A tale of two seasons. I don't know what's happened, but ever since they won at Lambeau Field, the Dallas Cowboys haven't been the same football team.

The Cowboys are playing very mediocre football right now, and that might be a generous observation. This is not what was expected, by the fans or by the players. Don't kid yourself with the excuse that the expectations were too high. The expectations were that way because they deserved to be. Dallas was a powerhouse last year in the regular season and lost in the playoffs by four points to the eventual Super Bowl champions. They re-signed all their key personnel, added a few free agents and had what was considered a superb draft. Every element was in place for them to be among the elite of the NFL. Right now, they aren't among the elite. They are in the next level below that, with the arrow pointing down instead of up.

Yes, they're 4-2, but they're a weak 4-2. They aren't losing big to anybody, and in both games they've lost (Washington, Arizona) they've been in the game right up to the end. And both those teams appear to be playoff contenders. But it's the pure talent they have, the amount of weapons they possess on offense, which is keeping them in those game. They are playing poorly for good portions of games, and bringing themselves back when they are desperate. Even in the win over the Bengals that formula held true. Against good teams (Wash, Ariz), their desperation only served up heart-breaking losses. Against the Bengals, it served up an ugly win. In the last three games only sheer talent has kept the games close; while uninspired play, questionable coaching and a general malaise have brought them down to the level of merely average.

This game against Arizona was on the path to disaster right from the start.

The Cowboys special teams in the game were awful. From the opening play of the game, when they allowed a kickoff return for a TD, to the closing play of the game, when they allowed perhaps the easiest punt block in the history of the NFL, it was shameful. Why in the world would a coach change the blocking assignments in overtime on a punt from your own goal line? The insanity of that is beyond my comprehension. The Cowboys probably won't fire Bruce Read, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't. Then again, if they fired everybody who was responsible for the bad play in this game, then Nick Eatman and JJT would have to run things at the Ranch tomorrow.

Our vaunted offensive line, that big bad behemoth that was supposed to be a road-grader on the run, and a granite wall for the pass, has become a Swiss-cheese sampler plate. Flozell Adams was the doorman at the Ritz, waving in defenders with alacrity. If he was hurt, then our coaches are idiots for not taking him out of the game. Marc Colombo was only saved by the fact that Flozell was so bad, he actually looked semi-competent in comparison. By the way, that was not a compliment. Andre Gurode looked like he played half the game in a coma. Hudson Houck, we've praised you to high heaven, but this in on you, too.

The offensive line was bad, but this doesn't take away from Tony Romo's evening. If you couldn't see it before, you have to see it now, something's just not right with our QB. You can't put the ball on the turf with that kind of regularity. It's as if he's lost those spidey-senses he once had that told him when danger was near. Something is wrong with his game, and he needs to figure it out quick. And please, don't tell me to look at his stats, the long TD's to Crayton and Barber were hardly the work of Romo. The only real drive he put together was the one right after halftime. Look, I love Romo, I still believe in the kid, but he's off his game right now. Yes, the offensive line was absolutely part of the issue, but there were other plays where they had no part of the mistakes. This has been going on for the past three games.

I can't really complain about the defense in this game. While they only got one sack on Kurt Warner, they did apply much more pressure than they have in recent games. They knocked him around quite a bit. They also didn't allow the Cardinals to run the ball. On the downside, they gave up a third and 17 on a screen pass that was probably the biggest momentum-turning play in the game. And once Larry Fitzgerald got loose in the second half, he did some damage. Anthony Henry's play as a corner certainly looks to be on the decline. But overall, they only gave up 17 points to the Cardinals offense, and that should have been enough for the Cowboys to win the game. They even came up with a couple of turnovers. So while they weren't lockdown, they actually played pretty well against an offense that has been very good this season.

It's hard to pinpoint what has caused this decline in play from the Cowboys. But when a whole team looks to be in a funk over a couple of weeks, thoughts immediately turn to the coaching staff. Wade Phillips has to figure out a way to turn this around. The season is still long and Dallas has plenty of time to right the ship but they should start thinking about doing it quickly. The NFC East is a beast this year and dropping games along the way could be hazardous to their playoff health.

I'm not in a panic but I'm absolutely concerned. A team this talented should not be playing this way. I don't care about expectations; I care about what I'm seeing on the playing field. And right now, that's very average, and that's giving them every benefit of the doubt.

A list of injuries from the game.

QB Tony Romo (sprained right pinky finger)
RB Felix Jones (strained left hamstring)
P Mat McBriar (bruised right ankle)
LT Flozell Adams (stinger)
SS Keith Davis (cut left thumb)
OLB Anthony Spencer (strained left hamstring)

A generic recap.

Cardinals 30 - Cowboys 24

I've got nothing for you.

We stunk.

We came back.

We stunk in overtime.

We lost.

It's possible I'll write something later tonight, but don't count on it.

P.S. Losing doesn't mean you can start dropping profanity bombs. So don't do it.

New open thread for the Cowboys/Cardinals game.

New open thread for the Cowboys/Cardinals game.

New open thread for the Cowboys/Cardinals game.

Open Thread

Dallas Cowboys @ Arizona Cardinals
Sunday, Oct 12th, 2008
4:15 PM EST, TV: FOX
U of Phoenix Stadium - Glendale, AZ

You can see a map of the areas of the country where FOX will broadcast the game, here. On DirecTV Sunday Ticket, the game is on channel 714.

