Mid-term Grades for NFC East Teams

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By Chris Murray
For the NFC' Easter

Now that we are at the half point of the season, the race in the NFC East is still the most compelling in the NFC even if the teams aren't as good against competition outside the division.

Dallas Cowboys (6-2) B

Even though the Dallas Cowboys (6-2) have taken the lead in the division thanks to Sunday's win over the Philadelphia Eagles, the question for Dallas is can they keep it going into December where they have struggle over the last four years.
As it stands now, the Cowboys are playing well offensively. Dallas has the NFL's third ranked offense in the NFL (sixth in passing and eighth in rushing). Romo after struggling earlier in the season has found a rhythm with young wide receiver Miles Austin, the main reason for the Cowboys recent resurgence.
During the Cowboys current four-game winning streak, Austin has scored at least one touchdown. He scored two-game winning touchdowns in Dallas wins over the Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.Austin has definitely been the difference maker for the team.
The Cowboys three-headed monster rushing attack of Marion Barber, Felix Jones, and Tashard Choice are averaging 138 yards per game. Barber has been Dallas's version of New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera with his ability to get in between the tackles and run out the clock.
In Sunday's win at Philadelphia, Barber kept the chains and the clock moving by gaining 23 yards on three carries in the game's final four minutes. That along with a five-yard pass from Romo to tight end Jason Witten and the Eagles never saw ball again.
The Cowboys defense, which struggled to get interceptions and sacks back in September, has been playing much better. Against the Eagles, the defense pressured Donovan McNabb into four sacks and two interceptions. They also stopped the Birds on two critical, but controversial driving-end plays that were reviewed by the replay booth.
In both instances-a reception by Eagles running back LeSean McCoy on third down and a quarterback sneak by McNabb-were ruled in favor of the Cowboy. The defense apparently created enough doubt for the replay officials to not overturn the calls. As a result, the Eagles were forced to lose two crucial timeouts that ultimately sealed their fate.
With December still on the horizon, the Cowboys overall grade for the first half of the season is a “B” mainly because of how they've played in the last four weeks.

Philadelphia Eagles- (5-3) C

If there has to be a question that Philadelphia Eagles fans have about their team from week to week, is who are the real Eagles?
Most Birds fans would like to think that it was the team that rolled to a 40-17 victory over the New York Giants as opposed to the inconsistency the team has shown in their last two losses to an awful Oakland Raiders and in last week's loss to Dallas.
The only unwinnable loss the Eagles have had this season was a 48-22 loss at the hand of the undefeated New Orleans Saints that might be one of the best teams in the NFL at this juncture of the season.
With all the weapons on the Eagles offense such as DeSean Jackson and Brian Westbrook when he's healthy, the Birds are hurting on the offensive line where Shawn Andrews has not played all season and guard Todd Herremans has missed games due to injury. The Birds free agent pickup left tackle Jason Peters has been a disappointment and has allowed opposing defensive ends to sack McNabb.
The injuries to the offensive line have made it difficult for them to come up with more consistent performance. In the last two losses, McNabb has been sacked 10 times.
Speaking of injuries, running back Brian Westbrook hasn't been in the Eagles lineup for the last two games because of a concussion and a sore ankle. The Eagles need Westbrook back in their lineup to help younger weapons like DeSean Jackson, who caught just two passes in the loss to Dallas.
In the loss to the Cowboys, McNabb had a difficult time establishing any kind of flow in the passing game. With the pressure of the Cowboys defense bearing down on him through out the game, McNabb tossed a pair of interceptions, overthrew receivers and was sacked four times.
The game ultimately came down to a couple of replay challenges that not only went against the Eagles, but sucked up all their timeouts. With four-minutes-33 seconds left in the game and facing a fourth and 11 at the Cowboys 34, the Eagles inexplicably kicked a 52-yard field goal to cut a seven-point deficit to four.
Dallas ran the clock out and won the game, leaving Eagles fans to flood the local talk show circuit with another example of how McNabb and head coach Andy Reid do a poor job of managing games in the fourth quarter—the Eagles are 1-8-1 in their last 10 games decided in the fourth quarter.
Though the Eagles are 5-3 at this point of the season, four of their wins have come sub-500 records. The only team contending they've beaten this season has been the free-falling New York. The Eagles dropped from about what would have been a B (had they beat Dallas) to a straight up “C” because of their inconsistent play and a very bad loss to Oakland.

