I guess it was only a matter of time.

The Cowboys placed left guard Kyle Kosier on injured reserve Saturday and signed linebacker Steve Octavien off Washington's practice squad to fill Kosier's roster spot.

Kosier is likely to have surgery this week in Charlotte, N.C., on his right foot. He played in only three games this season - all wins - after suffering a ligament injury and hairline fracture in his foot in the preseason against Houston.

Kosier played well when he was healthy and has been solid ever since he came to the 'Boys. I'm encouraged by Montrae Holland but I can't shake the feeling that this will haunt us at some point down the road.

The Star-Telegraph reports the same here.

DC.com has a good recap of the situation here.

Kosier was expected to visit a foot specialist this coming week, but the Cowboys doctors already were recommending surgery to repair the torn ligament he's been trying to fight through this entire season. Kosier was able to return a second time this season to play in the Washington and San Francisco games. But the starting left guard reinjured his problematic foot against the Niners and the ligament damage this time has left a joint in his foot too loose to continue playing and likely in need of surgery. The rehab from such a surgery is expected to be three to four months.

In Thursday's 34-9 victory over Seattle, the Cowboys replaced Kosier in the starting lineup with Montrae Holland, acquired in an Aug. 28 trade with Denver for a 2010 fifth-round pick. Holland appeared to play decently starting in place of Cory Procter, who had started eight games in Kosier's previous absence. Kosier first injured his foot in the third preseason game against Houston, and missed the first two games of the season. He returned to play against Green Bay but stepped in a hole on a somewhat torn up Lambeau Field late in the fourth quarter and missed seven more games after convincing the club to allow him to rest and rehab instead of having season-ending surgery then.

Shout out to scottmaui and his fanpost here.

I was talking to a college buddy of mine yesterday. He's a Broncos fan.

He told me not to hold my breath waiting for Montrae Holland to make an impact. He ate his way out of Denver and that was with Coach Shanahan watches his every move, trying to get his weight down.

"And you know the Cowboys ain't going to do that," he said. "Wade is too nice for that."

Well last time I checked Holland seemed to play awful well Thursday. Rafeal's analysis was spot-on. But I didn't see any penalties or false starts and Romo wasn't touched. I was concerned when Wade said he'd start.

Good call Wade.

That's the Wade I've seen lately. And I've been saying that a lot. Especially about this defense and it's increased sack productions and turnovers. This is the defense I've expected from Wade and he has delivered since reclaiming play-calling duties.

"We have a good rush team," Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips said after the Cowboys improved to 8-4. "We get a lot of hits on the quarterback. It's something that you have to do, I think, to be able to win. Our pass rush was really good. Hasselbeck had not been sacked that much (12 times). Their team overall had, but he hadn't. I thought we really got after him and got after the passing game."

I fully supported the decision when Wade was hired. Part of my reasoning was I hoped he'd turn our defense into a silver and blue version of what his San Diego teams were: sack-collecting, pressure-driven, turnover-machines. This year started off slow, but we're finally seeing the fruits from Wade's harvest. Thursday's game was a perfect example. Watching the defense work was satisfying not only because they were blitzing but they were blitzing smarter and more effectively. The statistics bear this out.

Dallas is currently No. 1 in sacks with 40. DeMarcus Ware is the sack leader in the league with 15. Greg Ellis has five sacks and Jay Ratliff has six. The Cowboys have created 12 turnovers in the last seven games. They've held their opponents to 10 points or less in three out of its last five games. Yes, they played the 49ers and the Seahawks, two sad-sack franchises. Yes, the Giants ran all over us. This is true. But they also held an 8-3 team without a TD (the Bucs) and forced the Giants into three turnovers and sacked Eli Manning four times. Factor that in as well.

My biggest criticisms of Wade has been two-fold: our zone is too soft and we don't blitz often enough or effectively. He's addressed both. We do a much better job of mixing up our coverages and you can see that our blitzes aren't as obvious now. One play you might see a eight or nine-man front and then next you might see Ware dropping into coverage. James, who can be reckless at times, has channeled that energy into controlled bursts. I saw him obliterate a tight end and back trying to block him Thursday and then attack Hasselback without overrunning the play, which I've seen him do against the Eagles and the Redskins. James has five sacks this season after having a total of five sacks for the last five years. I credit Wade with this.

