Mac Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram said last year's NFC East title for the Dallas Cowboys was an aberration.
Dallas lost its seventh consecutive game Sunday, falling 10-6 at Tampa Bay to drop to 2-7.
"The team isn't distracted, the head coach loves their fight and their spirit, and the starting quarterback returns next week. Do not allow these sleights of hand to distract you from the obvious, that the 2015 season is over for the Dallas Cowboys," Engel wrote.
"The season unofficially ended Sunday in Tampa with the star wide receiver, Dez Bryant, lobbying for a penalty when he should have been going for the ball on a game-ending interception. He was distracted on the play, just as the entire team has been distracted since long before the season began."
"I think our team has done a really good job of staying focused on what we need to do, and our preparation and our play," Cowboys Coach Jason Garrett said Sunday afternoon.
"Sorry, Coach, the results say otherwise," Engel wrote. "Once again the Dallas Cowboys are again about noise, garbage and controversy rather than wins. Last season was an aberration, and this team still confuses popularity for winning.
"The Cowboys' pathetic 10-6 loss against the Tampa Bay Bucs was one for the wretched books -- this is the worst stretch in the 26 years of the Jerry Jones era. That covers the first season of his tenure in 1989 when the team was 1-15. It also includes the glory days under Dave Campo, Chan Gailey and Wade Phillips."
"There being absolutely nothing positive that you can say about where we are," Jones said Sunday. "We're not getting it done, and that's beginning with me."
"On this one," Engel wrote, "no one will disagree with the Cowboys' general manager."
He said it
From Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald:
• "I read that Ronda Rousey lost by knockout on Saturday night. This must be a misprint, right?"
• "Ronda Rousey lost to Holly Holm? This is like picking up the newspaper and reading that Lindsey Graham was elected president."
• "In her first public comment after her stunning loss to Holm, Ronda Rousey said: 'I'll be back.' She even talks like the Terminator."
'Honest' headlines
From the weekly "Honest NFL Headlines" series at the satirical sports website sportspickle.com:
• "Peyton benched, Eli loses; Cooper: 'Maybe dad will love me now.' "
• "Rob Ryan fired, will land as defensive coordinator in Big 12"
• "Bradford: 'I proved all those wrong who said I'd get hurt Week 1"
• "Poll: 94 percent of fans agree they still don't care about 1st place Vikings."
• "Dalton beating the awful Texans in prime time doesn't count."
SPORTS QUIZ
What year was Tom Landry's last year as the Dallas Cowboys' head coach?
ANSWER
1988
Sports on 11/17/2015