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The news just got worse, Romo is reportedly going to be out 4 weeks with a broken finger on his throwing hand. Happened when he landed on his hand when he didn’t have pocket awareness…

From ESPN.com:

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has a broken pinkie on his throwing hand and will be out four weeks, a team source told ESPN’s Michael Smith.

Romo initially was diagnosed with a pinkie sprain in Sunday’s 30-24 overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals. The injury will not require surgery, a member of the Cowboys’ medical staff told ESPN.com’s Matt Mosley.

Veteran quarterback Brad Johnson, the Cowboys’ holder on kicks, is Romo’s backup.

The Cowboys have lost two of their last three games after starting the season 3-0

I wrote earlier that this was a must win for Wade Phillips, and we floundered from the first play of the game until the last play of the game. This was a complete meltdown and disaster. The fact that the Cowboys were in this position of making a late failed rally further proves how overrated this squad is. Without a doubt we have officially taken a step backwards.

Wade Phillips is not getting this team prepared or not motivating the players that need to be motivated. The players have to be held accountable, and Romo is a liabilty in the same vein as Drew Bledsoe…turning over the ball, fumbling around, and not aware of his surroundings cost us today, and hurt us in other uneccesarily close games in weeks past. Something is wrong with Romo.

We’re in trouble. Get ready for the scrutiny and fallout because its here in full effect.

The Cowboys drop to 4-2, their next 3 games are: @Rams, Bucs, @Giants…. all of the sudden this team could lose three more after its all said and done. To think we’re going to turn it around is foolishness. This team has had too many let downs, too many turnover, and too many penalties.

Jerry Jones is disappointed, and you know he’s thinking of the next coach of this team. Its gonna be Cowher. This is not panic mode, its reality.  This hiring cooridinators is not getting it done.

Ever heard of a must win sitting at 4-1? Don’t sell the Cardinals short this week, this is an explosive offense, and this is the type of game we should win; but, its well within the realm that we could get upset.

Let’s be honest here, the Cowboys’ 4-1 is a false-positive. On paper, its a good record, but the way in which we got here is way below expectations; sloppy, blundering play and defensive let ups are driving fans crazy. So, here we are at 4-1, and its a must win for Wade Phillips. Jerry Jones was NOT pleased at all with the win over the lowly Bengals, and when you see the owner on the sidelines its not a good sign in general. Phillips better bring the aggressive pass rush in which his scheme was so highly touted in San Diego….we have yet to see this scheme, whats the deal?

Leaving the desert with a lose will be a big blow to this team, in particular, Wade Phillips. I know it may sound crazy, but its not. I’m telling you, that if we lose this game, there WILL be some contraversy fall out from it. This is a must win. Even the fact that I’m writing this is an indictment of how unpredictable and inconsistent this 2008 squad has been. We should be writing about being undefeated and crushing people like the Patriots did last year, but we’re not. Don’t give me that crap about a “win is a win” or we’ll take that “ugly win”…Im sorry, but most teams with aspirations of getting to the Super Bowl don’t want to take that approach.

How we win:

- Be aggressive on offense & defense

- Consistent pressure from the front 7

- Create turnovers

- Feed the Barbarian

- Pass the ball to Felix Jones

How we lose:

- Bad playcalling

- Penalties & Turnovers

- Lack of running game

- Lack of pressure on QB

- Bad special teams play

We better win this game big, none of this close call bs.

NFLGAMECENTER

Madden forecast: Cowboys 21 Cardinals 16

Nothing but bad news on the defensive front, and the news hits us in our weakest disappointing portions of the defense, the secondary. Apparently, the clock hit midnight on Adam Jones, and his alter-ego, Pacman has reared his ugly head. The news is breaking tonight, so we’re not sure what the implications if any will be. One thing is for sure, just the fact that Adam has his name back out there in a negative light, and off the field again does not bode well for him or the Cowboys.

The leash is probably short on the Cowboys and Adam Jones. I’m sure Roger Goodell is disturbed by this latest development. A suspension is definitely not going to be ruled out, if anything a fine will be dealt. I would think a fine would be what the Cowboys do, just for the fact that a game suspension would be very bad for us right now, we’re all banged up back there. We’ll have to see what comes of this. Here are the latest details:

KTVT-TV in Dallas (CBS 11) is reporting that Adam “Pacman” Jones got into a violent altercation with a member of his security detail at a hotel in downtown Dallas last night.

Per the TV station, a mirror was broken in Pacman’s room, and he left the hotel without paying his bill. No police report has been filed and hotel management declined comment. (DMNBlog)

So, we’ll see what happens there, it could be a non-issue or a big issue considering our market, and the player. On top of the Jones news comes the news that Terence Newman will miss another game. He’s not going to play against the Cardinals. These injuries are happening in greater frequency and should be concern for the future. According to Phillips, Newman is probably out:

Wade Phillips said CB Terence Newman is “probably out” of Sunday’s game in Arizona because of an abdominal strain, not the groin injury that sidelined him from the first week of training camp through the season opener. (DMNBlog)

Its time to let Mike Jenkins earns his bones this week. Start Jenkins opposite Henry, and let him take his lumps and make plays. We can no longer rely on Newman, and Adam Jones is one screw up from being banned forever. Throw Jenkins out there and get him going, we’re going to need him this year, and probably more further down the season; moreover, Jenkins will need to be the guy in 2009, that’s clear to me now. Let’s see what we got.

