Plenty of blame to go around for Cowboys loss

That sound you just heard was Calvin Johnson (81) catching another pass against the Cowboys

Reading the papers and the bloggers this morning you would think the only thing that caused the Dallas Cowboys to drop a 31-30 NFL game to the Detroit Lions was the Cowboys defense, which surrendered 488 passing yards to the Lions, including 329 to receiver Calvin Johnson, the most yards by any receiver in a regulation NFL game. (I know the official listing will have Johnson second to Flipper Anderson’s 336 yards in 1989, but that was in an overtime game and at the end of regulation, Anderson had fewer yards than Johnson. So there.)

Tony Romo and the Cowboys offense didn’t do much either. Romo had a total of 206 yards passing. The Lions’ Matthew Stafford had 211 yards passing in the fourth quarter alone.

Two of Romo’s tosses went for 60 yards to Terrance Williams and 50 to Dez Bryant, misleading numbers because most of those yards were the result of excellent runs after the catch by Williams and Bryant. In fact, I wish the NFL would break up those statistics, awarding the quarterback only the yardage between the throw and the catch, and awarding the receiver the rest.

But I digress. Take away those 110 yards and Romo was a pathetic 12 of 28 (a horrendous 43 percent completion rate) for only 96 yards. 96 YARDS? If you’re only going to pass for 96 yards you’d better have one super strong running game.

So let’s look at the Cowboys rushing stats. Ahem. The Cowboys rushed for a grand total of 62 yards yesterday. The Lions’ Reggie Bush alone rushed for 92.

There’s a program on ESPN called Numbers Never Lie. They sure don’t in this case. The Cowboys offense was just as much to blame for this loss as the defense. And don’t forget – the Lions’ margin of victory could have been significantly greater were it not for the four turnovers registered by that much maligned defense.

Mind you, I’m not absolving the defense for its performance yesterday. I’m just saying there’s plenty of blame to share.

If I handled the Cowboys draft

Dallas Morning News sports columnist Rich Gosselin orchestrated an interesting exercise today, inviting readers to conduct their own draft for the Dallas Cowboys. He sets up the hypothesis by reiterating the team’s needs: two starting offensive linemen, a starting safety, an impact defensive tackle, a blocking tight end, a second running back, a third wide receiver and, for added depth, another safety, cornerback, linebacker and pass rusher. "Also," he writes, "keep your eyes open for a down-the-line quarterback if one’s there at the right price."

He makes the exercise a lot easier by offering a number of options at each level of the draft.

So here’s what I would have done. First, I would not have traded out of the 18^th pick. Instead, I would have snapped up defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, a Florida prospect many believe would be a top 10 pick, if not a top five pick. In his junior (last) year at Florida, he was credited with 31 tackles (19 solo), eight of which went for lost yardage. He was a Sporting News first team all-American and a third team AP all-American.

Because I didn’t trade down, that means my next pick is at 47, and there I’m taking Larry Warford, an offensive guard who started 37 consecutive games for the Kentucky Wildcats and didn’t allow a single sack his senior year

With the 80^th selection (I can’t pick at 74 because I didn’t do the aforementioned trade), I’m going with the same player the Cowboys chose: J.J. Wilcox, the safety from Georgia Southern with 4.5 speed and who also can return kicks (he averaged 25.2 yards per kickoff return his senior year). He also had 88 tackles, two interceptions and three pass breakups.

Thus, with my first three picks, I addressed three pressing needs, which is much more than the Cowboys braintrust accomplished.

It’s now the third day of the draft and with the 114^th pick, although it would be tempting to take a second guard (Earl Watford from James Madison), I’m going to take a flyer on "a down-the-line quarterback" and take Landry Jones of Oklahoma, the Big 12's all-time leading passer. He just seems like too great a bargain to bypass here and, frankly, I’m not sold on the idea of Tony Romo being the answer to the Cowboys’ offensive questions—never have been, never will be.

