 It was a wild week for the Cowboys, to say the least. It started on Sunday with an overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals, but that was only the beginning. What came next was a perfect storm of injuries that was capped off with the loss of Pro Bowl Quarterback Tony Romo. Having broken his pinky on the second to last play of the game, Tony will be out for the next four weeks of the season. As if that wasn't enough, the news on Tuesday was that, along with all the injuries the team had suffered, the Cowboys were also losing Adam "Make it Rain" Jones to a four-game suspension for a drunken brawl that took place the previous week. What had started out as a potentially Super Bowl season was quickly falling into a possible 6-10 campaign of "What the hells?" and "What ifs." Yet some how, as Dallas teetered on the brink of disaster, hope was renewed by a trade with Detroit for the former University of Texas wide receiver Roy Williams. Sure, the next four weeks will be pure hell, but on the bright side, the team has another weapon for its already lethal offense, once Jessica Romo returns from injury. One minute the sky is falling and doom is knocking on the door, the next minute the sun is shining and Fate is once again smiling down on Texas Stadium. The newspapers eat up this kind of stuff, but for Cowboys fans it's just business as usual at Valley Ranch.
At 4-1, the Cowboys looked primed for another run at the playoffs,
but if you looked closer, you could see the cracks in their armor
beginning to form. Sunday's game against the Cardinals
was a debacle, a prime example of what happens when you have a poorly
coached team that is unprepared to play. Just looking at
Phillips roaming the sidelines, looking like a husband who had been
forced to sit through a baby shower, told you all you needed to know
about how the game was going. In Phillips defense, we all knew that after last year's first round playoff loss—at home—to a division rival, he was destined to be criticized at every turn, but no one expected this. Sure
the Cowboys are 4-2, but if Donavan McNabb hadn't botched a hand off to
Brian Westbrook in week 2 and if Chris Perry hadn't fumbled in Dallas
territory in week 5, this team could very easily be 2-4, with Phillips
looking like a latter-day version of Barry Freakin' Switzer. It's
pathetic, but luckily for the Cowboys and their humbled coaching staff,
it's still early and there is still time to turn things around and save
their collective butts.
While any loss for the Cowboys is
epic, what made the loss to Arizona even more frustrating was a laundry
list of injuries that piled up on Monday. With three
games to go, before a much needed bye-week, the Cowboys will be forced
to play without the likes of Tony Romo, Terrance Newman, Pac Man Jones,
Matt McBriar, Felix Jones and Sam Hurd. Sure after the
bye-week the Cowboys will get back Romo *, Newman and F. Jones, but Pro
Bowl Punter Matt McBriar and reserve receiver Sam Hurd are lost for the
season along with Adam "Drinks-are-on-Me" Jones, who, even though his
suspension will be reviewed in four weeks, has probably played his last
game in Dallas. The good news for Dallas
is that the signing of big play receiver Roy Williams will help open
things up for Terrell Owens and the rest of the offense, but if the
porous defense and the not-so-special teams don't step up their play,
Jerry Jones could sign Superman and it still wouldn't matter. With
upcoming games against lowly St. Louis and division leaders Tampa Bay
and New York, the Cowboys, who trail the Giants by a game, must win at
least two of the next three games to have any hope of winning their
division. It's a stiff task, but if the Cowboys have one
thing going for them, it's that after a successful draft they have
rookies like Mike Jenkins, Orlando Scandrick and Tasard Choice to step
in and fill the void.
So even though we are only six
games into the 2008 season, the Cowboys and Wade Phillips are facing an
important stretch of games that will determine whether they're playing
at home in January or watching the playoffs from a Bennigan's in Irving. In
order to succeed, the defense, which is littered with first and second
round picks, is going to have to force more than the five measly
turnovers it has forced in the first 6 games. The
offensive line will not only have to protect a 40 year old quarterback
from rampaging twenty-something defensive linemen, but it's also going
to have to open up holes big enough for the team to run the ball
effectively and keep that same quarterback out of passing situations. It's
a vicious cycle, but the offensive line only has to look at the game
tape from last week to see why they're in this situation. Most
importantly, without Tony Romo, the Dallas special teams unit is not
only going to have to stop giving up big plays but they're going to
have to make a few plays on their own in order to make up for the drop
in offensive production. It's a lot to ask but if the
Cowboys are going to make the playoffs and save Wade Phillips' ass,
they had better be up it, because if there's one thing that history has
taught us it's that Jerry Jones and the Dallas fans have no patience
for a season of "What the hells?" and "What ifs."
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