Somehow, Favre gave us a clinic how a quarterback can manage the game and win it at the same time.
Now, Favre had some help, too. His left tackle, Bryant McKinnie, gave Ware all he wanted. After that first sack by Ware, the All-Pro linebacker didn't get to Favre much the rest of the way. Favre had his receivers making big plays as well. It wasn't like Rice wasn't covered on two of his three scores, but he just came down with it, that's something the Cowboys never really got.
So let's not put this all on Romo. But as the quarterback, it's the way it goes. When you win four straight games and you're playing pretty much flawless football, you're going to get most of the credit. And Romo has received his share.
But when a game goes like this and the offense can't even sustain a drive and the quarterback looks like he's never seen a defense like this, he's going to fall on the sword. Nature of the position.
I think we all know the Cowboys had a lot more problems than just Romo. It starts, of course, with the offensive line and they got dominated. All of them. No one really gets a pass here. The Vikings stonewalled the run up the middle and burned them off the edge.
Defensively, the Cowboys didn't really resemble the menacing bunch that has spearheaded this month-long resurgence. They played pretty well at times, and got the Vikings off the field a few times in key moments. But all in all, they gave up way too many big plays for any game, much less a Divisional playoff game on the road.
If you break it down, from all three phases to the coaches, too, the Cowboys were just soundly beaten by a better Vikings team. They looked well-rested, they looked more talented and they executed so much better.
As a team, the Vikings were simply better on this day. But like always, it starts and ends with the quarterback and Minnesota clearly had the advantage there, too.