Besides, with the 151^st pick, I can grab my second offensive lineman, Tanner Hawkinson, a 6-5, 298-pound tackle out of the University of Kansas. Because of the current quality of my offensive line, I feel relatively positive Hawkinson can step right in and be a starter.

With my final pick, the 185^th choice, I’m taking tight end Michael Williams. Because he played his college ball under Nick Saban at Alabama, you know he’s an excellent blocker. He also had three receptions, one for a touchdown, in the national championship game against Notre Dame.

So that’s my draft and, although I’m prejudiced, of course, I think it’s a better one than the Cowboys had.

So there.

A quick look at the Cowboys first two days of drafting in 2013

Let's see. With their first pick they passed on defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, considered by many a top five talent who would have filled a major area of need, and instead traded down to get Wisconsin center Travis Frederick, who would have been available in the third round.
But it was the second pick that was really dumfounding. Why on earth did the Cowboys take tight end Gavin Escobar of San Diego State, admittedly a fine pass catcher but a notoriously poor blocker, unless coach Jason Garrett plans to emulate New England's double tight end offense? But to do that, the Cowboys would need a New England quality offensive line. This is the third time since 2006 the Cowboys have taken a tight end in the second round and those picks -- Anthony Fasano and Martellus Bennett -- didn't exactly work out that well.
The Cowboys will make the argument that Escobar was the best player available at that pick, but I'm not buying it, especially when a better player and a real need, offensive guard Larry Warford of Kentucky, was available.
With the 74th pick in the draft the Cowboys shocked me again, passing on offensive tackle Terron Armstead of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, to take a wide receiver, Terrance Williams of Baylor, over the superior WR Keenen Allen of California. My issues with Williams is that Baylor ran the spread which means he didn't face the kind of coverages he's going to see in the NFL. Plus, at 6-2, 208, he could take a real pounding in the NFL, especially running across the middle.
I did like the Cowboys' final pick of the day, strong safety J.J. Wilcox out of Georgia Southern, even though he only played the position his final year in school. He spent his first three seasons as a wide receiver and running back, but that actually might help him figuring out offensive tendencies. He is regarded as a smart player and physical tackler. I'm betting, barring injury, he'll be starting for the Cowboys when the 2013 season opens.
Going into the draft, everyone agreed the biggest area of needs for the Cowboys were the offensive line and safety. They addressed two of those needs (although not nearly well enough on the OL) and I will admit that the current Cowboys offensive line is so poor, they will probably be able to scavenger some scraps tomorrow that will be good enough to start in 2013.
Of course, that doesn't make them a contender. In fact, I didn't see the Cowboys do anything in Days 1 and 2 of the draft to make them any better than last year's 8-8.

What, me worry?

Let me see if I got this straight. The worst general manager in all of professional football has fired the best coach on the Dallas Cowboys staff. There's a move that will come back to haunt the team.

Way to go, Jerry!

Back in January I wrote these words on this journal:

"Memo to Jerry Jones: You are little more than two cornerbacks away from having a Super Bowl contending team. Sign a top-notch free agent cornerback (there will be a couple available) and use your first draft pick to get second one. Voila! Instant fix."

So what does Jones do? He signs the superb free agent Brandon Carr from Kansas City and then, just moments ago, grabs LSU’s Morris Claiborne, the top-rated CB in this year’s draft.

Voila! Instant fix.

News' Taylor blows it much worse than Buehler did

You'd think Dallas Morning News sports columnist Jean-Jacques Taylor would know better than to put the entire blame of the Dallas Cowboys' Christmas Day loss to the Arizona Cardinals on kicker David Buehler.

You'd think Taylor would be perceptive enough to see that the Cowboys were playing a team that had lost eight of its last nine games and was quarterbacked by someone with even less experience than the Cowboys' Stephen McGee. You'd think Taylor would have noticed the Cowboys' defense made this rookie, John Skelton, whom I'm betting is not starting on anyone's fantasy team and probably won't anytime soon, look like Tom Brady on that last drive that led to Arizona's winning field goal.