Billy P once told Greg Ellis that sacks are "overrated." I certainly disagree and I would assume Wade does too. Sacks and pressure are two huge factors that contributed to our recent success. There's no doubt about that. When is the last time you saw the Cowboy defense play with so much enthusiasm?

I credit Wade with that too.

T.O. pops off again. In other news, the sun rose today and Elvis is still dead.

Here's part one of the infamous video.

You just knew JFE was going to jump in on this one.

Apparently, the system drops balls, can’t get off the line in press coverage and can’t make plays when he catches the ball. T.O. is right. The system does stink.

And speaking of "the system," doesn’t it technically include Tony Romo? He is, after all, the trigger man deciding in whose capable hands to pass.

I can just see her now, foaming at the mouth as she types those words. With a philly cheesesteak by her side, a glazed ham, two bags of chips and a Diet Soda, I can just picture her typing out this story and then tapping her editor with her cheetoes-stained hand to let her know it's finished.

"Thanks Engel," the editor says. "Cowboy-hateration. That's why we pay you what we do."

Clarence E. Hill jumps in too. He has a more, shall we say, subtle non-hysterical approach.

After trying his best to be patient and not cause a distraction, a frustrated Owens took to the airways and voiced his complaints about his role in the offense during an interview with former Cowboys cornerback Deion Sanders on NFL network Thursday night.

But Owens said anybody who is waiting for him to blow up and cause a big scene, as he has done in the past when he was with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers, shouldn’t waste their time. He said that is not going to happen and will he continue to run whatever plays are called.

Seems like T.O.'s argument goes something like this: teams have caught up to the system, it's not flexible enough, I'm not involved enough, I'm frustrated with my numbers and we can't win a championship if my numbers don't improve.

Call me crazy, an apologist or whatever bad name you want to, but I tend to agree with most of that. It does seems like teams have caught up to our system. Washington sure did in our first game. Fred Smoot even went so far as to say they "exposed" us, which a lot of people agreed with. At times it doesn't seem flexible enough. Not just with putting T.O. in motion but utilizing talent (Tashard Choice, Roy Williams, Felix Jones when he was healthy). Also, it just seems like sometimes Jason Garrett gets a little too cute for my tastes. He's ignored MB3 too much at times and that borders on nonfeasance in my book. To his credit, he turned it around last week and I'm excited about the future. We also have to factor in Romo's injury and the limitations of Brad Johnson before we judge Garrett too harshly.

More T.O. and Cowboys roundups after the break.

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Looking at the numbers, the Cowboys will probably win Sunday and will probably make the playoffs. But the numbers tell two stories: one where statistics point to a probable quick playoff exit and another where each season has its own twists and turns and improbable victor. Sometimes the 6-4 team gets on a roll that continues into the playoffs. Other times the 6-4 team is teetering on the edge of disaster and misses the playoffs altogether.

I'm going to base my research on the last 10 years. In the last 10 years, 45 teams have been 6-4. Of those teams, 31 of them won the next game. Twenty-three of those games were played at home with the home team winning 15 times.

What do these numbers tell us? That there's a pretty good chance the 'Boys qualify for the playoffs and a pretty good chance that they'll lose in the first round or quickly thereafter. Eighteen of the 45 teams that went 6-4 in the last 10 years missed the playoffs. Of the 27 teams that did make the playoffs, 13 lost in their first game. Only two teams went to the Super Bowl and only five teams went to the conference championship game (they are 2-5 in that game). 

More fun with numbers after the break.

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Felix the Cat returns to practice.

Felix Jones is practicing today for the first time since partially tearing his hamstring in the Oct. 12 loss to the Cardinals.

We'll get more from Wade Phillips this afternoon, but this is obviously a great sign that Jones will play Sunday against San Francisco.

Yessir.

The 2014 Final Four will be played in the new Cowboy stadium.

How cool is that?

Cowboys roundup and much more after the jump.

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The year was 1999.

The Denver Broncos had just won the Super Bowl. The Mandalay Bay and Venetian Hotel were opened in Las Vegas. Microsoft had just released Windows 98. The world was introduced to Napster. David Cone had just pitched a perfect game on Yogi Berra Day.

