD – NFL officiating
It’s hard enough to win in the NFL, but when you are having to overcome for NFL officiating it’s nearly impossible. The Cowboys found that out firsthand in this Week 16 matchup with the Miami Dolphins. One could even say it had a pretty significant impact on the outcome of the game. Two plays particularly come to mind that probably altered the outcome of the game. Micah Parsons questionable roughing the passer penalty that resulted in a Miami TD, and the non-call holding penalty on Damon Clark on the Dolphins game-clinching field goal drive. Reverse the call on either one of those penalties and Dallas may have walked away with the “W”. Oh yeah, and they never did call Miami for holding Micah Parsons. This is getting ridiculous.
THE UGLY – The Miami offense
It definitely wasn’t pretty, but the Cowboys defense all but kept one of the most explosive offenses in the league in check Sunday afternoon. This was a breath of fresh air for Dan Quinn in his defense after the way they performed last week against the Buffalo Bills. Instead of getting run over, Micah Parsons and Company held their own and only allowed one touchdown the entire game. It was one of those “bend don’t break” performances, but it was enough to provide an opportunity to secure the victory. Unfortunately, that’s not the way things played out. It was refreshing nonetheless.