New York Giants (5-4) C-/D+

For the first five weeks of the 2009 season, the New York Giants looked like they returning to the form that helped them win the Super Bowl in 2007.
But after four devastating losses in a row, the Giants are searching for their collective mojo, not to mention answers for their current free-fall.
In their four losses, you name it, the G-Men have blown off the field on the defensive end—133 points in their last four games—including two games in which they've given up more than 40 points, they've had bad games by Eli Manning, who has thrown six interceptions during this current losing streak and they've lost games in the final seconds—last week's loss to the San Diego Chargers.
The odd thing about the Giants offense is that the receiving corps has managed the fill the void left by departure of Plaxico Burgess. Steve Smith has 53 receptions for 662 yards and four touchdowns. Rookie Hakeem Nicks is making a bid for NFL Rookie of the Year with 20 catches for 368 yards and four touchdowns. Former Michigan star Mario Manningham has caught 48 passes for 439 yards and four touchdowns.
And yet, the Giants are 28th in the NFL in red zone efficiency, scoring 15 touchdowns on 36 trips inside the 20. The pundits who follow the Giants on a regular basis believe that's where New York misses a tall receiver like Burress who can just go up and get the ball because of his height.
Here's an idea for head coach Tom Coughlin—you have Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw give it to one of those guys. With a pair of running backs who can bust through the line and offensive line that can blast open holes, moving the ball on the ground rather than trying to passs on goal line situations would help New York to score a few more touchdowns.
Defensively, the Giants are not the same team that dominated teams with a fierce defensive line and a solid linebacking corps. For one thing, the Giants aren't getting the same kind of push in the pass rush they once had. Osi Umenyiora is not exploding off the ball like he did before his injury, but he does have four sacks.
Strangely enough, the Giants are the NFL's top ranked defense in yards allowed and third in pass defense. But in the last four games, New York has allowed teams compile 349 yards per game—just under 100 yards more than their average.
The Giants injury-riddle secondary which has been without cornerback Aaron Ross and safety Ken Phillips has allowed opposing qjuarterbacks to pick them apart.Although they played better against the Chargers, the defense still allowed San Diego to drive to the final touchdown.
In the last four weeks, the Giants went from an A- to C-/D+.

The Washington Redskins (2-6) F

The only good thing you can say about the Washington Redskins at this point of the season is that they have eight more games left to play and their season will be over.
Despite having one of the NFL's best defenses, the Redskins have been awful as a team, but it's not the fault of the player on the team. It's the head coach—Jim Zorn and an absolutely clueless front office, most notably owner Daniel Snyder, that have put the Redskins into their current state of chaos.
On the offensive end, the Redskins are 24th in the league in total offense-20th in passing and 23rd in rushing even with Clinton Portis in the back field. Not even the recent hiring of Sherm Lewis as the offensive coordinator (while taking Zorn's playcalling duties away from him) has helped a Redskins team that has yet to score over 17 points in a game.
The team has an injury-riddle offensive line. Quarterback Jason Campbell, if he's not harassed by the opposing defenses, he has been an erratic quarterback so far this season. He has nine touchdown passes and eight interceptions.
While the Redskins have the best defense in the league, the inability of their offense to keep chains moving is the thing that's making life hard before the defense because they're staying on the field so long.
The bottom-line is that the Redskins are at the bottom and they're not getting up soon. Therefore , the Skins will get an F until further notice.

Romo has a lot to prove against Eagles

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter
The last time Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys visited Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia, they were given a good old-fashioned Philly beat down of biblical proportions in a 44-6 shellacking in the regular-season finale.

That loss put the Cowboys out of the playoffs while adding to what has become their annual late season swoon of playing poorly in December and January.

This Sunday Dallas will come back to the Linc for another meaningful game against the surging Eagles, who are fresh off of a 40-17 whuppin' of the New York Giants. Both teams are 5-2 and tied for first-place in the NFC East.

The Cowboys have won three straight and the Eagles have won their last two. Romo said he is not thinking about what happened to him and his squad at the end of last season.

“That was last year,” Romo said of last year's loss to Philadelphia. “ We had to deal with that all off-season and we had to grind it out to get better, to improve and not let that happen again. We've taken a lot of steps to be the ball club that we're hopefully gaining to be. For us, it's about improvement and getting better.”

Both teams are feeling like that they've got the swagger back and are ready to make a move in the division. Obviously, something has to give here and somebody's going to win while the other squad will go through a week of agonizing re-appraisal and self-reflection.

