Romo, Defense come up short against G-Men

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter
You can't blame Terrell Owens for this one.

The Cowboys 33-31 loss to the New York Giants in what was a very winnable game came down to a couple of malingering problems from the last couple of seasons—Tony Romo's penchant for mistakes and having one of the worst secondaries in football.

For starters, I don't want hear from any Cowboys fans who say Romo is a better quarterback without the melodramatics of Owens. All three of Romo's interceptions against the Giants led to 24 points. What should really bother Cowboys fans about Romo's miscues was that it wasn't like the Giants were bringing a whole lot of pressure on the quarterback.

New York had zero sacks, but held Romo to 13-of-29 passing for 127 yards, one touchdown and three picks-including one that went for a touchdown. He completed just four passes to a wide receiver. In front over 100,000 fans at the new state-of-the art Cowboys Stadium in the glare of a national television audience, Romo was simply awful. He stank on toast against a Giants defense that was without two of its starters.


This was the Cowboys squad that hasn't a won a playoff game in over decade and has struggled in December. Once again, Dallas comes up a small in a big game. The only bright spot in this loss was that the Cowboys rushing attack rolled up 251 yards on the ground. Marion Barber, who left with a leg injury, gained 124 yards rushing while Felix Jones ran 96 yards.


I'm thinking the Cowboys should resort to a three-pronged rushing attack similar to what both the Eagles and the Giants have had in recent years to take the
pressure off Romo.

But given some of the silly mistakes that Romo made, you have to wonder if that will even if that will help him from making that game-killing throw.


There's no Owens crying and moaning about not getting catches—he's taken that act to Buffalo. There's no one to blame in this situation but Romo himself. The good news for Cowboys fans is that it's still early in the season and Romo and erstwhile offensive coordinator Jason Garrett have some time to get it together. But they better do it quick.

Just as bad as Romo's performance was the Dallas defense—most notably the secondary. When Romo wasn't giving the Giants a score or a short field with which to work, the Cowboys defensive backs could not guard anybody. G-men receivers—Mario Manningham and Steve Smith combined for 20 receptions and 284 of Eli Manning's 330 yards passing.


Meanwhile, the Cowboys front seven, which includes All-Pro defensive end DeMarcus Ware barely laid a glove on Manning and let him have all the time in the world to pick apart a weak secondary.

And so it wasn't surprising to see Manning do a reenactment of his Super Bowl-winning drive against the Patriots on the Giants final drive against the Cowboys, who had taken a one-point lead with 3: 46 left in the game. On the 11-play, 56 yard drive, the Cowboys didn't even come close to knocking Manning down and the secondary allowed Giants receivers to run right by them.

So far this season, the Cowboys have no sacks and no turnovers in their first two weeks of the season. The Boys are ranked 30th in total yards allowed and they are allowing 303 yards passing per game, which also ranks 30th in a 32-team league. Excuse me, but Super Bowl teams don't get torched like the Cowboys have in the first two weeks of the season. Last week, the Cowboys defense allowed a not-so good Buccaneers squad to run the ball for 174 yards.

This week, Dallas stopped Brandon Jacobs and company on the ground, but the Cowboys lack of a pass rush and coverage made it all too easy for the Giants to say to heck with the running game.

But again, it's early in the season, maybe head coach Wade Phillips and Garrett can fix the issues that bother this team on both sides of the ball.

Folks like to talk about the Cowboys falling flat on their faces in December. If they don't get their act together right here in September, December could be a moot point.

Going Nowhere Fast: Redskins struggle to find answers for anemic offense

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter

If you witnessed the Washington Redskins 9-7 victory over the hapless St. Louis Rams squad at Fed Ex. Field in Landover, Md., you would have probably would have thought you were in South Philadelphia with all the booing that went on along the Beltway this past Sunday.

Even though fans are no doubt happy about seeing their Skins get their first win of the season, they are frustrated with an offense that rolled up 362 yards offense, but only managed to come away with just three field goals.

While it's never good discount any victory in the National Football League, I think Redskins fans are looking down the road when they have to run across teams the high-powered offenses in their own division like the Giants, Cowboys and Eagles—that have all put more than 20 points on the board so far this season. The team has not scored 30 points during head coach Jim Zorn's tenure in Washington.

What is really making Redskins fans want to holla and throw up their collective hands about Sunday 's performance against the Rams was that the Washington offense could only muster field goals against a defense that gave up over 400 yards of total and 28 points to a mediocre Seattle Seahawks team.