The Cowboys pulled out a win over the lowly Bengals, 31-22. Let me say it again…we “pulled out a win”… What is wrong with that sentence, we shouldn’t be pulling out wins at this stage of the game, we should be killin’ teams. What is going on with Romo and the turn over machine he has become. During the game, the telecasters pointed out a disturbing factoid which stated Romo has the longest consecutive INT per game in the entire NFL. In my previous post I said we needed to win big in a crushing, decisive win; however, if this game was close (and it was) then it would support the notion that we’re overrated. Guess what? We’re overrated, and at this point we’re third best in the NFC East.

The Giants are the team to beat, the Redskins have emerged as a solid team, then there’s us and the Eagles. We better get out ass in gear, this team is playing way under expectations…barely winnning games, turning the ball over, bad play calling. This team looks like they took a step back this year. I’m not in a panic mode yet, but I’m also not fully convinced of our potential. We haven’t wowed anyone with our sloppy play.

Was there anything good to take from this game? Despite our crap play, there were some bright spots, mainly that of Felix Jones. We need to get him more involved in the passing game and have him on the field as the same time as Barber.

Jay Ratliff is a player we’re getting our money’s worth from, this guy is a beast in every game. We need a couple of more motors like Ratliff on this line.

There should be no question who our number two receiver is, and that would be Jason Witten. Witten is Romo’s security blanket, who knows what would happen to Romo if Witten were not here.

NFL Game Center: Post Game

The Cowboys are coming off a very disappointing loss to the Redskins last week, so we’ll see how the Cowboys Coaching Staff has handled all the the events after the game. One thing is for sure, the Cowboys better not lose this game, or its gonna be high drama, and no one will be immune to scrutiny.

On paper, the Bengals are a horrible team, this is a game we are suppose to win easily; but, this is the Cowboys, and we’re playing at home. Under Romo we’ve played better on the road. Homefield advantage is an urban legend for us the last few years. I want to see a complete blowout and nothing but. If this game is even close, its going to be an indictment supporting the notion that we are overrated.

How we win:

- Balanced Air & Ground Attack

- Consistent pressure from the front 7

- Create turnovers

- Get Felix Jones involved

How we lose:

- Bad playcalling

- Penalties & Turnovers

- Lack of running game

- Lack of pressure on QB

- Bad special teams play

We better win this game big.

NFLGAMECENTER

Madden forecast: Bengals 17 Cowboys 24

I hate to say it, but Newman is injured yet again. His shaky play last week was disappointing to say the least, and now, he’s back on the injury tray. For years, Newman was a shutdown cornerback, and underrated, but has Newman peaked. This is a legimate question with his age and recent rash of injuries.

Terence Newman was a surprise addition to the injury report on Friday. He is listed as questionable with a groin injury.

Newman originally suffered the injury early in training camp and did not play in the season opener at Cleveland. He saw action the nickel defense vs. Philadelphia before returning to a full-time role the last two games. (DMNBlog)

Newman is beginning to remind me of Kevin Smith, a solid underrated corner that fizzled out after having some nagging injuries which ended his career. Good thing we added Adam Jones and Mike Jenkins better keep those laces tied, I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing him more in the season.

Newman’s injury is not good news for an already burnt up secondary. The defense needs more pressure up front to cool the flames of a burnt secondary. That leads to the upfront men. Where’s the pressure? In the offseason, this defense looked stout ON PAPER, now the reality is out in the open. We’re overrated and we’re not getting it done consistently. We are not physical enough with receivers, and we’re not harrassing the QB enough. Besides Ware and Ratliff, where is the other pressure at?

More from the excuses column. I’m not buying into this whole deal of why the run was abandoned. Now Romo gives his two cents, and it just aggravates me more. He basically says there wasn’t any production early…more excuses. We’ll move onto the Bengals game after this post, but this has to read:

“When you run the ball, you’ve got to see production,” Romo said when asked about the Cowboys abandoning the run. “If a team doesn’t have a very good quarterback and he’s not connecting on passes, you’re probably not going to keep on throwing. The production wasn’t there in the beginning, so we had to throw the ball there in the beginning and we didn’t connect on the third downs.

“We had too many three-and-outs. They weren’t giving us good looks. Too many situations where we were used to getting a lead and then we would give Barber the ball and it adds to the stats. When you’re trailing, that’s one when you get three-and-outs. You’re not extending the drives.”

So much for the theory of letting Marion The Barbarian and the Cowboys’ massive offensive line wear down opponents, huh?

Phillips said that Romo does exactly what the coaches tell him to when he comes up the line. And the coaches will tell him to hand the ball off to Barber a lot more often than last week, whether he sees an eight-man front or not. (DMNBlog)

Sorry, but that’s dumb to me. So, if this happens again, can we expect the same senseless panic and lack of passing accuracy from Romo. Where’s the accountability in this deal. We better see a balanced attack against the Bengals, and Felix needs to get the chance to run for the change of pace, that really hurt us. Nothing was working, why not try it, what was the worse that could of happened? Alright, Im moving on. Thoughts?