These 2007 Dallas Cowboys took a different road to the playoffs than the 2006 Cowboys who let their division slip away and who snuck into the playoffs as a wildcard team, but when it was all said and done, the two teams were very similar.

They both played well in November, and played poorly during the last few games. They both played their first playoff game against a team that was hurting in the secondary. They both should have won handily. And they both lost.

People will blame Romo and his trip to Mexico — no matter how silly that is. People will blame Crayton’s dropped passes (and perhaps his loose lips). People will even blame Wade Phillips whose team last year went 13-3 only to lose their first playoff game.

At the end of the day, the Cowboys simply did not show up to play. That might just be the last lesson they need to learn: Playing well in September, October, November or even December doesn’t do any good if you don’t play well in January. And the Cowboys did not play well.

From the defense that let the Giants drive down the field in the last seconds of the first half to tie the ball game, to the offense who couldn’t get anything going in the second half despite playing against a hurt secondary, to the special teams that let a few returns slip past them, the Cowboys simply did not play well.

There is a lot to be proud of this season. Perhaps in August, we can look back and say, yeah, we were pretty good. We might be pretty good in ‘08. But, that’s August. For now, we’ll just say that we had a good year and we let it slip away.