DALLAS — Going into last Sunday, the only thing lower than the fan base's confidence that the Dallas Cowboys could beat the Los Angeles Rams was their opinion of coach Jason Garrett.
Riding a three-game losing streak that spoiled the Thanksgiving holiday, there was little reason to think the Cowboys would vanquish the 8-5 Rams. The same team had dispatched the Seattle Seahawks 28-12 on Sunday Night Football the week prior.
Nonetheless, the Cowboys were able to get the win and setup a division-clinching opportunity against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 16.
Tony Pollard returns — After the fourth-round rookie's breakout game against the Miami Dolphins in Week 3, the Cowboys seemed to have a two-headed attack. It was probably what Larry Lacewell envisioned when the club took Sherman Williams in 1995.
If feature back Ezekiel Elliott wasn't getting the run game going, then Pollard could. If the offense could activate both, then they would be too dynamic for any defense to handle.
Dallas had a resurgence of that Dolphins' performance against the Rams, as Pollard rushed 12 times for 131 yards and a touchdown. It isn't so much how deep Pollard got into the century mark as it is his 10.91 yards per carry that demonstrate what a threat he can be for the offense.
Sunday was a confluence of deliberately using the rookie along with the opportunities being there. Unlike the Saints game the week after Miami, Dallas shouldn't shelve Pollard in Philadelphia.
The old man at LB — Sean Lee had been relegated to a reserve role with the emergence of Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch at linebacker. However, the former 2010 second-round pick just wanted to play football and play in Dallas. On Sunday, the Cowboys benefited from keeping around the 33-year-old as he looked like his 2011 self.
For the first time since a Dec. 10, 2017, 30-10 win at the New York Giants, Lee intercepted a pass. For the first time since Dec. 7, 2015, in a 19-16 win at Washington, he produced a full sack. And for the first time in his career, he picked off a pass and had a full sack in a game.
If the Cowboys were to neutralize the Rams' offense, they were going to need a playmaker on defense. Lee emerged as that figure, and he provided a spark for the beleaguered Cowboys defense.
Here's the kicker — One can quantify what kicker Brett Maher cost the Cowboys: 30 points over 13 games. However, one can't quantify what he cost Dallas in terms of momentum. They might be able to reverse the tide with new kicker Kai Forbath.
While Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones was pleased with the defense holding Los Angeles to 289 total yards and getting a turnover, he told "The K&C Masterpiece" on 105.3 "The Fan" [KRLD-FM] Monday that Forbath making all three of his field goals was key for morale.
"Then of course, a huge deal was our field goal kicker making the field goals you expect your kickers to make," said Jones. "That's a big deal from a momentum standpoint, and getting points when you move the ball down the field."
Dallas doesn't need Forbath to be perfect or have a big leg; just make your kicks.
Jason Garrett did not save his job — One of the more bizarre elements in the Cowboys fan base that goes back to Wade Phillips' tenure is for fans to hope for Dallas to lose so the head coach they don't like will get fired. Garrett haters need not be dismayed that their team won in Week 15, for it didn't guarantee an extension for the eighth coach in club history.
As discussed previously, there's no reason to believe Garrett will be extended if the Cowboys don't reach at least the conference championship game.
Only Washington and Detroit fans can cry harder about their conference title game appearance droughts (incidentally, the last time either was in the NFC Championship game was when they played each other in 1991). What has been exasperating about the Super Bowl win drought is that the Cowboys haven't even been in the penultimate game; they have always stalled by the divisional round at best.
Contrast that with a franchise like the Vikings, which has appeared in the game four times since then with three different head coaches and four different starting quarterbacks. If Garrett can't lead them to the NFC Championship game in the final year of his contract, ownership has to look at him as the problem, especially since he has had nine full seasons to do something about it and hasn't.
Do you think the Cowboys will be able to make enough noise in the playoffs to save Jason Garrett’s job assuming they even make it that far? Share your thoughts with Mark on Twitter @therealmarklane.
