Time to Circle the Wagons

Well, to add insult to injury, we learned today Tony Romo will be out at least 4 weeks due to a broken finger he suffered yesterday in the loss to Arizona. Over the past 4 or 5 years, the Cowboys have been one of the most, if not THE most, fortunate teams in the league in regards to injuries. They simply haven’t had to deal with an injury like this to a player of Romo’s importance to the team. Maybe that has now caught up with Dallas. However, the Cowboys have no time to hang their collective heads about this as they go on the road again next weekend to play the Rams. Before yesterday, I think everyone would have marked a “W” in the column when Dallas plays St. Louis on Sunday. The Rams are, quite possibly, the worst team in the NFL. But they managed to beat Washington yesterday which, by all accounts, is one of the best teams in the NFL. So, the Cowboys and their respective fans better not take this upcoming game for granted…not at all, especially now that Romo is out of commission for the time being.

I don’t envy the coaching staff as they have a lot to clean up before their next game, no doubt about it. I really thought, last week vs. Cincinnati, Dallas would have played well after the stinko game they played vs. Washington. However, even though they won, they played a pretty sloppy game. So, again, I thought that surely after 2 weeks of playing sloppy, they would come out yesterday, take command of the game and exert their will on the Cardinals. And, once again, I was dead wrong. By my count, this is how shoddy Dallas played yesterday:

-12 penalties
-4 dropped passes
-4 fumbles (they are lucky it wasn’t about 6)
-3 sacks of Romo given up
-1 kick off that went out of bounds
-1 missed field goal
-1 blocked field goal for game winning touchdown
-Opening kick off returned for touch down
-Out of 64 snaps Dallas took, Romo was hit 19 times or basically 1 time for every 3 snaps

So now, Dallas has under achieved for the last 3 games in a row. In fact, you can say that they have under achieved in 8 of the last 11 games, going back to last year (Detroit, Philly, Carolina, Washington and New York last season; Washington, Cincinnati and Arizona this year). They did lose every one of those games (they were 3-5 in those 8 games) but the mere fact that they haven’t played well, consistently, since last year’s Green Bay game isn’t a good omen. Clearly, this team is unfocused, undisciplined and has absolutely no urgency.

Wade Phillips took offense last week when people were concerned about Dallas’ play even though they beat Cincinnati. Well Wade, should we be concerned now?!?!?! Are you going to come out and pout at the media if they mention the fact that this is a concerning trend developing? Or, are you going to take freaking control of the team, like a head coach would, and get the ship righted? What do I mean when I say “take control”? I mean go in there, TODAY, and make a statement that this lackluster play and foolishness will not be tolerated. Go cut Barbie Carpenter, today. Go fire your special teams coach, today. Go fine Leonard Davis for the bone headed taunting penalty he took, today. Go into the offensive line meeting and draw a freaking line telling them their bland play, specifically, is a big reason the team is in the situation that it is and that it won’t be tolerated going forward. Do something that shows the team you ARE concerned and that they should be too. If you do nothing, or sit back and tell everyone “Hey, we’re 4-2 and the games we lost were by 2 pts to Washington and in OT on the road” then it’s quite possible Dallas doesn’t make the playoffs at all this year…period. That is exactly the kind of lax attitude that has filtered down to the team. I’m not saying Wade should turn into Bill Parcells, Jr. but I am saying that that he needs to do something, anything, before he loses the whole team. Quit coddling these guys and lead them Wade! Make the players accountable for their mistakes; don’t say the mistakes are all your fault. The team is at a cross roads right now and the leadership, if there is any, needs to circle the wagons and get this thing back on the right path.