I was a senior at Florida A&M University, driving a broken down 1990 Benz with this album and this album and this album in my CD player. I couldn't get Limp Bizkit's "Re-Arranged" or Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Scar Tissue" out of my head. And I was so sure that the 'Boys would capitalize on their recent success and return to the days of glory. I was still kinda steamed we didn't draft Randy Moss the year before and this new guy Greg Ellis was still in my doghouse. But we still had Emmitt, Troy, Irvin and Deion. We weren't far from getting back to the Super Bowl, I told myself. 

The day was September 1 (which, coincidentally, is the day Zach Thomas, Jason Taylor and Clinton Portis share a birthday).

There were so many similar things about this day and this game and the current Cowboys.  

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Clinton Portis has an MCL injury reports the DMN Blog. Does this mean we see Shaun Alexander? Or does Rock Cartwright get all the carries? Ladell Betts? I have a hard time thinking he's going to play with a Grade 2 tear.

I don't wish injury on anyone. And I kinda like ... ahem, let me rephrase ... I respect Clinton Portis. He plays hard and when he's healthy he's one of the best backs in the league.

But it would be disingenuous to say I want him to play. I don't. It helps our chances of victory exponentially. It robs them of another playmaker. Plus, if they can't run the ball, they can't control the clock, which is a huge part of their gameplan. They dominate time of possession. Maybe without Portis, this will change.

Hmmm. I like this idea.

On DC.com, the guys discussed the possibility of using the hurry-up offense Sunday. Regardless of when it's used, I like the idea. Set the tempo. Don't allow them to dictate the flow of the game. Plus, it gives Romo a little cushion from the pass rush. Our offensive line hasn't exactly been steady lately and maybe a couple of series in the shotgun might help them get into a much-needed rhythm.

Also, Romo is excellent in this form of offense. He's great at making quick decisions, spreading teams out, taking advantage of the underneath throw to Barber or the intermediate throw to Witten.

The only downside I see is that we'll see the riverboat gambler-side of Romo come out. That guy can be reckless. He's prone to being stripped and throwing picks. But Romo makes far too many good decisions in this format for it to be a serious concern.

Ultimately, I don't think now is the time to be passive. I like the aggressiveness of this idea. Go at 'em. Make them adjust to us. 

Shoutout to CowboysFan4Life for his fanpost here. Again.

Continue reading this post »

Burger King breaks down our matchup against the Redskins. He sees DeAngelo Hall as a liability.

Hall has always talked a great game, but this year he proved he can't play one. He should be no more than a third corner behind Shawn Springs and Carlos Rogers when Springs returns from his calf injury. Still, when Hall was on Sirius NFL Radio Friday, he still talked with Deion-like bravado, telling a host who said he'd given up some big plays: "You just made that statement, 'give up big plays.' I don't think I gave up a play over 20 yards this season. I gave up one to Michael Jenkins, a 27-yard touchdown. That's part of the business, the nature of the beast. When you're getting a lot of money, you're expected to make a lot of plays. And there are a lot of plays out there I didn't make and I take responsibility for those."

Ah Jennifer Floyd Engel. She's baaaaack! Such a Debbie Downer. She could bring down a bachelor party. She's definitely not the person to go to for an optimistic view of the 'Boys.

Her favorite phrase?

"I told you so."

Way back in July, back when everybody figured this Cowboys team to be pretty much screw-up proof, Owner Jones uttered a bunch of his typical hyperbole.

"I told you so!"

Like about how Pacman was so reformed and trustworthy and, therefore, a steal in exchange for a couple of second-day picks.

"I told you so!"

Or how signing aging talents like T.O., Flo, Terence Newman and Ken Hamlin to long-term, big-time contracts was pure genius. Or my personal favorite that this coaching staff is his best since coming to Dallas.

"I told you so!"

Eventually, she gets to the point of the editorial ... I think ... which is to say we need to start playing up to our Super Bowl potential. 

But guess what. We're barely in the playoff mix right now. So, I realize you get a big kick out of the team's struggles, but once your hand gets tired from patting yourself on the back, you might want to recognize that this team is in the fight of it's life. I'm way more interested in where do we go from here than ... wait for it ...

"I told you so!"

Romo seems to be throwing with more velocity. That's good. He's still hurting but the pain is manageable.

It's one thing for the Cowboys to have their two-time Pro Bowl quarterback returning to practice. To have him performing near his best is even better.