Taylor compounds the error of his ways by writing:

"Missing the extra point rendered the 53-yard kick meaningless. The same goes for the 42-yarder he made in the second quarter."

Meaningless??? Meaningless??? How can six points in a game the Cowboys lose by one be meaningless? Take away those field goals and Dallas is, at best, still three points behind Arizona after Miles Austin's final touchdown catch and what would have to have been a successful two-point conversion.

Taylor needs to display some intelligence by not insulting ours. Sure, Buehler is an easy target, possibly the obvious one. But we look to the sports columnist worthy of working for a major metropolitan daily to show more insight than that, especially when the easy, obvious target is easily and obviously the wrong one.

Benching Kitna would be in the Cowboys' best interests

Dallas Cowboys fans should love John Kitna. If anyone told you at the beginning of the season that Kitna would have to start eight games for the Cowboys, I'm betting even the most optimistic would not have believed Kitna would be .500 in those games and 4-2 since a coaching change. To say he has exceeded all expectations is a gross understatement. He has outperformed starter and overrated Tony Romo.

If all the above is true, then why bench him for the final two games of the season? The reason is that as good as Kitna has been, he is definitely not the future of the Dallas Cowboys. And, in the best interests of the Cowboys, Romo shouldn't be either. That's why starting Stephen McGee these last two games makes sense. Let's face it, the Cowboys aren't going to be playing any more games this season after their next two games. The worst thing that could happen is that McGee is a total bust and Dallas gets blown out against Arizona and Philadelphia. The other side of that coin is that McGee could have a pair of 300-yard passing games and lead the Boys to a pair of wins. You never know and you'll never going to know unless you stick the kid in a real game situation.

I am a big proponent of the Cowboys drafting Arkansas' Ryan Mallett. As things stand now, the Cowboys have the eighth pick in the draft and worse case scenario could make that pick higher. I'm convinced Mallett is going to make a superb NFL quarterback and he should be available when it comes time for the Cowboys could pick. (Even Cam Newton -- the next Michael Vick -- could be available since most of the teams drafting ahead of the Cowboys have their franchise-QB-of-the-future in place already.) There's a possibility, however, that the Cowboys might not even need a signal-caller when they draft, but they will never know unless they give McGee a meaningful opportunity to display what talents he has right now. That presents the possibility that the Cowboys could already have their quarterback of the future and they could use that first round pick to fill a real need at offensive line or safety.

The Cowboys' future: Garrett and Mallett

• Dallas Cowboys interim coach Jason Garrett's performance in Thursday's loss against New Orleans did more to ensure owner Jerry Jones will take the interim off his Garrett's than his performances in the two victories over the Giants and Detroit that preceded the Thanksgiving Day game.  The Cowboys displayed a lot of character and resilience -- both qualities that have been missing before Garrett took over -- in coming back from 20-3 deficit with less than a minute remaining in the first half to outscore the defending Super Bowl champions 24-10 the rest of the game. And I can't blame Garrett for Roy Williams' fumble with three minutes left in the game, but I can applaud the decision to call that pass. More to blame than Williams was the Cowboys' defense that allowed the Saints to go 89 yards in five plays in just over a minute for the winning touchdown, especially the 55-yard Drew Brees to Randy Meachem pass on third and 10.
• The Cowboys have been searching for a quarterback to lead the team back to greatness since Troy Aikman retired a decade ago. They have been so desperate for one they have latched on to Tony Romo as the solution, but, in reality, anyone who really thinks Romo is the solution doesn't fully understand the problem. I agree with the poll of NFL players in a recent issue of Sports Illustrated in which Romo was voted the second most overrated player in the NFL, behind former teammate Terrell Owens. The Cowboys definitely need an upgrade at the quarterback position and I have a possible solution. The way the Cowboys' record seems to be shaping up, I'm figuring Arkansas signal-called Ryan Mallett will be available when it comes the Cowboys' turn to draft. And knowing Jones' proclivity for selecting talent from his alma mater, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the team actually made a sensible selection in the draft this year. Mallett is going to make some NFL team an excellent quarterback and it would be nice if that team was the Pokes.

