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.

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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