Dallas Cowboys
Heroes & Zeroes
Game Ten

Dallas Cowboys 7 Washington Redskins 6

Ugh. Two weeks in a row and the Cowboy offense looks completely out of sync. It seems the Packers found something in their game planning a week ago that the Redskins - who do have the best pass defense in the league - were able to copy this week.

For all intents and purposes, it was still a victory for Cows against an NFC East rival. But it was extraordinarily ugly and in all honesty, the 'Skins should have won. But bad teams find a way to lose and good teams sometimes win badly. Hopefully, the momentum from winning in the last 3 minutes will carry over to Thursday. In the mean time, thew will be playing Oakland, who are simply horrible. Walk away with a win on Thanksgiving, and the Cows will be 8-3, with 10 days to get healthy.

HEROES

Tony Romo, Quarterback -- Romo was beaten and battered all game long. On the first drive, he hurt his back while tackling London Fletcher, who had just recovered Marion Barber's fumble. It was apparent that his injury affected the way he throws, as many passes early on sailed high and away. But when it mattered most, Romo put aside the pain and led his team for the winning score. The TD pass was a thing of beauty, as Romo escaped a furious rush, scrambled to his left, stopped and threw a bullet across the field to Patrick Crayton. It was clearly not his best game. But he proved why he is this team's leader.

Anthony Spencer, Outside Linebacker -- For the second week in a row, Anthony Spencer stood out from the crowd. The Cowboy defense was very good today, especially considering they had little room for error. Spencer just missed his first sack (again), when Jason Campbell just threw the ball out of bounds before he stepped out, and he made THE play of the game when he intercepted Campbell on Washington's last stand.

Keith Brooking, Inside Linebacker -- Brooking shows up for every down of every play. He is outstanding against the run, excellent against the short throws, wonderful as a blitzer and extremely vocal and animated on the sidelines. Along with Gerald Sensibaugh, Brooking has been a terrific addition to the defense and has clearly returned to Pro-Bowl form. He sacked Campbell once today and was in his face three additional time, wrecking havoc against the 'Skins O-line.

ZEROES

Roy Williams, Wide Receiver --What can I say. Roy Williams has been terrible. Jerry Jones spent a lot of money to bring the former-Texas Longhorn back home and so far, it has completely backfired. Last week, he dropped a crucial pass and fumbled on another play. This week, he didn't fumble, but he dropped a couple more passes. Granted, they weren't well thrown balls. But as the supposed "number 1" receiver, he has to make those plays. The reason Miles Austin has not made the plays he made before is because defenses are able to double him - since they are no longer concerned with Williams. He's been a terrible waste and consideration should be made to put Crayton back at the starter (or Sam Hurd).

Nick Folk, Kicker -- Nick Folk has been a terrific kicker for the Cows. FOr the past two years, since he was drafted in the 6th round (the highest round a kicker was ever drafted by Dallas), he has been money in the bank. But this season has been different. He has missed 5 of his 19 kicks and has already lost his kicking off duties to David Buehler. His miss this week did not end up hurting the team, but two weeks in a row he has missed kicks that were very makeable. When your team is only averaging 7 points a game (for the past two weeks), missing field goals are not an option.

Jason Garrett, Offensive Coordinator -- Even if you excuse last weeks loss to Green Bay (I didn't), today's performance against Washington was inexcusable. I will give Garrett credit for running the ball effectively - something the Cows have not done for a few weeks - but they were playing one of the worst run defenses in the league. The offense looked completely out of sync and unprepared to play against a bad team. Again.

Scoring 14 points in two weeks is a recipe for a losing season. The Cows are very lucky to walk away with a split of the two. Luckily, the have the lowly Raiders on Thanksgiving and then have twn days to get healthy for the final stretch of the season. If they play this December like previous ones, it won't matter. But these past two weeks have looked like previous Decembers. Can they right the ship this time? Thankfully, at 7-3, they are in position to do just that. Whether or not they can is yet to be seen.

Next Game:

Dallas..............................24
Oakland...........................6