Surely, when one 3-7 team plays another 3-7 team, there should not be so many talking points. But we should have known a Thanksgiving Day game against a Ron Rivera-coached team would bring back memories from 2015.
Five Thanksgivings ago, the 3-7 Cowboys took the field having just won a road game on November 22nd (at Miami, not Minnesota) to put them within reach of the divisional lead. That allowed a few days of optimism to bubble up again, as some beleived a home win on Thanksgiving might actually propel them to some good times in December. Perhaps a divisional crown.
One thing stood in their way: a team coached by Ron Rivera, featuring a punishing defense that will not go along with your party.
That time, it was a very good Panthers team with an NFL MVP on his way to losing a Super Bowl to Peyton Manning. But like this iteration, it concluded with a runaway win for the road team and yet another catastrophic injury to a Cowboys star that feels like it…
