Cowboys face plane issues after loss

An unpleasant flight after a distasteful loss was the last thing the Dallas Cowboys needed.

Well, actually that turned out to be the next-to-last thing the team needed because the very last was the moment in which their aircraft was deemed “not viable” for the trip home.

The team was stuck. With each other. On a bus. Hours after a loss with the division title on the line. With a lame-duck coach.

Mechanical problems with their charter kept players waiting on the team bus in the parking lot at Lincoln Financial Field while officials worked out new arrangements for getting home. About three hours after the game ended, the problems were solved, buses headed for the airport and the flight departed just after 11 p.m. Eastern time.

That didn’t stop Jerry Jones, the owner and architect of this team, from blabbing to the media.

“I’m a little numb that we didn’t come up here and beat them,” Jones said, according to The Athletic. “Our team played very hard. I’m just surprised we didn’t get the deal done.”

That’s like saying the Titanic didn’t get its voyage done. This season is a disaster with perhaps only Cleveland having buzzier expectations.

Now, after they dropped to 7-8 in the NFC East with the 17-9 loss to the division-rival Philadelphia Eagles, the buzz is louder about the future of coach Jason Garrett.

Miraculously, the Cowboys are still alive going into the regular-season finale, a home game against the Washington Redskins. There is hope, but it comes with ifs, starting with if they can get to 8-8 by beating the lowly Redskins and if the equally pathetic New York Giants can beat the Eagles.

Anything short of both of those things happening and the Eagles are the division champs. Washington Post