Week [Weak] 7 Analysis: 4-3

Wow. That was just embarassing. On both sides of the ball, all kinds of mistakes were made. I've been saying for weeks that the Cowboys are not playing like a Super Bowl team. Now, they aren't even playing like a playoff team.

Roy Williams (safety) and Anthony Henry kept pointing at each other everytime a pass was completed at one of the guys they were covering. If you can't take responsibility for your mistakes, get off of the field.

I realize that we were without our starting QB, but our problems go far beyond that. There's no control. There's no discipline. The only pro bowlers I see on this team are Witten and Ware. There were lazy tackles, mental mistakes and unnecessary penalties.

Offense:
Brad Johnson, uh, yeah. The Rams played him, pretty much giving Brad Johnson anything deep. They knew he wouldn't (and couldn't) throw it deep. He didn't. His longest past was a 36 yarder, but credit some of that to YAC yardage.

It wouldn't have mattered even if Johnson could throw deep. He was missing his targets all day. He threw them short, he threw them wide, he threw them to the Rams. He had a good opening drive, but that was about it. It was downhill from there. Total, Johnson was 17 for 34 with 234 yards with 1 TD and 3 INTs. He fumbled it once and had another near fumble. We have a backup quarterback that we simply cannot rely on and I wouldn't be surprised to see Romo return early, possibly even next week. Even with these weapons, Brad Johnson wasn't getting it done.

Witten was the reception "champ" for the Cowboys this game, catching 6 passes for 44 yards. Bennett had the most yardage, 2 catches for 67. He also had the lone reception TD.

Marion Barber is the clear offensive mvp "by default". He had 18 rushes for 100 yards and a rushing TD. It wasn't really a spectacular performance, but really is the only performance that was average-above average. Unfortunately MB3 also fumbled yet again. If MB3 doesn't get control of the football, he should fear losing his starting job. It's kinda weird to be saying this about the offensive mvp for yesterday's game.

Roy Williams (who IS #11, I received inaccuarate information apparently) didn't have a catch, but also didn't play every down either. This will probably be taken way out of proportion by the media this week. He's probably still learning the play calling system.

Defense:

Demarcus Ware.

There, that's it. I'm done on defense. DeMarcus Ware was the only player we had playing defense. Sure, James and Ellis also had a sack (Ware had 3). However, keep in mind that the Rams are sporting one of the weakest offensive lines in the NFL. Jenkins, the rookie CB starting in place of Pacman, looked absolutely lost. I know exactly where I'd throw it if I was an opposing QB. Jenkins will probably get more reps in practice this week.

Run defense wasn't very good either. All you have to do is not run in Ware's direction and you're probably going to get a good gain. Ellis has clearly lost a step. Stephen Jackson ran all over us.

All in all, we were playing as if this game didn't matter, similar to how we lost against the Redskins late last year. You could clearly see only a half effort look on most of the players. There is something else on their minds. Was it that the Rams weren't good and the Cowboys thought they could get an "easy win"? Was it that they are so used to relying on Romo to make a play for them? Was it that they were thinking about Pacman? I don't have the answer, but the football game did not have the Players attention.

The good news: Last year, if you would have picked the NY Giants to win it all after week 7, you would have been laughed at. They rebounded well. These next two weeks will be "do or die" for the Cowboys. They've been humbled. One of two things will happen after a humbling, either you realize you've got work to do and you work hard or you point fingers and go down playing the blame game, possibly even missing the playoffs.

This is a roster full of pro bowlers. The majority of the problems I see are simply an issue of laziness. Bad tackling (using arms instead of body) and penalties (our many false starts and illegal motions) were the majority of our problems against the Rams. If we simply use our brains a bit more, we'd see huge improvements.

Since the start of the season, the Cowboys have gradually gotten worse and worse. However, the good news is that I don't think that will happen next week. Our performance was at an all-time low this season. There's nowhere to go but up **knocks on wood**.

It doesn't get any easier, Bucs next week, then the Giants. It will only get harder.