(GYBU Sports)- SAME MOVIE, DIFFERENT CAST By @CordellWoodland

We all have that one movie that we have watched a hundred times. Mine is Friday. I could watch that movie all day and laugh as if it’s my first time watching it. Even though I know what’s going to happen in each scene I still laugh as if it’s catching me off guard. That’s how I feel about the Cowboys. No matter what they do in the regular season I know how their season will end because it ends the same way every time, in heartbreak. I never get caught up in the hype because it’s in their DNA to lose in the most entertaining and heartbreaking fashion. I have always said that nobody loses as entertaining as the Cowboys do and that truth showed up again Sunday afternoon. The Dallas Cowboys finished the regular season with a 13-3 record and by doing so they clinched the number 1 seed in the NFC and a first round bye. The road to the Super Bowl in the NFC goes through Jerry World! That’s a good thing right? Wrong.

The Dallas Cowboys who were led by MVP candidate and possible rookie of the year Dak Prescott and fellow rookie (whom I believe is the real rookie of the year) Ezekiel Elliot finally met their match Sunday afternoon when they went against the red hot Green Bay Packers who’s led by one of the best to ever throw a football Aaron Rodgers. One thing about the playoffs that people must understand is that your weaknesses will be shown and exploited more than they have all year. That Cowboy defense has been average to below average all year and going up against a great quarterback like Rodgers was a recipe for disaster. Dallas got where they are because of a great o line and a great running game. They did an excellent job all year of possessing the ball and keeping the other team’s offense off the field. Well that wasn’t the case Sunday, at least not in the first half. Aaron Rodgers came out on fire leading the Packers to three consecutive touchdowns on their first three possessions giving them a 21-3 lead as the Cowboys would only get a field goal on their first drive and punt on the next two. Green Bay, who has a defense that is barely better than the Cowboys defense would inevitably allow the Cowboys to make a comeback as their secondary began to get ripped up by the duo of Dak Prescott and Dez Bryant. Dez began to get way too many one on one coverages and Dak would take advantage of it every chance he got as they connected for touchdowns on two different occasions on their way to a monumental comeback.

With a little over four minutes left Dallas is able to tie the game up at 28 apiece and now all the pressure is on one of the clutchest quarterbacks in NFL history. This is where Aaron Rodgers should’ve looked at the camera and told all Packers fans and Cowboy haters R-E-L-A-X. These are the moments he lives for but I don’t think that even he knew that he was about to be a part of maybe the most entertaining two minutes of a football game that I’ve seen in a long time.  A Rod and the Packers would walk up the field and on the first play after the two minute warning Rodgers throws a deep ball to Ty Montgomery that would be picked off by Jeff Heath. I’m sure the heart of every Packers fan fell to their ankles, but wait…there’s yellow laundry on the field and the Cowboys would be called for a crucial pass interference call that honestly they had been getting away with all game. I’m sure that play is on the top of every Cowboy fans excuse list. The Packers would end up settling for a Mason Crosby 56 yard field goal giving them a lead of 31-28. With 1:33 left in the game the rookie Dak Prescott must answer the call and show everyone in Jerry World what he’s made of, and he would do just that. With a 24 yard pass to Terrence Williams and another quick strike to Jason Witten the Cowboys found themselves in green bay territory with a little over a minute left and one timeout. Here’s where Jason Garrett makes his cameo. The Cowboys elect to spike the ball on first down in which would turn out to be a questionable decision as they wasted a down and they had the green bay defense on the ropes. They would gain 7 yards on the next play with a connection to Beasley and on third down they get an incomplete pass which forces them to take a 52 yard field goal that Dan Bailey easily makes tying the game at 31 with 35 seconds remaining. Thirty five seconds to a guy who completes Hail Mary passes like screen passes is an eternity and not to mention he has two timeouts. The Packers would get a quick 17 yards on a screen pass to Ty Montgomery but would follow that up with Aaron Rodgers getting sacked bringing the ball back to the Packers 32 yard line. That play was huge because Rodgers took a big hit from the blind side and you could see the ball getting ready to fall out of his hand but the awareness of Rodgers made sure he held on to the ball and instantly called his second timeout leaving them with one remaining and 18 seconds on the clock. After an incomplete pass on the following play A Rod would show the world why his reputation is what it is. Out of the shotgun he instantly rolled out to his left using up almost the entire sideline without running out of bounds. As it begins to look like everyone is covered Rodgers throws a fireball down the left sideline to a wide open Jared Cook who makes the catch and barely gets two feet down before falling out of bounds leaving 3 seconds on the clock and putting the ball at the Cowboy 32 yard line. That play is almost impossible to paint with words because all I could say when I watched it live was “Wow! That’s a baaaad man!” The Packers were easily in Mason Crosby’s range who had just hit a 56 yard field goal on the drive before. After Dallas used their last timeout to try and ice the kicker with ice in his veins Crosby lined up and kicked one of the ugliest, wobbliest game winning kicks I’d ever seen. But all that mattered was that the refs put both arms up signaling that the clock had stroke 12 on Cinderella’s season.

Heartbroken and shocked were the young Cowboys as they went to midfield to shake hands. Unlike in previous years where the Cowboys season came to an abrupt end the quarterback or the refs aren’t to blame here. I think it’s time we recognize the true weak link to the Cowboys train and that is head coach Jason Garrett. Terry Bradshaw made headlines weeks ago calling Mike Tomlin the biggest cheerleader coach in the league and that couldn’t be further from the truth. Mike Tomlin has been a rock for that Steelers team and his coaching pedigree goes without saying. All you have to do is watch a Steelers game to see his impact on that team. The same can’t be said for Jason Garrett who is the biggest cheerleading coach that the NFL has ever seen. I’ve never seen a guy get paid so much to just wear a headset and clap his hands for 60 minutes. This man has been a hindrance to this Cowboys team since day 1 and anytime they need him to finally come through with a great coaching move he disappoints. If Cowboy fans want to reach the promise land the way they predict they will every preseason then Jason Garrett needs to pack his bags and get out of the Big D. The Cowboys movie will forever be entertaining but they will continue to have the same heartbreaking ending as long as Jason Garrett is on the sidelines waving his pom poms.