That's something that Romo knows all about. He had an entire off-season to figure out what went wrong with himself and the Cowboys. Every one thought that the solution was to get rid of the always volatile Terrell Owens, which the Cowboys did at the end of last season. But the reality really and he even admitted it, was that Romo's half-hearted approach to game preparation was definitely apart of the death knell to the team's playoff aspirations.

And so everything will again bounce back to Romo, who has yet to win a meaningful game as the quarterback of “America's Team.” In some big games against divisional competition over the last couple of years, Romo has come up short.

The most glaring example was the Cowboys 33-31 loss to the New York Giants where Romo threw three interceptions led to three Giants touchdowns. One of those ;picks was returned for a touchdown. In a loss to the Denver Broncos, Romo was 11-of-24 for 201 yards, no touchdowns and one interception that he threw right to cornerback Champ Bailey near the end zone. Romo's inconsistent play throughout that game kept the Cowboys from taking what should have been a winnable game.

Sunday's game against the Eagles will be another opportunity for Romo to perform well in a big game. At this point of the season, Romo has finally found a go-to receiver in Miles Austin and his offense team has played with some semblance of consistency in their last three games. The Cowboys running game has been among the league's best.

The good part of that equation from Romo's perspective is that the burden is not all on him—he has weapons like Austin and tight end Jason Witten in the passing game and he has running backs like Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice.

“Anytime you play the position you have to do certain things well,” Romo said. “That's part of playing the position.when you have good personnel around you, it definitely helps that you can trust other people to know when they're going to be so you can look off longer. Obviously,when a guy can make people miss are things that separate themselves and that goes a long way.”

The only decent team Dallas played during that stretch of games was the Atlanta Falcons, a playoff team from last year. The Cowboys struggled in an overtime win over the 1-6 Kansas City Chiefs and they had an easy time with a 2-5 Seattle Seahawks. Those teams they aren't necessarily world beaters.

Romo has to prove that he can stand up to the Eagles variety of blitz packages. The word on Romo for the last couple of years is to put pressure on him and he will crumble or have a bad game throwing the football. He has not proven that theory wrong in big games during his career.

Sunday's game against the surging Eagles will be one of many times (December is one month away) that Romo will have to prove that he can lead his team to a big win.

Jackson legit deep threat for Eagles

By Chris Murray
For the NFC' Easter

Throughout the Andy Reid/Donovan McNabb era in Philadelphia, the biggest complaint in Philadelphia is the lack of a game-breaker at the wide receiver position. With the exception of the 2004 season when the Eagles had volatile wideout Terrell Owen, the Eagles haven't had a game-breaking wide receiver. The Birds went to the Super Bowl that season with Owens as their starting receiver.

So far in the 2009 season all the noise about McNabb not having that big-time go-to receiver has been muted by the performance of players like second-year wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who has become one of the most dangerous weapons in the Birds offense.

Statistically, none of the Eagles receivers are in the top 10 among the NFL's best, but McNabb does have receivers who are capable of making that game-breaking play at anytime.

After an outstanding rookie season in 2008, Jackson is following it up with a sophomore season that teams have to account for him as a force in the Eagles passing game. This season, Jackson, who was last week named the NFC's Offensive Player of the Week , has caught 24 passes for 501 yards for four touchdowns and is averaging 20.1 yards per catch—the second highest in the league for receivers with 20 or more receptions. All four of his touchdown receptions have been more than 50 yards.

In fact, all of Jackson's touchdowns-whether they are punt returns or on runs from scrimmage like his 67-yard touchdown on an end-around against the Washington Redskins—have been beyond 50 yards.

In the Birds 40-17 shellacking of the New York Giants at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, Jackson caught three passes for 78 yards including a 64-yard touchdown pass from McNabb late in the second quarter.

“I am just being put in some great positions to go out there and get long touchdowns. Whatever it is we have to do to make it work, that is what we are going to do,” Jackson said after Sunday's win over New York.

But Jackson is not the only Eagles wide receiver. With the injury to Kevin Curtis, rookie Jeremy Maclin is starting to get some looks from McNabb. Against the Giants, Maclin caught four passes for 47 yards and a touchdown. McNabb said he is starting to become more comfortable with the rookie out of Missouri.

“I am. You know, we worked a little bit in the off season. In the first game he didn't play much while I was in there, while I was healthy,” McNabb said. “And then you know from Tampa on, we've been able to work together, and (WR) DeSean (Jackson) as well, just working on our timing. We've had some ups and downs, but we are also kind of comfortable of what we're seeing and being on the same page.”

