On the night of December 10, 2006, the Cowboys were riding a 4-game win streak heading into a home game vs. New Orleans on national TV.  They were 8-4, and Bill Parcells’ protege’ Sean Payton was facing his mentor for the first time. No former Parcells assistant had ever beaten Big Bill in their first meeting. Everything pointed in the Cowboys favor.

New Orleans 42…Dallas 17.

Embarrassed and confidence-shattering is a start. You could feel the aftershocks from your car on the way to work the following day. I drove past Valley Ranch on my way to a job the next morning and had to struggle to keep my truck on the road.

Dallas went on to lose 2 of their next 3 games and barely landed the final playoff spot only to get humiliated again in Seattle, but it all started with that Sunday night vs. the Saints.

After the game, Bill Parcells said, “I will be worried about our confidence a little bit, I’m sure,…so we’ll see what we can do.” LB Brady James said, “I’d like to apologize to everybody. We had stars on our helmets, but we didn’t show up.”

Dallas better show up in Buffalo this Monday night, because on any given Sunday if you aren’t focused and don’t possess a raging fire in your belly, then any team can beat you no matter what you’ve accomplished up to that point. The Bills have a young rookie QB who played well last week, a rookie RB in Marshawn Lynch who will be Dallas’ toughest assignment yet, and a dangerous receiver in Lee Evans. Yet, their defense is ravaged by injuries and is ranked last in the league.

The Bills will also be at home on national TV welcoming back their old coach, Wade Phillips, who guided them to a 29-19 record in three seasons including two trips to the playoffs. His reputation was tarnished forever in the minds of Bills fans when he lost to the Titans in the 1999 playoffs in the Motor City Miracle in Nashville, TN. This came on the heels of having benched Doug Flutie before the last game of the regular season and going with Rob Johnson for the playoff run. Phillips was fired after the 2000 season after an 8-8 campaign which, ironically, has only been bettered by the 2004 team that finished 9-7.

As you can see, the elements are there and the stage is set for an environment ripe for a stunning Dallas loss. They cannot take this team for granted and look ahead to the monster game vs. New England, and I don’t think they will. All they have to do is what they’ve been doing the first 25% of the season which is play aggressively, stay sharp and crisp, and gain the mental edge. They also need to improve getting out of the gate early and not keeping the game so close for the first half. This will eventually bite them in the ass…

Which can happen any given Sunday.

Other notes and observations going into Game 5:

• Marion Barber has played in 32 career games (two seasons), and has scored 26 career touchdowns. In comparison, Emmitt Smith had 21 TDs after his first 31 games.
• The list of sports jerseys that got the most search hits on Yahoo! was topped by David Beckham. Who would you guess was #2? Would you believe Marion “The Barbarian” Barber! Tony Romo was ranked 3rd.
• Wade Phillips was fired from the Bills after the 2000 season for not firing special teams coach Ronnie Jones who owner Ralph Wilson called “incompetent.” Phillips found out he had been fired by reading it in the newspaper. Don’t tell me that this game doesn’t mean anything to Coach Wade.
• Terence Newman is back full strength and will replace Anthony Henry who is out with a high ankle sprain.
• Dallas 30  Buffalo 17