Whatever you say, Jerry

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said during a KRLD interview yesterday he had no intentions of firing head coach Wade Phillips after his team, which he expected to be the first to play in a Super Bowl in its home stadium, began this season 1-6 and will probably add another loss to its record tomorrow night. I agree with the decision -- it really makes no sense to fire a head coach in the middle of a season, but I, along with millions of others, will be shocked if Phillips is running things (well, as much as any coach can really be said to be "running things" with the Cowboys as long as Jones is the owner) at the beginning of the 2011 season.

When asked, however, when would be the best time to replace a head coach, Jones, according to this account, said the following:

"I think this: I do want to remind every fan that is listening, that if some of the fundamental things that help teams win are…the franchise, frankly, can be important and the stature of the franchise can be important. The amount of money in professional football, professional sports, the amount of money that is expended to help the team win; that’s a big deal. We spend more on this team than any team in all of football. So, I’ll answer that one for you."

Huh? That sounds more like an answer this guy would have given.

Romo's injury not to blame

The so-called-experts have it wrong. The injury to Tony Romo is not going to be what dooms the Cowboys. If you recall, the Cowboys were leading 13-7 when Romo was injured and then increased that lead to 20-7 after he was in the Cowboys locker room.

Besides Romo is possibly the most overrated player in the NFL these days anyway and Jon Kitna is not that much of a downward step. Cowboys receiver Roy Williams had his best professional season with Kitna throwing him the ball in Detroit.

No, what is dooming the Cowboys is a pathetically poor running game and a defense that I could score on.

But who really gives a damn anyway. THE RANGERS ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES and it all begins tomorrow night.

The joke's on Jean-Jacques

Dallas Morning News columnist Jean-Jacques Taylor is the latest to leap off the Dallas Cowboys caboose, writing "These Cowboys have become an NFL joke." That may be true, but who's laughing? The truth is the entire NFC has become a joke, a collection of 16 teams each trying to see who can look the most pathetic.

No team in the entire conference has less than two losses. That's two less then the Cowboys with 11 games left to play. The Cowboys defense has allowed 111 points this season, the best scoring defense of any team in the NFC East.

In any normal year, the Cowboys would probably be toast by now. But this is not a normal year. The Washington Redskins, for crying out loud, have the best division record at 2-0. How long you think that's going to last? In Jeff Sagarin's computer rankings, the top 5 teams all play in the AFC. The top NFC team is Atlanta, No. 7, which got pounded 31-17 by the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday. If that's the best team in the NFC, I don't think the Cowboys should be too worried right now.

Having said that, however, next Monday night's game at home against the Giants is huge for the Cowboys. If the Boys lose that one, I'll be asking Taylor to make room on the side of the tracks.

In the meantime, however, why doesn't everyone spend a lot more time celebrating the feats of the Texas Rangers instead of fretting about the sorry state of the pro football's NFC? How about handing the Bronx Bombers their worst post-season shutout defeat in the team's storiede history? How about this: the two teams have played 27 innings in this ALCS and the Rangers have had the lead over the Yankees in 27 of them. Yes, Cliff Lee was magnificent again Monday night, but let's give the Rangers offense some credit as well. They are simply out-bombing the Bombers.

Death of the Cowboys huge exaggeration

The Dallas Cowboys are 0-2 and, trust me on this, it really isn't the end of the civilized world as we know it. Jeez, I heard one radio commentator Monday said he was completely giving up on the Cowboys, was going to focus all his attention on the Rangers' pennant chase and wait patiently for the start of the Mavericks season. And this was not some loony calling into the station. It was one of those paid professional sports "experts."