Trying to figure out Redskins offense is struggling is like trying to interview a dozen witnesses at an accidents—everybody has a different story. Is it quarterback Jason Campbell, who passed for 242 yards on while completing 23-of-35 of his passes? He also led the Skins on three drives of more than 60 yards.

What about the Redskins rushing attack? You have a bruising running back in Clinton Portis, who is averaging over four yards per carry. He gained 79 yards on 19 carries. Portis gained 62 yards on 16 carries against the Giants in week one. Shouldn't Portis be the work horse of this offense? You would think a back of Portis' caliber would get more carries and be the center piece of this offense. Hmmm.

Then you have the Redskins receiving corps. The only deep threat that the Redskins have is Santana Moss, but when everybody knows that then you can double team him. What about Malcolm Kelly or even Antwan Randle-El or Devin Thomas? When will one of those guys be a player that defenses have to pay attention to during the course of their game planning. Pro Bowl tight end Chris Cooley has been an outstanding safety valve for Campbell.

I think ultimately this falls back on Zorn and his play-calling. What's really driving Redskins fans crazy is that you have a power back in Portis who has the ability to dominate a game in a way that some guy named John Riggins could back in the 1980s and they don't give him the ball enough.

Yet, the Skins don't run the ball as consistently as they should and that's because Zorn appears to be hell bent on enforcing his idea of the West Coast offense or he's in the (Eagles head coach ) Andy Reid school of pass, pass and more pass.

With Zorn's version of the West Coast offense is that the passing part of it is more dink and dunk rather than taking advantage of Campbell's arm and throw the ball down field. It would appear as if the Redskins offense is playing not to lose. If you want to be a contender in this league, you have to have the ability to put the fear of God into an opposing secondary by chucking it deep.

At this point, this are definitely not getting better for the Redskins offense. The Redskins could be without starting right guard Randy Thomas for the rest of season because of a torn bicep. On an offensive line that lacks depth, Thomas' loss could be a devastating blow to an offense that is searching for a rhythm of any kind.

Something has to give for the Redskins if they're going to be a contender in the NFC East. Luckily, their schedule gives them some time to figure a way to right their ship. This week they play the Detroit Lions, losers of their last 19 straight. Maybe the Skins can find their offensive mojo in the Motor City.

If the Skins offense can't muster up points against a sorry Lions squad, the clock will start ticking on Zorn's future in the nation's capital.

Eagles look to rebound after loss to Saints

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter
PHILADELPHIA—The one thing that Eagles fans learned Sunday in their 48-22 loss to the high-powered New Orleans Saints is that their team has a long way to go before it can really consider itself among the elite teams in the NFC.

“It wasn't right today in any phase of it,” said Eagles head coach Andy Reid. “It was an absolutely horrendous performance.”

Granted, the Birds were without injured starting quarterback Donovan McNabb, but even with his presence would not have been enough to stop a juggernaut of a Saints offense that simply had its way with the Eagles defense, who gave up the most points at home since 1962.

On a day where the Birds were starting second-string quarterback Kevin Kolb, the Birds needed to play well on all sides of the football. In the first half, the Eagles offense managed to keep up with Drew Brees and company and trailed by four points at the intermission.

The Birds sealed their own fate by turning the ball over the first two times they touched the ball in the second half. The first came on a fumbled kickoff by Ellis Hobbs and a Kolb interception that put the Saints in Eagles territory on both occasions.

The powerful Saints offense took advantage of the Birds miscues by scoring touchdowns and pretty much ended the competitive portion of the game. The Eagles got no closer than 14 points.

It might be easy for Eagles fans and observers to give the Birds defense a pass just because the Saints are just that good on offense. It's also easy to blame the poor play of the special teams,which committed a turnover and several penalties and put the defense in positions where they had to defend a short field.

But the bottomline is that the Saints simply had their way with a confused Eagles defense in both the rushing game and the passing game. They torched the Birds for 423 yards of total offense. Wide receiver Marques Colston torched the Eagles secondary for two touchdowns. He caught eight passes for 98 yards. Brees, though he was sacked twice, burned the Birds for 311 yards while completing 25-of-34 passes.

If the Eagles are the Super Bowl contenders that all the experts say they're going to be, they have to play much better on defense against some of the conferences best offenses. The effort they displayed today will not cut it against the New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys or even the San Diego Chargers.

Luckily for the Eagles, they won't be playing prolific offenses like the Saints for the next couple of weeks. Kansas City, whom the Birds play next week at Lincoln Financial Field. After that, they play Buccaneers, Raiders and Redskins. None of these teams scare me with their offensive prowess.

“We're the team that we had last week (against Carolina),” said Quintin Mikell. “We have to watch the film, learn from it and move on. We were on our heels and we weren't aggressive and you can't do that against good teams.”

