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Cowboys Star Isn’t Shining Too Brightly; Romo Out 4 Weeks
By MoonDog | October 13, 2008
The Dallas Cowboys played poorly for the third consecutive week, losing to the Arizona Cardinals in overtime 30-24 on Sunday in Glendale. The team preseason prognosticators picked as the favorite to win Super Bowl XLIII hasn’t played up to expectations and is beginning to show signs of troubling tendencies.
The Cowboys offensive line, one of the biggest and supposedly baddest in the NFL, was just bad yesterday. Quarterback Tony Romo was sacked three times and under constant pressure from the Cardinals defensive front, and they did it without blitzing much the entire game.
Speaking of Romo, his propensity for fumbling when he’s under pressure or making bad throws resulting in interceptions continued yesterday. Romo fumbled twice, losing one and has turned the ball over at least once in every game this season, costing the Cowboys scoring opportunities and putting the defense in bad situations.
The defense, which was supposed to be among the best in the league, is average at best. The secondary has struggled to put it mildly. I’m convinced I could beat cornerback Anthony Henry anytime I wanted and I’m 15 years his senior.
Considering head coach Wade Phillips is thought to be among the best at designing schemes for the 3-4 defense the Cowboys employ, they don’t seem to have too many answers. Dallas has allowed 141 points in six games, an average of 23.5 per game and have only forced seven turnovers.
The special teams have been beyond bad and it showed again in the loss to the Cardinals, giving up big plays that helped seal the Cowboys fate. They allowed Arizona to return the opening kickoff for a touchdown and the jail break that led to the blocked punt returned for the game-winning score.
Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett’s play calling has become perplexing of late, seeming to go from one extreme to the next each week. In the loss to the Redskins two weeks ago, running back Marion Barber only had eight rushing attempts while wide receiver Terrell Owens had 21 plays designed to get him the ball.
Barber and tight end Jason Witten, rookie running back Felix Jones and wide out Miles Austin have all proven to be potential game breakers.
Granted, there’s only one ball and each of the Cowboys offensive stars can only get so many touches, but it’s not unreasonable to think Garrett could develop a game plan designed to get all of those players a reasonable amount of opportunities to make plays.
For some who may think the Cowboys poor showing yesterday was the result of distractions created by the Adam Jones incident last week, put those thoughts to rest. These are the Dallas Cowboys, the darlings of the NFL, America’s Team, the team that has always had distractions to deal with.
From Romo’s relationship with ding-a-ling Jessica Simpson to the certified nut job that is Terrell Owens, this version of the Cowboys isn’t too different that the Cowboy teams of yesterday, with Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson or Michael Irvin creating a stir in Big D.
The Cowboys have won four games against teams that have a combined record of 7-15, with their two losses coming against the Redskins and Cardinals whose combined records are 8-4.
I can only imagine what former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson is thinking as he watches Dallas this season. If Johnson was on the sidelines with this Cowboys team, with this amount of talent, they would have won a Super Bowl last year and would be marching towards another this season.
Whether the Cowboys bought into the hype or there’s a lack of concentration is unknown. But at some point one or several of the veterans better take control in the locker room and get this team focused.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has built this team for now, not next year or the year after. Anything less than a Super Bowl appearance will be a major disappointment and frankly, anything less than a Super Bowl victory will be deemed a failure.
With the breaking news of the injury to Romo’s pinkie on his throwing hand, Dallas’ path to the Super Bowl just got more difficult. Sources told ESPN that Romo was initially diagnosed with a sprain but have since identified a break.
Romo will be out at least four weeks, leaving backup Brad Johnson, a 17-year veteran, to lead Dallas.
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Tags: Injury, Tony Romo, MoonDog, Dallas Cowboys News, marion barber, Brad Johnson, Wade Phillips, NFL, Jason Garrett, Terrell Owens, NFL, dallas cowboys
Topics: Dallas Cowboys News, NFL |































October 13th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
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