Wade Phillips said Tony Romo was throwing passes with velocity during Monday's practice, which must have been a welcomed sight after three weeks of Brad Johnson taking the first-team reps, and a limited Romo throwing last week. Romo practiced with a splint to guard the fifth finger on his throwing hand, which he fractured in the overtime loss at Arizona on Oct. 12.

When Romo has participated in practice while wearing the splint before, his passes appeared to have more wobble than usual. Today, the tight spiral returned.

"Romo is better and better," Phillips said. "Last week he was OK. Today he was a lot better, I think. He had more zip on the ball. He felt more comfortable. He's still taking snaps - didn't seem to be a problem. It's looking better and better for him as far as getting back to where he was."

Also, we're still undecided on who's going to hold for Nick Folk.

Not. Good.

Jamie Aron hits on a similar theme about the 'Boys. Even Coach Wade said it. We need to get hot. Fast. Like NBA Jam hot. We need to win as many games as possible as quick as possible. 

The Cowboys go to Washington on Sunday night knowing they'll almost certainly make the playoffs if they win their final seven games, probably even if they go 6-1. But they can't lose many more than that, and they'd really make things tough on themselves by losing to teams like the Redskins, who are ahead of them in the division and conference.

We have no room for error.

Remember Breerman? I assumed he was still depressed about the Patriots and their ultimate chokejob in the Super Bowl (I kid Breerman!)

Now he's offering some advice on how to right the ship.

Interesting read but Grizz had the better take in my opinion here and here.

Pretty good story from the Washington Post about our season. It makes two good points: our problems didn't start with Romo but at the same time you can't write this team off until Romo comes back. We've basically played three games where our offense was stagnant. For all our faults, we are not an incompetent offense when Romo is at the helm. He won't solve all of our problems but teams will get a true sense of what this team can do once he's back at the helm.

Shoutout to CowboysFan4Life and his fanpost here.

The Cowboys worked out six defensive players today. Seems like their looking for depth and a chance to address some special teams needs.

Here's an interesting look back at the day Tom Landry was inducted in the Ring of Honor. At first he turned Jerry Jones down. Who wouldn't want to give the finger to the guy that fired them? Then a group of his former players persuaded him to accept and eventually he did. A great day in Cowboy history.  

Tom Orsborn (I keep wanting to call him Osborne for some reason) says the Cowboys chances of making the playoffs range from slim to none. He thinks we'll end up 9-7. He sees a three-game win streak against the Redskins, 49ers and Seahawks and a 1-3 finish against the Steelers, Giants, Ravens and Eagles.

I'll admit, I've had visions of 9-7 or even 8-8 dancing in my head. But I'm going to assume my role as Chief Optimist-in-Chief (does that even make sense?) Where's my rose-colored glasses and pitcher of Kool-Aid? Here we go!

Due to the ankle-grabbing loss to the Rams, I'm a little leery of "guaranteeing" Cowboy victories against lesser opponents. That being said, I really don't see how we can lose to the 49ers or the Seahawks at home and have anything close to a chance of getting into the playoffs. We need those games and I believe the team will see it as such.

Sunday's game against the Redskins is as close to a season-saving game as any. We absolutely need this game. Am I confident will win it? No. But I am confident in the power of one Antonio Romo. If he's anywhere near 100 percent, we've got a shot. That's all we need.

Also, the Redskins don't necessarilly play that well at home. They're 3-2 with losses to the Rams and the Steelers recently. Secondly, they don't blow teams out. They don't make mistakes, they run the ball, they play good defense and they win close games. So we should be in it the entire game. If we can keep it close, I have confidence in our QB and our kicker.

The Steeler game is going to be rough and I'm assuming we'll lose that one. But then again, Roethlisberger hasn't been playing well and they've got definite problems on the injury-front. The Eagles game will be similiarly difficult. For some reason, I've got good vibes about the Giants home game. The Giants are real full of themselves right now and if we're fighting for a playoff berth and they've already clinched the division or they're close to it, I see a chance to embrass them. Gotta love that. The Ravens have the defense to make our life difficult but we're at home and we've got the offense to spread them out. Also our defense can get enough pressure on Joe Flacco to expose him.

So at the end of the day, I think 9-7 is a realistic projection, but I'm going to go with 10-6, a playoff spot and first-round rematch against the Cardinals. Wins versus the Redkins, Giants, 49ers, Seahawks and Ravens. Losses versus the Eagles and Steelers.

