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Updated: November 1, 2011, 12:41 AM ET
All's not lost for Cowboys' season
Dallas' soft schedule could work well with Garrett's 'one game at a time' philosophy
By Calvin Watkins
ESPNDallas.com http://espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/story...ft-schedule-ahead-all-not-lost-cowboys-season
IRVING, Texas -- Jason Garrett talks about the process.
It's a process of winning games one at a time. You don't worry about what happened yesterday or last week or last hour.
Worry about the next play. Worry about the next day and the next game.
We laugh hearing Garrett say that you want to get better each and every day. But he's right.
That's how he was taught and that's what he's preaching to his football team.
The Dallas Cowboys play in a league that's unforgiving.
After a distasteful 34-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night, the Cowboys are forced to forge ahead with their schedule.
Over the next nine weeks, the Cowboys have a chance to stack victories and move up in the NFC East.
The Cowboys play four division games and three teams with records above .500. They also face two teams with a combined 1-13 mark. There are four teams with below .500 marks, including Sunday's opponent, the Seattle Seahawks (2-5).
The meat of the Cowboys' schedule is projected to be successful for them. Four of their next five opponents are below .500. The lone team with a winning record is the Buffalo Bills (5-2), and that game is at Cowboys Stadium.
Maybe that's why Jerry Jones wasn't tripping after the loss Sunday night. He sees where the Cowboys can move past the Eagles loss.
"I would be concerned if I did not think we were going to go out and win a lot of football games," Jones said. "I think we will win games.
"This is not about re-examining everything that we did but realizing that [Sunday] we just did not get the job done."
Jones was here before. He watched the 2008 season finale at Lincoln Financial Field end in a 44-6 loss to the Eagles. Everyone outside the organization wanted him to fire coach Wade Phillips. Jones stuck with Phillips and was rewarded the next season when the Cowboys won the NFC East and their first playoff game since 1996.
So Jones understands where Garrett is coming from regarding the process of moving on. The focus on one game at a time is prevalent at Valley Ranch.
"I believe that's the only way you can win in the National Football League," Garrett said. "You're challenged in so many different ways and if you're not focused on the task at hand, you're going to struggle and you're going to have problems."
In order for the Cowboys to take charge of their season, several things must happen.
They have to find an identity on offense. A balanced attack is what Garrett wants, but Dez Bryant and Miles Austin have disappeared in this passing attack. Defenses are taking Bryant and Austin out of the game and Garrett has to solve this.
The run game and pass protection is inconsistent, and Garrett and the rest of the offense and coaches need to fix that, too.
Rob Ryan's defense is the only good thing going these days. The Eagles game turned badly for Ryan. He's going to talk the talk but his guys didn't support him Sunday night. DeMarcus Ware needs more help in the pass rush if the Cowboys are going to make this work.
This season isn't lost. It just seems that way after the Eagles loss.
A win versus Seattle and another against Buffalo can give the team a spark. The Cowboys won't talk about this stretch of games they're about to enter and that's fine because Garrett has submitted his plan of one game at a time.
Now, the Cowboys have to execute the plan to make something of their season.
"We came in and looked at the tape and saw the things we need to improve [on], make corrections and now prepare for Seattle," said safety Abram Elam, spoken like a true Jason Garrett disciple.
Calvin Watkins covers the Cowboys for ESPNDallas.com.
Follow Calvin Watkins on Twitter: @calvinwatkins
All's not lost for Cowboys' season
Dallas' soft schedule could work well with Garrett's 'one game at a time' philosophy
By Calvin Watkins
ESPNDallas.com http://espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/story...ft-schedule-ahead-all-not-lost-cowboys-season
IRVING, Texas -- Jason Garrett talks about the process.
It's a process of winning games one at a time. You don't worry about what happened yesterday or last week or last hour.
Worry about the next play. Worry about the next day and the next game.
We laugh hearing Garrett say that you want to get better each and every day. But he's right.
That's how he was taught and that's what he's preaching to his football team.
The Dallas Cowboys play in a league that's unforgiving.
After a distasteful 34-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night, the Cowboys are forced to forge ahead with their schedule.
Over the next nine weeks, the Cowboys have a chance to stack victories and move up in the NFC East.
The Cowboys play four division games and three teams with records above .500. They also face two teams with a combined 1-13 mark. There are four teams with below .500 marks, including Sunday's opponent, the Seattle Seahawks (2-5).
The meat of the Cowboys' schedule is projected to be successful for them. Four of their next five opponents are below .500. The lone team with a winning record is the Buffalo Bills (5-2), and that game is at Cowboys Stadium.
Maybe that's why Jerry Jones wasn't tripping after the loss Sunday night. He sees where the Cowboys can move past the Eagles loss.
"I would be concerned if I did not think we were going to go out and win a lot of football games," Jones said. "I think we will win games.
"This is not about re-examining everything that we did but realizing that [Sunday] we just did not get the job done."
Jones was here before. He watched the 2008 season finale at Lincoln Financial Field end in a 44-6 loss to the Eagles. Everyone outside the organization wanted him to fire coach Wade Phillips. Jones stuck with Phillips and was rewarded the next season when the Cowboys won the NFC East and their first playoff game since 1996.
So Jones understands where Garrett is coming from regarding the process of moving on. The focus on one game at a time is prevalent at Valley Ranch.
"I believe that's the only way you can win in the National Football League," Garrett said. "You're challenged in so many different ways and if you're not focused on the task at hand, you're going to struggle and you're going to have problems."
In order for the Cowboys to take charge of their season, several things must happen.
They have to find an identity on offense. A balanced attack is what Garrett wants, but Dez Bryant and Miles Austin have disappeared in this passing attack. Defenses are taking Bryant and Austin out of the game and Garrett has to solve this.
The run game and pass protection is inconsistent, and Garrett and the rest of the offense and coaches need to fix that, too.
Rob Ryan's defense is the only good thing going these days. The Eagles game turned badly for Ryan. He's going to talk the talk but his guys didn't support him Sunday night. DeMarcus Ware needs more help in the pass rush if the Cowboys are going to make this work.
This season isn't lost. It just seems that way after the Eagles loss.
A win versus Seattle and another against Buffalo can give the team a spark. The Cowboys won't talk about this stretch of games they're about to enter and that's fine because Garrett has submitted his plan of one game at a time.
Now, the Cowboys have to execute the plan to make something of their season.
"We came in and looked at the tape and saw the things we need to improve [on], make corrections and now prepare for Seattle," said safety Abram Elam, spoken like a true Jason Garrett disciple.
Calvin Watkins covers the Cowboys for ESPNDallas.com.
Follow Calvin Watkins on Twitter: @calvinwatkins