My prediction: Dallas 35 - Arizona 31

Weather Forecast
Sunny
75 degrees
Wind 9 mph

This is an open thread for game chat.

While we wait the interminable wait until the late games on Sunday, at least we can watch some NFL football.

So who are you watching in the early games? Do you make your decision based on what you think will be the most competitive games? NFC East teams in action? Your fantasy football players? Or do you just have to watch whatever game the networks send your way?

Open thread for the early games.

There are a lot of very good games today in the college ranks, including the Oklahoma-Texas rivalry. LSU and Florida meet in a big SEC clash later tonight.

Feel free to use this open thread to discuss today's college football games.

When the 2008 schedule came out, I think most of us took a look at the Cardinals/Rams portion of the schedule and thought - there's a break for the Cowboys. It's not quite working out that way as Arizona has proven to be a new team this year. They lead the NFC West and have an offense that can score points. This game is no longer a "gimme" but a true test for the Cowboys, a game where the winner is definitely in doubt.

So what's going on in the desert? I took a look at last week's Cardinals game vs. the Bills to get a Scouting Report.

Arizona offense

The focal point of the Arizona offense was definitely the passing game and that hinged on the performance of Kurt Warner. The Cardinals didn't avoid the running game, they used it quite a bit, but the results were not always good. What were the Cardinals doing in the passing game that led to such success? Two things, they were protecting Kurt Warner and Warner was using short-to-intermediate passes to great effect. Arizona used a lot of three and four-wide sets even without the services of Anquan Boldin. Steve Breaston filled in for Boldin pretty well and they still have Larry Fitzgerald who is about as good as they come in the NFL. Their offense reminded me of a West Coast philosophy - lots of quick slants, crossing patterns and dump passes that took place mainly in the 5 to 8-yard range and relying on YAC to produce drives. The Cowboys have seen this before, recently the Redskins proved it could work against Dallas who has notably been playing soft zones this year; willing to concede the underneath stuff to protect vulnerable safeties and inexperienced corners deep.

Unless the Cowboys switch up their philosophy and press up on receivers to disrupt the short patterns, forcing the QB to hold the ball longer while waiting for receivers to uncover (something I pleaded with them to do before the Washington game), we could see similar results. The Cowboys secondary is without Terence Newman and is relying a good deal on rookies Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick, so the idea of soft zones to protect deep makes sense in theory. But on the field it has allowed opposing offense to control the ball, and without turnovers the defense is left to a bend-don't-break philosophy of making the offense kick FG's. That's a risky strategy.

If the Cowboys secondary is playing back, even getting pressure can be ineffective if Warner is allowed to release the ball quickly. I think everybody agrees that if you can get to Warner, knock him around some, good things will happen for your defense. Warner notably turns the ball over, either fumbling in the pocket or making ill-advised passes if you can get to him. I would hope the Cowboys play a little more aggressively with the secondary to make Warner hold the ball a little longer, then rely on the pass rush to do the damage.

The Cardinals running game was much more effective when they were running draws and delays out of the shotgun formation. Edgerrin James isn't the running back he once was although he's still decent. Rookie Tim Hightower looks pretty good and can make so plays. But overall, except for the redzone where they do run pretty well, the Cowboys defense should be able to contain the running game.

Arizona defense

The Cardinals defense is hard to define. They run some kind of hybrid 3-4/4-3 and the linebackers and strong safety can end up playing in some unusual formations. It was tough to get a handle on just exactly how they would line up and the responsibilities of each player. They are quick to the ball and pursue very well, so misdirection could be employed to slow that down. They ended up with a lot of sacks in the game but a good number of those came when the Bills were so far down that they had to drop back and throw, allowing the Cardinals linemen to pin their ears back and attack. During the competitive part of the game there wasn't an inordinate amount of pressure on the QB.

On first downs they played a lot more press coverage with the secondary but tended to back off on other downs. On third down passing situations they were almost guaranteed to blitz. The secondary looks pretty good although rookie Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie bit badly on a move to the middle allowing Lee Evans to get wide-open for a long TD. Travis LaBoy and Karlos Dansby were very active in the game, the Cowboys need to account for both players on Sunday.

The Bills were unable to generate a serious rushing attack early in the game. The Cardinals did a very good job of holding the line of scrimmage and they now have strong safety Adrian Wilson back which only bolsters their ability to stop the run.

Well, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Cornerback Terence Newman will miss a month of playing time, but at least it wasn't a full-blown sports hernia. That could have cost him up to two months. From the DMN blog: 

Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman had surgery today on his groin and will be out at least a month. Doctors thought Newman would be out six-to-eight weeks, but discovered his groin muscle wasn't as badly damaged.

Hat tip to silverblue5 for first posting this news. 

Are you guys Pac'ed out? Yup, I'm tired of the whole Pacman mess this week. But, there is a little more news, so I have to post it.

NFL officials said Friday they will not complete their investigation into an incident involving Jones until next week.

We'll find out then. Until that time, I'd advise Jerry Jones to keep his mouth shut on the incident, or he'll say stuff like this.

"I almost feel like I'm an enabler," Jerry Jones said. "Because it's the very people that I have with him that created this. Had we not had that security with him, this wouldn't have happened. Really. Had we not had the security with him, it wouldn't have happened."

Just stop, please.

If you haven't had your fill, you can get more details here and here. 

Anquan Boldin is definitely out for Sunday.