An Ugly Day In St. Louis

Without punter Mat McBriar,

Without running back Felix Jones,

Without cornerbacks Terrence Newman and Pacman Jones,

Without wide receiver and special teams player Sam Hurd,

Without left guard Kyle Kosier, safety Pat Watkins, and linebackers Anthony Spencer and Kevin Burnett,

Without quarterback Tony Romo,

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It was an ugly day in St Louis.

It started off well enough. The Cowboys, led by veteran backup quarterback Brad Johnson,

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on their first possession, marched efficiently down the field and took the lead on a one yard run by Marion Barber.

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After that, things just fell apart. Johnson was unable to get anything going, finishing the game with only 17 of 34 passes completed, for a 50% completion percentage. He also had 3 interceptions, and had a quarterback rating of just 45.5.

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On the other side of the ball, the Rams sliced through the Cowboys defense, scoring three touchdowns in the first quarter alone. The defense tightened up a bit after that, holding the Rams to one touchdown and two field goals. But it was too little, too late.

Early in the second half, Cowboys fans began chanting "Romo! Romo!" from the stands, but the injured quarterback remained firmly on the bench.

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The game was pretty much over by this time, anyway. The Cowboys offense couldn't move the ball at all after the half. A touchdown pass to Martellus Bennet with two minutes left in the game was nothing more than a consolation score. The finality of it was Rams 34, Cowboys 14.

This was supposed to be the easiest of the three games Tony is expected to miss. It should have been a fairly easy win, despite all the injuries. Maybe not a blowout, but the last thing it should have been is a blowout for the Rams. There is far too much talent on this Cowboys team for them to be playing so poorly. Something is missing. Passion? Enthusiasm? Killer instinct? Toughness? Grit? Determination? I don't know. What I do know is that if this team, with Brad Johnson at the helm, can't handle the Rams Dude, there's no way they can handle the Bucs or the Giants. This team, once Superbowl favorites, is now going to be lucky to even make the playoffs.

At the end of the day, all they could do, coaches

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and players alike

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could hang their heads and wonder what has gone so terribly wrong in Dallas.

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