The problem with past Eagles teams, with the exception of 2004, is that they had players who were decent possesion receivers that might make a big play every now and then. So far in his brief time with the Eagles, Jackson has consistenly displayed an ability to be a deep threat in the Eagles offense.

In last year's NFC Championship game against the Arizona Cardinals, Jackson caught six passes for 92 yards including a big 62-yard touchdown pass from McNabb that the Eagles their only lead in the game before the Cardinals eventually won it.

With Jackson's speed, the Eagles can use him in a variety of situations from the Wildcat formation to handing the ball off to him on end arounds. As one of the league's most dangerous punt returners, Jackson has managed to put some fear in the heart of opposing special teams coach as well. Jackson likes how the team is versatility as a football player.

“The biggest thing I can say is they put me in great positions to expose the defenses,” Jackson said. “Anytime you have the coaches and the other 10 players helping you and doing everything they can to go out their and have success. Just keep putting it together.”

The only question about a small receiver like Jackson, who is listed at 5-foot-10, 175 pounds, is his durability. Last season, Jackson played in all 16 regular season games and three playoff games. He caught 62 passes for 912 yards and two touchdowns. Jackson has yet to be kept out of a game because of an injury.

Jackson's ability to stretch defenses makes it possible for possesion receivers like Jason Avant and tight end Brent Celek, who leads the team in receptions, to work the middle of the field on third down situations to keep the chains moving.

While it still remains to be seen if Jackson can be as good as Owens was in 2004 on a more consistent basis, but at the rate he's going right he may not be that far from being at that level.

Giants, Eagles looking for rhythm and first place in NFC East

by Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter

The question for the New York Giants (5-2) as they come into this week's NFC East showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field is whether the offense and the defense are going to show up at the same stadium?

After the defense was shelled for 48 points by the New Orleans Saints the previous week, the offense couldn't get out of its own way in the Giants 24-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. The New York offense committed four turnovers—including three interceptions by quarterback Eli Manning.

Against the unbeaten Saints, the Giants defense gave up 493 yards of total offense while the offense piled up 325 yards of offense, but the Giants offense could only muster 84 yards on the ground with the tandom of Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. But then again, the Saints put the Giants in such a big hole that the running game couldn't help theG-men.

And of course, the New York media is in a major tizzy over the first-place G-men who are tied with the Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys in the loss column. One Big Apple scribe is comparing the Giants recent swoon to late last season when they lost three out of their last four before being eliminated in the divisional playoffs.

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin said his team is not losing confidence and saw some good things from his team in the loss to the Cardinals.

“I think you take the game itself and try to take it apart for them. Cite some examples of the team we played last night. They go into Philadelphia on Thanksgiving (last year) and get crushed. Yet they beat Philadelphia in the playoffs and are the NFC rep in the Super Bowl,” Coughlin said.

“It is a long season now and a lot of things are going to happen. I think it is important to realize and to go do something about it. We did make progress to a certain extent, although not all the way. We made progress in our coverage and the pressure was better and therefore the coverage was better and the players were better within it.”

Even in the midst of their two-game losing streak, the Giants aren't panicking coming into Sunday's game against an Eagles team that eliminated them in last year's playoffs.

“We're not concerned. We knew it was going to be a tough battle, we have a long season left,” said Giants quarterback Eli Manning. “We are 5-2, we're not in a bad spot, we are going to get back to playing better football. We have a big game vs. Philly at Philly, it's a huge game. We know it's going to be a tough battle, but we have to go out there, play well and eliminate the mistakes.”

The Eagles (4-2) come into their second straight game against an NFC East opponent not playing exactly like a Super Bowl contender themselves. Even in Monday Night's 27-17 win over the hapless, chaotic Washington Redskins, the Eagles offense was inconsistent.

Oddly enough, that was an improvement over not showing up at all as they did in a shocking loss to a very bad Oakland Raiders team the previous week. Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb said there were some plays he'd like to have back, but the offense is not as bad people think.

“I wouldn't say that there's that much inconsistency. I would say, after the Oakland game, there were a couple of miscues and some things that we can obviously clean up. I thought last week that the offense played well, they played hard,” McNabb said.

“There were some throws that I would like to have back, but you have to give respect to them. They (Washington) are a top-five defense and haven't allowed a lot of points and for us to put points on the board against them is still a challenge. But still, just over the weeks I've thought we've gotten better, and minus the Oakland game, I thought we played hard and we played effective. We have to play really well this weekend.”

