FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys' 2024 season might have hit a new low after the 27-20 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
After losing linebacker DeMarvion Overshown to a serious knee injury, which is now revealed to be a tear of the ACL, PCL, and MCL, coupled with being in a strong position to win the game late, only for Amani Oruwariye's mistake on special teams to give the ball back to the Bengals after Dallas forced a punt, it was just a mess of a second half.
Head coach Mike McCarthy revealed that Overshown's injury, coupled with his team's late loss, meant there wasn't a good vibe in the locker room after the game. And he used one sad word to describe it.
“As a football team, that was about as heavy as a locker room that we've had in my time here,” McCarthy said. “The loss, but the injury too, it was definitely heavy. This game will humble you.''
The challenging task for McCarthy now is to pick up his team from that one-word funk - "heavy'' - in readiness for the Carolina Panthers, not only physically, given it's a short week, but emotionally after Overshown's injury, coupled with how they lost the game to Cincinnati.
With four games left on the schedule, the Cowboys' season could get worse if they don't refocus on the task at hand, but after what the team endured in the second half against the Bengals, that might be easier said than done.
McCarthy is of course right about the sport and its ability to create "heavy'' feelings and humility. But football as an unforgiving sport - as the Cowboys brutally found that out against Cincinnati - now stares "America's Team'' straight in the face.
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