The Dallas Cowboys are called "America's Team".
Whether that is an accurate moniker or not, the team always takes the spotlight when things go right and especially when things go wrong.
Last season the team looked to have the talent of a division winner, but blew fourth quarter leads in a number of games and finished with an 8-8 record, missing the playoffs.
In Week 14, the team could have effectively ended the chances of the Giants winning the division by beating the team, but Dallas allowed New York to hang around, eventually losing the game after a blocked field goal 37-34.
The two teams met again in Week 17 and the Giants emerged with a 31-14 victory, winning the division and sending the Cowboys home for the playoffs. New York eventually went on to win the Super Bowl, much to the chagrin of Dallas fans.
The team spent a long offseason seething at the thought of losing to the Giants and came into 2012 very motivated. They beat New York in the opening game of the season, but have only gone 1-3 since then, losing to the Seahawks, Bears and Ravens.
Many critics say Dallas' issues start at the top.
Jerry Jones is one of the only owners in the NFL who is also the team's general manager and while the team is very talented, there seems to be a factor missing from the squad. The closest the team has come to a Super Bowl is the one they hosted two years ago.
Jason Garrett is a talented head coach, but what happened at the end of the game on Sunday against the Ravens shows why there is a separation between the cowboys and the elite teams in the league. It's what has kept them from making or winning a Super Bowl in over a decade.
Teams like the Giants and Patriots excel during pressure moments, while the Cowboys continuously fall apart.
With time running out against Baltimore and Dallas down 31-29 with a timeout left to use, the Cowboys ran a play to receiver Dez Bryant that gained one yard and left 22 seconds left on the clock. The team had a timeout and could have moved the ball further down the field to help set up a closer field goal attempt for Dan Bailey.
Instead, the team took too long to line up on the next play, forcing Tony Romo to call a timeout with six seconds left and for Bailey to attempt a 51-yard field goal. He missed and the Ravens won.
The play showcased a few things. The Cowboys players showed no urgency getting back to the line, even with 20 seconds left, and the team had not called two plays during the previous huddle, forcing Romo to call a timeout rather than run another play.
"It's disappointing," Romo said to ESPN Dallas. "It's just hard when you do a lot of good things well and you don't come out with a win. Each week is an important, important week in the National Football League. It eats at you and sits in the pit of your stomach when you lose. We've got to come back from this and get ready. Now, next week we've got to go win a football game."
Following the game Jones and Garrett didn't help things by blaming everything else but themselves and their players for not rushing to the line to get off another play.
"When we look at that situation, the evaluation is that we need to do a better job in that situation," Garrett said to ESPNDallas.com. "That starts with me just executing and getting more out of that situation. If you look at where we are on the field, how many timeouts we have left and what we're trying to get accomplished. We understood we were in field goal range at that time. We felt good about the distance and that Dan Bailey could kick the ball. Having said that, we wanted to get closer."
The team is supremely talented, wide receiver Dez Bryant is supremely talented, but when it comes to crunch time, they falter. Bryant has had issues with drops in his short career and that came into play on Sunday when he missed a catch on a two-point conversion that could have tied the game.
"Looking back on it, that's a play I should make," Bryant said Monday afternoon.
On Monday Garrett owned up to his mistake, but if the team doesn't start playing with more urgency and attention to detail, it's going to be another long offseason in Dallas.