I'm betting most of those folks giving up on the Cowboys right now are those who drank Jerry Jones' Super Bowl-flavored Kool-Aid.It's no secret Jones wants his Cowboys in the upcoming Super Bowl Bowl that will be played in Jonestown. But folks who really thought the Cowboys were a Super Bowl team were deluding themselves.

The Cowboys are a fairly decent team -- decent enough to make the playoffs -- but they are not Super Bowl-caliber. I said the day NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell reduced Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Rothlesberger's suspension from six to four games that the Green Bay Packers would defeat the Steelers in this year's season finale. I see absolutely no reason yet to back off that prediction -- in fact, it's looking more solid than it did two weeks ago.

Yes the Cowboys are 0-2 and they'll probably be 0-3 after this weekend, but the other three teams in the NFC Least are just 1-1 and has anyone seen one of those teams -- the Giants,, the Redskins, the Eagles -- looking that much better than the Cowboys? I certainly haven't. And the Cowboys have only played one of those other teams and in that game the Redskins didn't beat the Cowboys. Dallas got on its knees and begged Washington to win it and the Skins reluctantly accepted the gift.

So I'm convinced the Cowboys have just as much of a chance of winning its division as those three other clowns and might even win a home playoff game against a wild-card team before bowing out in the second round. It's not Super Bowl but it's not bad and certainly not worth committing sports suicide over.

I'm not buying Jones's story

If Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wanted to shift the media story from his comments on former coach Bill Parcells and quarterback Tim Tebow by blaming former Mayor Laura Miller for Dallas losing Jonestown, he succeeded beyond his wildest expecations. The Dallas Morning News ran this story on its front page today and I imagine it was picked up by other news outlets.

But I'm not buying it. Even if Miller had not responded by saying "The only person I've ever patted on the knee is my husband," I can't see the former mayor acting that familiar with Jones. This simply sounds like another chapter in his autobiography in which he paints himself as an irresistible ladies' man. (On the other hand, I don't see Miller encouraging Jones either - she was never a fan of sports-related projects.)

I really don't think Jones ever really considered locating his Taj Mahal in our city. For one thing, the city was insisting the facility be located in Fair Park. There's not enough room anywhere in Fair Park to build something as large as Jones has constructed in Arlington.

For another thing, he wanted tax money and the city's sale tax rate is already at the state-allowed maximum. Arlington, because it has no public transportation system that receives sales tax revenues, could up its rate to subsidize Jonestown.

But the telling paragraph is the second-to-the-last one in the story:

"(Friends of Fair Park Executive Director Craig) Holcomb said he too was skeptical about the likelihood of bringing the Cowboys to Dallas. He said there were a couple of productive meetings with Fair Park officials, but it never seemed like it would be a smooth process. The Cowboys wanted to get the issue on the ballot by that November, which is what happened in Arlington."

Here's the story I've been told by several sources: Yes, Jones wanted the issue on the ballot by that November but Dallas County officials flatly told him it would never happen because they feared it would attract more minorities to the polls. These Republican officials saw the county trending Democrat and didn't want to hasten that evolution by bringing more potentially Democratic voters out on election day.

It's interesting that the News' story also contained these paragraphs:

"(Dallas County Commissioner Mike) Cantrell said it's an oversimplification to heap most of the blame on Miller, and he isn't convinced the outcome could have been different.

"If they [Cowboys] really wanted to be in Dallas, I think they could have worked more diligently with the city or the county in order to keep it here," Cantrell said.

So why did Jones out Miller? Name value. If he had told his audience Margaret Keliher was to blame, half the audience would have wondered "Who's she" and another one-fourth or so would be trying to figure out what a former British prime minister had to do with all of this.

Dallas vs. Minnesota

The Cowboys are a two-and-a-half point underdog in Sunday's playoff matchup with the Minnesota Vikings and NFL minds I respect, including Rick Gosselin of The Dallas Morning News, are picking the Vikings to win this game.

