IRVING, Texas - This is exactly what I've been talking about, and it's growing already, one of the biggest obstacles the Cowboys will face this 2008 season.
Overreaction.
Is this team reading its press clippings and already too full of itself?
There is no one to stretch the field.
All that no-tackling in training camp is already showing up.
Are you concerned about the offense not clicking?
Counting last year, the Cowboys have lost five of the last six football games they've played, since they've begun 0-2 in . . . .
Preseason
On and on and on, the panic button already being pushed.
My gosh, what's going to happen in the regular season when the Cowboys lose two games, and I'll go out on a limb right now to say the Cowboys will at least lose two games this 2008 season.
But maybe this is good, maybe this also is great preparation for the regular season, because whether the Cowboys realize it or not, the pressure from outside The Ranch is going to be immense, and if they aren't careful, to the point of suffocating.
They are the NFC's chic pick, in Vegas, in national magazines, on the networks and in your hearts. And yeah, I know they went 13-3 last year, but won two of those games by one point in the final seconds and four by no more than seven points. And I know they had 13 Pro Bowlers returning, 11 of those voted on and two more added as first alternates.
Just remember, though, in all these great expectations, this team has lost back-to-back playoff games in the past two seasons, and this franchise has not won a playoff game since 1996, when it started its string of six consecutive playoffs losses.
But for some reason, this season already is building as a Super Bowl or bust one, starting in preseason - already - and no matter the quarterback will be starting only his second full season in the NFL.
That's why it was quite reassuring to hear Terrell Owens' perspective on all this when he was assaulted with question after question here on Tuesday about the 0-2 start in preseason and those lofty goals.
"My thing is, let's win a playoff game," Owens said.
My thing, too.
Think about this: If the Cowboys are getting dogged out for losing two preseason games, 31-17 at San Diego and 23-13 at Denver, just think what will happen if they happen to lose that opener in Cleveland, remember, a 10-6 team from a year ago. Just multiply current brouhaha by 100.
Now let's see if I got this right. At San Diego, the entire first-team offense played one series. Scored a touchdown in eight plays, and all but the offensive linemen and Patrick Crayton then retired for the night while the Chargers first-team defense played well into the second quarter. Bunch of slackers. Yeah, the first-team defense played three series, stopping the Chargers the first two times and only gave up a touchdown after the Cowboys fumbled away a punt and then were nailed with a 33-yard pass interference penalty in the end zone, giving the Chargers a layup touchdown from the one - but not until three plays later.
The bums.
Now I'll admit, there didn't seem to be much fire in their bellies Saturday night in Denver, especially with the first-team defense which gave up touchdowns on consecutive possessions, although two plays changed the complexion of those drives: Rookie Mike Jenkins slipping on the wet grass the second play of the game, allowing Jay Cutler to hit Eddie Royal on a 35-yard pass to the Cowboys' 28 and then the third-down unnecessary roughness call on Bradie James the next time around when the Cowboys seemingly had forced the Broncos to punt from their 13.
But did you realize the Cowboys were trying to work on specific things in the game? Like, did you not find it curious first-year tight end Rodney Hannah had four more catches than Jason Witten, who had none? Asked Witten about it, and he said actually against the Broncos linebackers he should have had a nice day. What happened though, is when the Broncos played their eight-man front and the Cowboys had a run called, instead of audibling out of the play, they went ahead and ran Barber, wanting to make sure they actually worked on running against an eight-man front.
Sure, you want to win these preseason games. Anytime you play something, you want to win. But listen to Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips on how you balance the work you need vs. winning:
"You are trying to win on the long term, not the short term, and that can throw your record off.
"It was a preseason game."
And sorry, I'm not buying some of this bull about there being a correlation between your preseason record and your regular-season record. I mean the Cowboys were 3-1 during the preseason of 2002, and I'm sure you remember well that 5-11 season. The Cowboys were 2-2 the following year, Bill Parcells' first, and they went 10-6. A 3-1 preseason record in 2005 turned in a 9-7 regular season and 3-0-1 meant no better than 9-7 the following year.
And last year when the Cowboys went 13-3? Why they went a whopping 2-2 during the preseason, losing the final two and dispelling any notion about needing momentum coming out of preseason since they won their opening five games and 12 out of the first 13.
Plus, this might be a tad trite, but need I remind you of the Cowboys preseason record in 1989, the first year of Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson? Try 3-1, and Denver needed John Elway to play the entire game and into overtime to beat the Cowboys, 24-21. That was Wade's first year, by the way, as the Broncos defensive coordinator.
Even Jones will remind you of how he and Jimmy ran off the field the next weekend, arms held high in the air after kicking a last-second field goal at Texas Stadium to defeat Houston, 30-28, in the final preseason game.
"The best I ever felt in preseason," Jones said Saturday night in Denver while recalling how close the Cowboys had come in 1989 to a perfect 4-0 preseason, the Broncos needing five quarters out of Elway to beat them.
Happy days were here again!
So they thought.
For then reality set in, the New Orleans Saints the next Sunday, when games really mattered, cold-cocked the Cowboys about as hard as I've ever seen them cold-cocked in a game, 28-0. Those 3-1 preseason Cowboys set a club record for fewest yards rushing in a game (20) while getting shut out for the first time in 54 games and the first time in all 30 of the franchise's openers - and that included the very first regular-season game played in team history, losing that one back in 1960, 35-28 to Pittsburgh.
I mean, do you realize the Cowboys, for the next 12 preseasons (1990-2001), never again had a winning record, including the 1-3-1 in 1993 (12-4) and 0-5 in 1998 (10-6)? And those were teeth of the heydays.
There is a lesson here, I do believe, about keeping your finger off the panic button - at least for now - but also a preview of what's to come. That this team is about to face unmitigated pressure this season. Because I'm starting to get the feeling anything less than 13-3, something the Cowboys have only done once before in their 48-year history and never in consecutive seasons, will be considered uncivilized.
So this is good - good preparation.
"Your goal isn't just to win the game," Phillips said of these preseason ones, "it's to progress your team."
Exactly, no matter what anyone thinks.
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Mickey Spagnola - 
