EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Cowboys' season ended Sunday where it began in September at MetLife Stadium. This time it was with a 31-14 loss to the New York Giants, who ripped the NFC East title away with two wins against the Cowboys in the final five weeks.

For the second straight year the Cowboys finished third in the NFC East, but this season was a much greater disappointment because it was another late-season fade. The Cowboys lost four of their last five games to finish 8-8.

“I just think we have to get better,” coach Jason Garrett said. “That’s what we told our team. We have to get better. It starts with me as the head coach. Our coaching staff needs to get better. Our players need to get better. That’ll start when we reconvene in March. There were a lot of good things that happened for our football team this year and some disappointing thing happened, as well. You look back and have to correct the things that weren’t good enough. We didn’t play consistently good enough football throughout the year.”

That the Cowboys faded under Garrett the way they did under Bill Parcells and Wade Phillips speaks to an issue about the team’s talent. No more should owner and general manager Jerry Jones tout the talent. The talent took this team to 8-8.

“You’re always trying to get better,” Garrett said. “The obvious way to do that is in the draft. You also have free agency available to you. That’s just part of the NFL process for 32 teams.”