And that's why the Eagles have time to right the ship on the defensive end in the next couple of weeks. The standard the Birds are looking to get back to is what they did to the Carolina Panthers in Week 1 when they forced turnovers and got after the quarterback. But they have to do that against the some of the better offenses in the league.

Maybe it's safe to conclude that the Eagles lackluster effort against New Orleans was just an aberration, but if they let a team Kansas City run through their defense with that kind of impunity the way the Saints did, then you may have a reason to panic if you're an Eagles fan.

Same as It ever was: Eagles Defense Unleashes Hell on Carolina Offense

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter

If there has been one constant or one thing that Eagles fans have depended upon during the Andy Reid era in Philadelphia is that they will attack and force turnovers on defense.

Even though they were the third best defense in the NFL last season, folks were wondering how good would the Birds be on the defensive side ball, especially considering the season-ending injury to middle linebacker Stewart Bradley and they have a rookie in Macho Harris playing at the free safety spot.

In the their 38-10 rout of the Carolina Panthers, the Eagles defense set the tone of the game by forcing seven turnovers and scoring a touchdown. The Birds intercepted Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme five times and forced two fumbles. They held the Panthers to just 169 yards of total offense and stymied their highly-regarded rushing attack and limited them to a mere 86 yards. It was the most turnovers the team has forced in the last nine years.

“We just went out and executed. We didn't know exactly what they would do. We had an idea, but the first game of the season you don't know what a team will do so you want to go out there and play hard football and we did that today,” said defensive end Victor Abiamiri, who scored on a two-yard fumble return for a touchdown that was set up by a Trent Cole sack of Delhomme in the second quarter.

The only thing that casts a cloud over the Eagles win is the rib injury to quarterback Donovan McNabb, who is listed as doubtful for next week's home-opener against the New Orleans Saints at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. McNabb's injury came in the third quarter when he scored on a three-yard run.

Coming off a five-interception performance in a NFC Divisional Playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Delhomme had another difficult outing at the hands of the Birds defense. New Eagles defensive coordinator Sean McDermott, who learned his lessons well from the late Jim Johnson, unleashed hell on Delhomme and held him to just 7-of-17 passing for 73 yards and four interceptions and sacked him five times.

“I thought he had a good game plan. I thought the defensive staff did a nice job. I thought the players played like crazy. I was proud of that group,” Reid said.

With all the noise that came from him wanting to renegotiate his contract, cornerback Sheldon Brown came up with a pair of interceptions including one that led to an Eagles touchdown. He said it was important to jump on Delhomme and the Panthers offense early.

“I think we had some things going early. I can remember some of the years where we were able to create turnovers, like Trent Cole, hit the quarterback,” Brown said. “Where in the past on opening day the other team would recover it. Today, we happened to be able to recover fumbles and catch the football in the back of the end zone.”

The Eagles defense, for now, answered all the questions that was hovering them at the outset of the season. The next big test for the Birds will be a New Orleans Saints squad that can put the points on the board.

“We understand we haven't accomplished anything. This is a long season. If we win this one and lose the rest then it's not going to mean anything. We have a veteran group in the locker room and we're going to continue to work,” Brown said.

No T.O. No Problem: Romo Spreads the Wealth in Win over Tampa

By Chris Murray
For the NFC' Easter

All the questions about how the Cowboys passing game would fare without Terrell Owens were answered, at least for one week, by their receiving corps in Sunday's 34-21 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Quarterback Tony Romo passed for a career-high 353 yards and three touchdowns while completing 16 of his 27 passes. He completed passes to six different receivers Three of his touchdown passes went for more than 40 yards.

"They are playmakers, and we knew that going in," Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips said. "But until you do it, the naysayers are going to say: 'Hey. You don't have this or that.' But I think we do."

The Cowboys offense proved that it can score quickly, something all the experts and pundits said the team couldn't with the departure of Owens. Dallas also showed that it has a pretty decent group of receivers as well.

"Career-high passing yards? Without T.O.?,” said Cowboys wide receiver Roy Williams, laughing before turning serious. "No, it's good. It's good for him. It's good for this team," Owens' replacement added. "It was a team effort. Everybody contributed."

The much-maligned Williams caught three passes for 86 yards and one touchdown—a 66-yard strike on its first drive of the second half that gave Dallas its first double-digit lead of the game. For Williams it was a small measure of redemption for the criticism that he took at the end of last season. He said he wants to do it on a regular basis.

“No, because it's all about consistency, not about one game,” Williams said on Cowboys.com. “I have to back and show out against the Giants next week.”