Outside of the offense's two big plays—a 67-yard touchdown on an end-around by DeSean Jackson and a 57-yard touchdown pass from McNabb to Jackson late in the second quarter-the Eagles offense didn't do much. The Redskins actually outgained the Eagles 308 to 262. McNabb was sacked three times. The Birds completed just 4-of-15 third down conversions.

“We could do some things better at times. We weren't always crisp like we needed to be, but that happens,” Jackson said after Monday's win over Washington. “It is football, sometimes the defense is going to win and sometimes the offense is going to win. We will go back into practice, work hard and hopefully next week we will put it together a little better.”

Meanwhile, Eagles head coach Andy Reid wasn't quite happy with the media immediately following Monday night's win suggesting that his offense wasn't consistent.

“Twenty-seven points – I don't think that's bad. I don't think that's a bad night. Should we have scored a few more in the second half? Absolutely,” Reid said. “Can we improve on things? Absolutely. We need to keep doing that. I'm going to enjoy this one though.”

Reid didn't budge on that position when he spoke to the media on Wednesday and said his offense did well against the Redskins defense, which ranks 5th in the NFL.

You guys would probably know the stats better than I, but there haven't been a lot of teams probably in the last 28 games or so that have scored 27 points on that team that we just played,” Reid said. “I know one of them was from a defensive standpoint, I understand that. We take [the points] as team. I know the other teams that played against them also played defense.”

Miles to Go, but Cowboys receiver is getting there.

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter
Maybe it's way too early to start breaking out the annointing oil for Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin—who is beginning to emerge as Tony Romo's favorite go-to receiver.

He may not be on the same level as a Terrell Owens just yet, but the numbers that he's put up in the last two weeks for the Cowboys says a lot about his potential as that game-breaking receiver that the team was hoping to find in Roy Williams.

In the Cowboys 37-21 victory over the Atlanta Falcons last Sunday, Austin caught six passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns. The Falcons could do nothing to stop the speedy, 6-foot-3, 214-pound receiver out of Monmouth. Whether it was a comeback pattern or a crossing route, Austin had a penchant for turning big gains into big plays.

“Miles Austin had another great game,” said Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips. “I think one more makes you consistent. It's looking good with him. Tony's connected with him well. He's such a big threat once he catches the ball. He's a force right now out there for us and teams are going to pay attention to him.”

That was the case on the 59-yard touchdown pass from Romo that board the Cowboys up for good in the second quarter. Austin easily sped past Atlanta free safety Thomas DeCoud for the score. He also added another score in the third quarter. That score was the thing that got Dallas going.

“I think it was pretty much a spark, I think the guys got pretty fired up,” Austin said. “The defense responded afterward and we got a little roll going.”

Austin's exploits against the Falcons comes two weeks after a record-setting performance against the Kansas City Chiefs in which he set single-game team record with 10 receptions for 250 yards and two touchdowns-including the game-winner in overtime. Austin said he wasn't trying to make any statements or prove any points. It was all about striving for consistency.

“I just went out and tried to play to the best of my ability and I'm going to try to do that everytime I go out,” Austin said. “I'm going to play as hard as I can and that's all I can do.”

Indeed, Austin is a long way from the great receiver that Owens has been throughout his career, but he's out to a pretty good start. If anything else, he is developing a solid rapport with Romo and is making the plays to keep the Cowboys offense moving.

“Miles has been doing good things, He's been working hard for a long time waiting for his opporunity and now that he has it, he's doing well,” Romo said. “He's definitely a big part of this offense. I'm glad to see all the time and effort, hard work he's put in is paying off. He's a good guy who deserves what he gets.”

Coming into the '09 season, Austin had a caught just 14 passes and played on special teams as a kick returner. Last season was the first year he had any sigifnicant time at the wide receiver spot. He caught just 13 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns. In the last two weeks, Austin has caught 16 passes for 421 yards and four touchdowns.

Austin didn't necessarily come out of a powerhouse program for wide receiver at Monmouth College, but he made the Cowboys in 2006 as a rookie free agent and plied his trade while working as a member of the Cowboys kick-return team.

Cowboys receivers coach Ray Sherman said he knew Austin had the ability to play at the wide receiver slot because of his size, speed and raw ability. He said once Austin got a solid grasp of the pro game, he knew that he had the potential to be something special.

