Dallas must defy grim historical odds against Washington to avoid a catastrophic 0-2 start, a hole that nearly guarantees a postseason absence for today's undisciplined roster.
FRISCO - Yeah, yeah, Brian Schottenheimer, we get it. You love colored pens … in your visor!
But where is all that discipline you promised as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys? Where’s the significantly ratcheted defense? Where’s the GOTI? Where’s “missing piece” Von Miller? Where’s preseason star Camden Brown?
After Sunday night’s sloppy, uninspired, unprepared loss to the mediocre-at-best New York Giants, it’s already panic time. Where’s the urgency?
For Schottenheimer, who is now 7-10-1. And for the Cowboys, who must win Sunday or risk already being eliminated at 0-2.
You heard me. Unless the Cowboys plan to resurrect Emmitt Smith, trade for Tom Brady or somehow conjure David Tyree’s impossibly sticky helmet, they’d better beat the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium Sunday afternoon.
Yes, even in Week 2 in mid-September, it’s a “must-win” game.
Because, unless aided by those legendary players or that improbable catch, NFL teams starting the season 0-2 are doomed to miss the playoffs, much less win a Super Bowl.
Even in the era of expanded 17-game schedules, starting 0-2 is a daunting proposition.
The Cowboys haven’t lost two games to start a season in 16 years. In their previous 66 seasons, they started 0-2 only seven times. In six of those seasons they went on to miss the playoffs, never winning more than six games.
The all-time outlier, of course, was 1993, when Smith missed the first two games in a contract dispute before returning in Week 3 and ultimately leading Dallas to its second consecutive Super Bowl victory.
Sans Smith, the Cowboys’ 0-2 history is predictably pathetic:
1960: 0-11-1
1963: 4-10
1989: 1-15
*1993: 12-4
2000: 5-11
2001: 5-11
2010: 6-10
Across the NFL, the odds are equally grim for 0-2 teams.
Since the league adopted the 12-team playoff format in 1990, 90 percent of teams that start 0-2 miss the playoffs. Even in 2020 - with an expanded format to 14 teams - no 0-2 team made the postseason, with only one (Miami Dolphins) of the 11 winless starters rebounding to finish with a winning record.
Last season 10 teams started 0-2 - including the dynastic Kansas City Chiefs - and all missed the playoffs.
Along with Smith’s 1993 Cowboys, only Brady’s 2001 New England Patriots and Tyree’s 2007 New York Giants lifted the Lombardi Trophy in February after stumbling out of the gate in September.
Seriously, it’s getting very late very early for this season’s Cowboys.