I dunno. Vikings quarterback Brett Favre usually has one simply horrendous game every season, one where it seems he throws almost as many interceptions as he does completions. He hasn't had one of those games this year -- yet. And if you look at the last four weekends of professional football, no one -- and I mean, NO ONE -- has been playing better than the Cowboys (with the possible exception of the San Diego Chargers). The Cowboys seem to be on a roll right now.

I just have a feeling that the Cowboys are going to win this one and win it big -- like by three touchdowns or more.

I remember spending one very cold (wind chill was -85 degrees) weekend in Minneapolis in January 1982. I was there to attend a birthday celebration for Rod Stewart. It was Jan. 10 of that year and I was sitting in the hotel bar watching a playoff game between the Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers -- the game in which San Francisco tight end Dwight Clark made what became known as "The Catch," a touchdown reception from quarterback Joe Montana with 51 seconds left to play in the game, that gave the 49ers a 28-27 victory. All the patrons in the bar erupted into deafening cheers. I thought I was in the middle of some convention of San Francisco fanatics or something, so I turned to the bartender and asked him what the deal was. He said the people of Minneapolis, and Minnesota in general, simply hated the Cowboys, holding a grudge because of the "Hail Mary pass" six years earlier, a 50-yard TD pass from Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach to wide receiver Drew Pearson that gave Dallas a 17-14 victory over Minnesota, knocking the Vikings out of the playoffs that year.

I felt terribly alone in that Minnesota bar that afternoon. Sometimes I am a "get-even guy" and I would like nothing more than to have the Cowboys add even more sorrow to those Minneapolis patrons who were not cheering because one team won, but because the other team lost.

Two improbable/impressive wins by our local pros

The only thing less likely to happen than a Dallas Mavericks team without Dirk Nowitzki beating LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers was the hapless Dallas Cowboys defeating the unbeaten New Orleans Saints in the Superdome.

Yet both happened.

Both wins were impressive, although the Cowboys' victory was more infuriating. Who were those guys wearing the silver and white during the first three quarters of that game? They certainly didn't look like the same clowns who played so poorly in losing the previous two games and it convinced me more than ever that the Cowboys need an entirely new coaching staff. The problem with the Cowboys is inconsistency and that can usually be traced back to the staff. Although, except for DeMarcus Ware, they did revert to their sloppy game in the fourth quarter, they played their best ball of the season in the first three quarters. And it appeared, at least to me, they were playing up to their capabilities, not above their heads. If the Cowboys can find a coach who can keep them playing at that level (Mike Shanahan?), this is a Super Bowl-caliber team.

If the Giants lose to the Washington Redskins tonight, the Cowboys clinch a playoff spot with a win in one of their last two games.

The Mavericks obviously don't need a coaching change. That was evident Sunday when they were playing without Nowitzki who was out with a pained elbow sustained in a gruesome collision with Carl Landry during Friday night's game with the Houston Rockets. Landry lost five teeth -- make that three when two of them were found embedded in Dirk's right elbow, which required several stitches to close.

Compensating for the loss were players not even on the Mavericks roster last year -- Tim Thomas (pictured) who led all Mavericks scorers with 22 points, Shawn Marion whose defense of James held him to just two points in the crucial fourth quarter and former Cavalier Dwight Gooden who scored 12 points, collected eight rebounds and blocked two shots while playing 23 minutes.

Coach Rick Carlisle stuck to an eight-man rotation (Quinton Ross, James Singleton, Kris Humphries and Rodrique Beaubois didn't see any action Sunday) and always seemed to have exactly the right five people on the court throughout the game.

Two nice wins by two of Dallas' professional franchises this weekend.

NY Times architecture critic doesn't much care for Jonestown

Architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff, writing in today's New York Times, has a few bones to pick with the Cowboys grand new stadium out in Arlington. For one thing, he writes:

"Cowboys Stadium suffers from its own form of nostalgia: its enormous retractable roof, acres of parking and cavernous interiors are straight out of Eisenhower’s America, with its embrace of car culture and a grandiose, bigger-is-better mentality. The result is a somewhat crude reworking of old ideas, one that looks especially unoriginal when compared with the sophisticated and often dazzling stadiums that have been built in Europe and the Far East over the last few years. Worse for fans, its lounges and concourses are so sprawling that I suspect more than a few spectators will get lost and miss the second-half kickoff."