Perhaps the biggest play of the game for Dallas came near the end of the first half. With the Cowboys trailing 7-6, Romo hit Miles Austin for a 42-yard touchdown pass with 46 seconds left in what was a lethargic first half for Dallas. The play seemed to energize the Cowboys, who needed a spark after settling for field goals on their first two trips to the redzone.

While it's always nice to have a superstar like and Owens, it's a always good to have a couple of players who capable of stretching the defense. Even Patrick Crayton, a player not known for his ability to blow his way past defenders, came away with an 80-yard touchdown pass on a fly pattern that extended the Cowboys league to 13 after the Bucs cut the lead to 20-14 with 12:56 left.

Romo was able to pick apart the Buccaneers secondary because the offensive line gave him plenty of time and allowed just one sack for the entire game. Romo did a good job of finding open receivers and used his legs to buy time in the pocket. His mobility allowed his receivers to find time to exploit holes in the Tampa defense.

On the 80-yard touchdown pass to Crayton, Romo rolled to his right and drew in Buccaneers safety Sabby Piscatelli who was thinking the quarterback was going to run. At that point, Crayton streaked past Piscatelli and Romo hit him in stride for the touchdown that gave Dallas a two-score lead.

"You don't think about yards. You're not judged off of yards," said Romo, who has a franchise-best 17 300-yard games. "You're judged off of winning and losing at this position."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Second Thoughts? Uncertainty on both sides of the ball cast doubt on Eagles

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter

After being a listed as an odds-on favorite to win the NFC East based on their free agent acquisitions and the draft, the clouds of doubt are starting to gather around the City of Brotherly Love.

And those who picked the Birds are now having second thoughts.

Perhaps the biggest concern is their patchwork offensive line. Guard Todd Herremans is out with a foot injury and Shawn Andrews, who didn't play at all during the pre-season, is still nursing that bad back that kept him out of last season.

So that means a pair relatively inexperienced lineman—Winston Justice (right tackle) and Nick Cole (left guard) will open the season on the road against the Carolina Panthers, who have an All-Pro defensive end named Julius Peppers.

The big worry for Birds fans is how will Justice fare against Peppers who likely line up on his side. Still fresh in the minds of Eagles fans everywhere is Justice's experience against New York Giants Osi Umenyiora, who burned him for six sacks in a game back in 2007. In that game, the Giants tied a league record with 12 sacks of quarterback Donovan McNabb.

But Eagles head coach Andy Reid is confident that Justice will be up to the challenge of handling the onslaught of Peppers and the Carolina defense. Hopefully for the Eagles, Justice will come out with something to prove.

“I thought one of the real positives coming out of camp was Winston Justice and how he played. I thought it was valuable, valuable experience that he got in there. He will have an opportunity Sunday to play against two good football players and I just look forward to seeing him out there competing,” Reid said on Friday.

In any event, Justice will no doubt be motivated to prove fans wrong and what better way to battle the demons of his last start by slowing down a player of Pepper's caliber.

How Justice will handle the pressure of the Panthers defense is only one part of the story with the offensive line. With all the injuries in the offensive line, the real issue is whether they can establish enough chemistry to go up against a tough Carolina defense.

If they can protect McNabb, guys like Brian Westbrook, bum knee and all, and DeSean Jackson could have a big day against the Panthers defense.

And speaking of defense, the Eagles definitely have some uncertainty there, especially at the middle linebacker spot. Omar Gaither will anchor the middle for the Birds in place of Stewart Bradley who suffered a season-ending injury at the beginning of training camp.

It was just two years ago that Gaither replaced Jeremiah Trotter at the middle linebacker spot only to replaced by Bradley later in 2007. Gaither also played at the outside linebacker spot last season and eventually lost his job to Akeem Jordan.

Gaither hasn't necessarily wowed the Eagles coaching staff because of his inability to be a force against the run. His demotions over the last two years gives you a reason to worry.

Another thing for the Eagles to worry about on Sunday is the Carolina Panthers running game that was among the best in the NFL in 2008. The tandem of DeAngelo Williams (1,515 yards) and Jonathan Stewart (818 yards) combined to gain 2,333 yards. Both runners averaged over 4.5 yards per carry. As a team, the Panthers ranked third in the NFL in rushing.

In the Eagles secondary, you have to wonder how rookie and former Virginia Tech star Victor “Macho” Harris will do at the free safety position in place of the legendary Brian Dawkins. Harris' new teammates are saying the right things in public, but deep down inside there has to be a little bit of angst.

