DALLAS — The Indianapolis Colts blanked the Dallas Cowboys 23-0 and snapped a couple of streaks. The first streak the Colts broke was the NFL's longest active winning streak of five games, which is something Indianapolis has been good at this season as they did it the week prior to the Houston Texans, winners of nine.
Indianapolis also ended the Cowboys' streak of games without a shutout. One would have to go back to Nov. 16, 2003 at New England to find a 12-0 score as the last time Dallas failed to hatch the goose egg on the scoreboard.
Riding a five-game winning streak and having it end in ignominious defeat where the offense failed to score a point could be seen as demoralizing, but Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott didn't see it that way in his postgame presser.
"It’s more of a wake-up call," said Prescott, who completed 24 passes on 39 attempts for 206 yards and an interception. "A lot to learn from. When you have a team like this, I don’t think demoralizing or anything like that is even in our dictionary. You’re talking about a team that was once 3-5, back’s against the wall, still backs against the wall, and battled to what we are now."
And that is precisely the sentiment the Cowboys were riding for the past five games. They were a team many counted out, and they played off the role as the underdog, the team that had no chance. They beat the Eagles at home, who never lose coming off a bye. They exorcised the demons of Chaz Green, Byron Bell, and Adrian Clayborn in Atlanta. They staved off being swept by Washington on Thanksgiving. They choked out the Saints on a Thursday night, and they followed it up with a calculated rematch with Philadelphia that turned into a slugfest in the fourth quarter and overtime.
With the NFC East theirs for the taking, it was hard to muster that same sentiment of being the underdog, counted out, or having to keep pace with another club in the division. Dallas became the trendsetters, and for one week, they didn't know what to do with the role.
Running back Ezekiel Elliott, who won a College Football Playoff National Championship with the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2014, has been around winning organizations. Even as far back as the 13-10 win over New Orleans, Elliott was haranguing his teammates in the locker room about letting the Saints up off the mat; it should have been a 20-10 win or better, not a three-point victory.
After the 29-23 overtime thriller with the Eagles, Elliott expressed the same sentiment.
“I think we just let them linger around, that’s the problem, we let them linger around," Elliott told reporters after Dallas achieved their then-8-5 record. "I think we could have shut the game out way earlier in the game. But all that matters is that we fought, we went and got that win. You know, we’ve got to learn from our mistakes and move on to this next game.”
Dallas didn't learn from their mistakes. Instead, the Colts were the team that walloped the opposition right in the kisser, like Dallas two weeks ago against New Orleans when they upended the NFL's longest active winning streak at 10 games.
The Cowboys didn't know what to do when attacked because they weren't in that position over the past six games; it wasn't their identity. They were the giant slayers and the narrative busters. Instead, there was only David and the narrative was that they would win.
"To have a game like this, as I said, we just hurt ourselves all night long against a really good team and didn’t give ourselves a chance," Prescott said. "When you do that, you’ve got to find a way to learn from that and get better. Because we still know the talent we have and the coaching stuff that we have and everything that we’ve got going for us that’s good. But we’ve just got to make sure that we clean it back up, learn from this one, put it behind us real fast and get better.”
All Dallas needed to do was win and they would have clinched the NFC East. Instead, they blew it. Not only that, but there was a scenario that if the Eagles and Washington lost, the Cowboys would back into the division title. Well, that didn't happen as both NFC East foes prevailed in Week 15.
However, not all is lost. In fact, there's been a reset button hit as if Week 15's results have no ramifications. All Dallas has to do is win and they outright clinch the NFC East. Even a combination of an Eagles loss and a Washington loss delivers the Cowboys the division.
Like in Indianapolis, the Cowboys will be the giants as they take on a David in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at AT&T Stadium. This week, the Cowboys need to embrace the fact they are the lead dogs in the division, not the underdogs, and that they need to live up to the narrative that they will win. Dallas isn't sneaking up on anyone any longer, and the Cowboys need to learn quickly how to play with a target on their back.
Do you think the Cowboys will use Sunday's shutout loss as motivation to improve or was the game an omen for things to come? Share your thoughts on the game with Mark on Twitter @therealmarklane.