“Once he understood how to run routes, read coverages and do those things and I've been saying that once the light comes on with this guy, watch out because he's going to be something special,” Sherman said. “He's a physical guy. When I first worked him out he was 235 pounds, he got that weight off him. He's just an explosive guy and he's strong, very strong.”

Even with all the sudden success that he has experienced in the last couple of weeks, Austin realizes that he and his teammates have a long way to go during the course of this season. With teams like the Eagles, Giants and Redskins on the horizon, Austin still has a lot to prove.

“I'm sure that when we see the film, they'll be a lot of things we want to change,” Austin said. “There's a lot of plays that I probably messed up on and lot of other guys have messed up on.”

Snyder Needs to Get Out the Way and Let Football People do their Thing

By Chris Murray
For the NFC'Easter
The removal of Redskins head coach Jim Zorn's playcalling duties and bringing in longtime NFL assistant Sherman Lewis as a consultant to call plays for the struggling Skins is the latest episode in the daily soap opera of an owner who runs the team like he's playing in the Yahoo fantasy football league.

While it's not news that the Redskins owner is woefully deficient in his football I.Q., you have to wonder why he didn't just go all the way and fire Zorn and get it over with rather than cutting off his gonads and allowing him to twist in the wind.

But as my significant other often tells me it's like bringing logic to a situation that steadfastly resists it. The Redskins during Snyder's tenure have been a classic example of a bizarre situation trying to figure out which way is up, something they have yet to figure out.

After all, this is an ownership that brought you Steve Spurrier with former Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel leading the offense until they found out that Vanderbilt and Kentucky don't play in the NFC East.

If the Redskins lose and the offense stinks to the point of being rancid again, will Snyder bring in a spiritual medium to conduct a séance so he can consult with Sid Gillman and Bill Walsh from the great beyond? Hey, he might get his spiritual guru to contact the late Jack Kent Cooke who might give young Daniel a piece of his mind on how the young man is running his once proud franchise into the ground.

Bringing in Lewis, who should have been a NFL head coach a long, long, time ago, means that Zorn is basically a dead-man walking. He wields as much power in the governing of the Redskins as Prince Charles does in the governing of Great Britain. All hail to King Zorn—the figure-head leader of the Redskins.

Zorn's situation reminds me of the Republican Congress in 1994 appointing the D.C. Control Board to run the affairs of the city after Marion Barry was re-elected Mayor of Washington. The Control Board reduced Barry to a figure-head mayor with no power. That's the plight of Zorn.

There were various reports that Zorn had to accept Lewis' role as the team's play caller or resign. Even with over $6 million left over the last two years of his contract, Zorn probably should have walked away based on principle alone. But since he's probably going to get fired at the end of the year, I guess he's going to grin and bear it. That is lot of money.

Granted, Zorn hasn't really done a good job with calling the offense, which ranks 23rd in the NFL in yards per game, 29th in scoring, 20th in passing and 23rd in rushing. Zorn simply lacked the experience when the Redskins hired him.

That brings us back to Snyder. It's one of thing to blame the head coach for being in over his head, Jason Campbell, who has seen a merry-go round of offensive coordinators or an injury depleted offensive line for the Redskins woes on offense, but the owner has to be held accountable because he put it all together.

For all of Snyder's wheeling and dealing, Jerry Jones-like behavior, the Redskins are 78-88 under his watch as owner with just two playoff wins. If he wants to emulate his role model—Jones (whose own Dallas Cowboys haven't won a playoff game since 1996) he has to humble himself and get out of his own way and let football people do their jobs. Jones has a bunch of Super Bowl rings to halfway justify his micro-management.

The evidence is overwhelming, Snyder's micromanagement hasn't helped this team win on a consistent basis. Vinnie Cerrato, the team's vice president of football operations, is another guy who is a mere figure head. The team needs a general manager, who knows the league. You mean to tell me with all of Snyder's millions, he couldn't pull in a legitimate general manager who knows something about the league?

Even a constant meddler like New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner realized after constantly bumping his head up against the ceiling because of his own meddling realized that you have to let people who know the game do their thing. Yankee general managers like former GM Bob Watson and current GM Brian Cashman have won championships for that team because Steinbrenner realized he needed people who had a better grasp of the game than himself.

Snyder needs to realize that his way has not worked and that his time to do something different. If he's a true business man, he'll find people good enough to manage his team.

If he keeps going the way that he's going, Snyder and his franchise will be the living definition of insanity which means doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

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.