“It's a different territory; usually I'm the new guy. It's going to be a little different but I think what Macho showed, he came in, he was very mature and he learned the defense and took the starting job to task,” said Eagles strong safety Quintin Mikell. “He really wanted it. He was out there making plays, doing what he was suppose to do; being ready to play. And I'm not saying anything about anybody else, but he had the hot hand and he really showed up.”

Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme could have a field day playing pitch and catch with Steve Smith, especially if the Panthers can run the ball effectively. If Carolina is averaging four and five yards per carry, look for Delhomme to have a field day against the Birds defense when they go to play-action passes.

If the Eagles can come away with a tough road win Sunday, all their doubters and naysayers will be back on the Bandwagon. If not, well, listen to Philadelphia sports talk radio immediately after the game to hear the doom and gloom.

For McNabb, it's Super Bowl or Bust

By Chris Murray

For the NFC'Easter

PHILADELPHIA—Shortly after the Eagles lost to the Arizona Cardinals in last year's NFC Championship game, the radio sports talk shows in this town were full of fans and media pundits wanting to run quarterback Donovan McNabb out of town on a rail.

To McNabb's detractors, it was another case of him choking in an NFC title game. After all, McNabb is 1-4 in conference championship games. Never mind that McNabb had brought the Birds back from a 24-6 halftime deficit to a 25-24 lead with under 10 minutes left in the game or that the Eagles defense allowed the Cardinals to march down the field to score the go-ahead touchdown while chewing up the clock, it was all McNabb's fault.

Even when wide receiver Kevin Curtis dropped a fourth-down pass he should have caught to seal the Eagles fate, fans and sports talk show hosts moaned about the pass McNabb threw behind Hank Baskett on a crossing route on the previous play and his bad first half. I guess the defense's poor performance in the first half was also McNabb's fault, too.

For the game, McNabb was 28-of-47 for 375 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. But it meant nothing because he didn't win.

The reaction to McNabb's NFC title game performance is par for the course in his 10 years of wearing an Eagles uniform. Ever since they booed him on Draft Day, McNabb has never quite won the hearts of Eagles fans in spite of the fact that he is considered to be one of the best signal callers in the game and the winningest quarterback in team history.

From this point forward and for the final two years on his contract with the Eagles, McNabb, who is probably a future Hall-of-Famer, has to lead his Eagles to the Super Bowl and win it. That's the only way he can silence his naysayers. Otherwise, he will go down as one of the most under-appreciated quarterbacks in team history.

Whether McNabb wins a Super Bowl title this season will depend upon those around him. If right tackle Shawn Andrews and the rest of the offensive line are as good as their press clippings or if rookie wideout Jeremy Maclin or quarterback Michael Vick can learn the Eagles system and become a threat in the Birds offense, McNabb's dreams for a Super Bowl title could come true.

The reason it hasn't happened by now isn't all of his fault.

And whether his critics want to hear this or not, the reason McNabb hasn't reached the game's highest pinnacle of success is because the Eagles never had the personnel on both sides of the ball to support him.

With the exception of Terrell Owens during their Super Bowl run in 2004, McNabb has managed to win and make five Pro Bowls without a game-breaking wide receiver and a consistent running game. During the 2004 playoffs when Owens was sidelined with a leg injury, McNabb still managed to lead the team to the Super Bowl.

McNabb has managed to survive injuries and hints from current and former teammates that he's not the leader that he should be on the field, especially when Owens was throwing him under the bus in the media back in 2005.

Coming into this season, McNabb has the third highest winning percentage among active quarterbacks (82-45-1) behind Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. And for those who have criticized his accuracy over the years, McNabb has the third best touchdown to interception ratio behind Steve Young and Tom Brady. He has also completed close to 60 percent of his passes for his career.

It doesn't help that McNabb himself has sometimes given his critics fodder for their vitriol. There have been times in his career where McNabb has needed to be more assertive in his career in terms of taking over games. In at least three games in his career including the Super Bowl, McNabb has thrown up on the field, something that does not engender confidence from your teammates. There have been times when McNabb has missed open receivers.

But when you as his career in its totality, McNabb has done everything he could to bring a Super Bowl to Philly. Some football observers have said McNabb still has work to do to secure his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Really? McNabb has led his team to more conference title games and has one more Super Bowl appearance than Hall-of -Famer Dan Fouts. He has won more playoff games and has a better winning percentage than Dan Marino (8-10).

With all of McNabb's wins, the five NFC Championships in 19 years along with the Pro Bowl appearances, his legacy in Philadelphia will ultimately be determined by him bringing home a Super Bowl ring.

If he does that, people, even those who jeered him on draft day back in 1999, will forget all of his flaws and see him as one of the all-time greats.