I would watch out for the three-game winning streak though. If the Cowboys beat the Redskins Sunday and then win the next two games, I wouldn't be surprised to see them beat the Steelers. Confidence is really something we've lacked recently and if we find a way to harness it, I don't think Heinz Field is too big of a mountain to climb. As I've said before, I think we'll win at home against the Giants and the Ravens, which leaves us with a six-game winning streak. If that happens, watch out Eagles.

But we'll talk about best-case scenarios another day.

It hurts my heart to say this.

But the Cowboys are an undiscipled team.

We have no shot of making the playoffs if this doesn't change. The numbers bear this out.

Penalty problems

Rank: 1st Last year: 8th

The Cowboys have turned into the Oakland Raiders. Entering the weekend, Dallas had the dubious distinction as the most penalized team in the league with 71 (mostly false starts/offside) in nine games. The Cowboys have had eight or more penalties in five games, with 33 on offense, and left tackle Flozell Adams has seven. They are on pace for their most penalties since 1999, when they went 8-8 and had 136 under Chan Gailey. Dallas had eight more penalties than second-place Cleveland.

Lack of takeaways

Rank: 26th in TO margin

Last year: Tied for 8th

It has been an amazing stat all season. The Cowboys have just three interceptions, and the first one didn’t come until the fifth game. Dallas’ lack of game-changing plays on defense is not affording the offense room for error. Four times this season the defense has not produced a turnover in a game. The only team with fewer interceptions is hapless Detroit with two. The Cowboys were tied for second-to-last with Denver and Seattle going into the weekend. Dallas will hope for things to change with Pro Bowl cornerback Terence Newman returning to the lineup at Washington.

We've endured costly mistakes (small note: other sources say we're No. 2 in penalties not No. 1). Twelve men on the field during a crucial defensive stop. Too many offsides penalties. Lots of sacks but not enough turnovers (Greg Ellis has more picks than some of our DBs for Chrissakes!) Inopportune picks by Romo and the dubious duo (Brad and Brooks). Inopportune fumbles by MB3 and T.O.

We can't win if we don't start causing more turnovers while holding onto the ball. We can't win if we don't stop the penalties.

How do you teach discipline? Particularly in the middle of the season? Do you yell more? Do you send players to the locker room and drop you pants like Coach Singletary? Do you encourage them to do the right things? Do you hand out no-penalty pledges?

I'm at a loss. Parcells was a hard @$$ but even his teams had problems with penalties and turnovers. His career as a coach ended on a turnover. Wade is a players-coach and last year it seemed that we turned a corner. But our playoff game ended with a turnover. And this year we've lost plenty of games due to carelessness.

I know we need to stop it. But I have no idea how to do it.

Hopefully, our coaching staff does.

Shout out to gee-roj and his fanpost here.

Jamie Aron is spreading blame around like cheese on gritz (don't knock it 'til you try it). That's cool. That's what happens when you don't live up to expectations.

Check this out though. We've still got seven games. Let's not start writing epitaphs. We've still got a shot.

Good article by Mac Engel. We need to quit playin' games. Playtime is over. Bruce Willis has just bust in with the sword. Zed is dead. Time to get Medieval on their @$$!

The Cowboys have seven games. Seven games to prove they are as good as so many people thought they were, including themselves. Seven games to reach a postseason that was once thought to be a given. Seven games to help save a head coach’s job.

"No question this team understands there are important times whether it’s during a football game, during a season, whatever, but as an athlete and a competitor you understand when those times come up, and this is no question one of those times," Romo said. "I don’t think there is a magic potion; I don’t think there is a secret."

Good points about what the team needs to do at the end.

Santana Moss and Clinton Portis. We can't cover or tackle either one. Should be fun Sunday!

What's this? Portis may be out Sunday? Hmmmm.

Shout out to Mullin and his fanpost here.

After some digging, I researched the playoff seeding format, and realized the NFL competition committee tabled this proposal to allow wildcards to host playoff games. I was under the assumption it passed.

I want to encourage people to point out things like this. You guys have actually been doing a good job of this. Please keep it up.

Now my preference is that you don't be an @$$#ole about it. Nonetheless, I still appreciate the feedback regardless of it's tone.