For another: "Walk around to either side of the structure and you’re confronted with what looks like a conventional suburban office park. ... A few lonely trees only draw attention to the absolute joylessness of the scene."

He concluded: "As it turns out, the biggest controversy so far about the stadium has to do with its supersize scale. The four-sided video board over the field is so big, and hangs so low, that a Tennessee punter hit it during a preseason game. It’s a nice irony that for all the space, there may not be enough room at Cowboys Stadium to play a game."

So there's that.

Rick Gosselin ranks the NFL teams

I respect Rick Gosselin, the NFL beat reporter for the Dallas Morning News, not only because he is a fellow former Unipresser, but because I know he's forgotten more about the league than I or most other casual observers will ever know. So I have absolutely no reason to question him when he ranks the Dallas Cowboys as the third best team in the NFL East, behind the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. But when he says the Pokes are not even the best professional football team in Texas, I gotta reply: "Hold on there, you Northeast lovin' (he has the Patriots ranked No. 1), Yankee-leaning, football expert, you. Them there is fighting words!"

The Dallas Cowboys in 2009

Since I've been wrong with just about all my sports predictions of late (Memphis to win the NCAA basketball championship, the guarantee that the Mavs wouldn't play the Spurs in the first round of the NBA playoffs), I might as well take a look at the Dallas Cowboys 2009 schedule that was released earlier in the week. Right now I'm picking the Cowboys to go 10-6 (including a shocking loss to open the season at Tampa Bay), but they could easily go 8-8 (there are two games I'm picking the Cowboys to win that are really too close to call. Here's my game-by-game breakdown:

Sept. 13 at Tampa Bay (a loss, 0-1)

Sept. 20 New York Giants open Jonestown (a loss, 0-2)

Sept. 28 Carolina (a win, 1-2)

Oct. 4 at Denver (a win, 2-2)

Oct. 11 at Kansas City (a win, 3-2)

Oct. 25 Atlanta (a win, 4-2)

Nov. 1 Seattle (a win, 5-2)

Nov. 8 at Philadelphia (the five-game winning streak ends, 5-3)

Nov. 15 at Green Bay (a loss, 5-4)

Nov. 22 Washington (a win, 6-4)

Nov. 26 Oakland (a win, 7-4)

Dec. 6 at New York Giants (a loss, 7-5)

Dec. 13 San Diego( this is one of the two close ones, but I'm calling it a win, 8-5)

Dec. 19 at New Orleans (a loss, 8-6)

Dec. 29 at Washington (the second close one I'm calling in the Cowboys favor, 9-6)

Jan. 3 Philadelphia (a loss, 10-6)

Jason Witten likes him some Terrell Owens

Dallas Morning News sportswriter Calvin Watkins ran into (literally) tight end Jason Witten at a go-cart track yesterday and during the "course" of the afternoon asked Witten whether the Cowboys will be a better team this coming season now that Terrell Owens has shuffled off to Buffalo.

"I don't know about that," Witten said. "Terrell was a great player. I think I was a better player because of him and what he brought to the team. His track record speaks for itself. He has been good wherever he has been. He is going to help Buffalo a lot."

Owens says Stephen, not Jerry Jones, fired him

According to this story in the Toronto Globe and Mail, Terrell Owens believes Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones reneged on a personal commitment to keep him on contract, and suggested that the owner's son, Stephen Jones, the executive vice-president of the NFL team, was behind his release this month.

"I know whole-heartedly he [Jerry Jones] wanted me there," Owens is quoted as saying. "There were some people I know who got in his ear that pressured him to make that decision. For that, it's sad. You let two or three people conspire to get me out of the situation."