The Boys Are Blowing It

Oh it was cold last night The Super Bowl s outside in northern New Jersey in eight weeks. It s going to be cold then. Maybe not Siberian cold but cold.

You had injuries to deal with last night You think you re not going to get more hurt by the first weekend of January

You had some good receivers to deal with last night the great Brandon Marshall and the star in the making Alshon Jeffery You won t face better but you do have a couple of hot ones DeSean Jackson and Riley Cooper to cover in Week 17.

If you re still in the race by then Dallas.

This Cowboys team smells an awful lot like the past two editions. Which is to say 8 8. Imagine the grave disappointment of a third straight .500 season for the Cowboys. That s what Dallas (7 6) looked like last night in the 45 28 wipeout at Chicago in a game played in negative temperatures courtesy the wind off Lake Michigan.

If you re a Dallas fan you d like some small piece of good news after that egg laying last night at Soldier Field. I don t blame you. I can offer you one ray of brightness the schedule in the last three weeks of the season for the Cowboys and NFC East leading Eagles one game up on Dallas in first place with three to play. Here it is

Philadelphia (8 5) at Minnesota (3 9 1) vs. Chicago (7 6) at Dallas (7 6)

Dallas (7 6)vs. Green Bay (6 6 1) at Washington (3 10) vs. Philadelphia (8 5)

Don't miss the mailbag on Page 2 where Peter King answers readers' questions about what the Jags need this offseason to become contenders and whether a little known linebacker is Hawaii bound.

The schedule edge goes to Dallas. The Cowboys have two at home and the Eagles two on the road. The finale is Eagles Cowboys in Texas. But the schedule s hardly a killer for the Eagles. Dallas will be rooting hard for Matt Flynn to play for the Packers this weekend at Dallas because that means Aaron Rodgers won t be in there still nursing a broken collarbone.

But it might not mean much if the Eagles on a four game winning streak don t fall back to earth a bit. As Cowboys fans saw last night (unless they threw something at the TV rendering it black) the team broke a two game streak of competent defense with a frightening performance. The first eight Chicago possessions touchdown touchdown field goal touchdown field goal touchdown touchdown field goal. The depleted defensive front got gashed by Matt Forte. A backup quarterback (but for how long ) Josh McCown completed 75 percent of his throws for four touchdowns and no picks. Interceptions. Don t remind the Cowboys. They dropped three.

In short Dallas is in big trouble. The only way the Cowboys will get out of it is with Matt Flynn playing this first week continued chaos in Washington the second week and Nick Foles succumbing to playoff pressure in the third. But the way that defense is playing the only way the Cowboys make the playoffs is by winning shootouts. That s never a recipe for success.

Dennis Pitta had six catches for 48 yards and a touchdown in his first game back from a hip injury suffered in the preseason. (Larry French/Getty Images) Like he never left

In late July Super Bowl champion quarterback Joe Flacco s favorite target tight end Dennis Pitta suffered a hip dislocation and fracture. It was assumed he d be out for the year and though the Ravens kept him on the IR designated to return list it was more hope than logic. But last week after a second week of practicing full speed without pain in his surgically repaired right hip Pitta was deemed ready to play just 19 weeks after lying in a heap on the Ravens practice field at the start of the team s training camp.

Pitta s not a big talker that s probably why he fits well with the reserved Flacco and since he was not volunteering anything as his return drew near it was Flacco who drew him out.

What s it feel like to be back Flacco said to him in the home locker room in Baltimore Sunday morning as the Ravens dressed before their game with Minnesota.

Like normal Pitta said. Like I ve been playing all year.

That s how he looked once he got on the field. Playing without restriction and looking very much like the intermediate and deep threat who had endeared Flacco to him Pitta played 36 snaps was targeted 11 times caught six passes for 48 yards and scored on a one yard TD catch in the final minutes that gave Baltimore one of its three leads in the last three minutes.

Afterward the most important thing was nothing hurt at least according to Pitta. I felt like I came back from the dead he said chuckling over the phone from Baltimore. I was a little mad early because I had a drop early in the game. But the best thing was all through the game in those slippery conditions I never felt it once. That s the best news. After a while I just never thought about it anymore.

He laid out to catch one pass parallel to the ground across the middle from Flacco and his touchdown catch was a classic tight end move using his body to box out and eliminate the defender before the ball settled in Pitta s gut.

The Ravens might have the toughest slate of any marginal playoff contender in the last three weeks at Detroit New England and at Cincinnati to close and at 7 6 they probably have to go at least 2 1 in those three to have a good chance to play in the postseason. But with the return of Flacco s favorite target no AFC contender got the kind of adrenalin shot the Super Bowl champs got over the weekend. I look at the Ravens this way as their D starts to play better and they show some sparks running it Don t let them in the tournament. They ll knock off somebody.

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