Winners and losers: Cowboys falling to pieces

Welcome to third place, Dallas Cowboys. Welcome to dizzying expectations unfulfilled. And while we’re at it, welcome Jerry Jones, to a dark, dark comparison – a younger, slightly less meddlesome version of Al Davis.

Injuries and a lack of toughness have dragged the Cowboys to 4-3 and third place in the NFC East after Sunday’s 34-14 embarrassing defeat to the St. Louis Rams, but some of Jones’ moves only complicate where Dallas goes from here. First we have Adam “Pacman” Jones, one of Jerry Jones’ worst gambles. Then we have Terrell Owens, who is screaming at his teammates on a weekly basis and approaching the verge of critical mass. And finally, we have Wade Phillips, a head coach who might be the least capable man in the NFL of bringing fire and brimstone to motivate a locker room.

These are three hand-selected men by Jones, and all of them are bringing drama and complication to a team trying to weather a crashing tidal wave of injury misfortune. How to solve the crises? Do the Cowboys really know? How long before Jones shakes up the coaching staff? After all, this team’s talent is better than last season – and Jones called last season’s playoff failure one of his biggest disappointments.

There are some troublesome hurdles ahead. Owens hasn’t had a 100-yard receiving performance in 11 straight games, dating back to Week 13 of last season. And no matter what Jones says, the addition of wide receiver Roy Williams is going to take catches away from Owens – not magically add them. And Pacman? Well, the word out of Dallas’ headquarters is that the team is open to bringing him back after his latest suspension. That reality showcases how foolish Jerry Jones has become with his troubled cornerback.

This is a team in dramatic disarray. Meanwhile, the rest of the NFC East looks more than prepared to take advantage. And that makes Dallas the biggest loser of this weekend.

Here is a look at the other winners and losers from Sunday …

• Buffalo Bills quarterback Trent Edwards
So much for those concussion worries. It’s shocking how good Edwards, who completed a superb 25 of 30 passes for 261 yards and one touchdown in the win over the San Diego Chargers, has been this season. And this is a guy who didn’t win a single game as a senior at Stanford.

• The Carolina Panthers
Don’t look now, but the Panthers have stacked up some impressive wins against solid competition – Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons, San Diego and now the New Orleans Saints. The defense is as impressive as it has been since the Super Bowl run, and the offense is as balanced as ever. There is a lot of football left to play, but that Dec. 21 game against the New York Giants could be a preview of the NFC championship game.

• Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith
Maybe his suspension forced him to sharpen his focus, or maybe the return of Muhsin Muhammad and the running game have helped keep defenses more honest. Whatever it is, Smith is playing like a man possessed. In five games he has 496 yards and two touchdowns. He’s had at least 96 receiving yards in the past four games.

• Showtime’s “Inside the NFL”
It’s not a Sunday deal, but I have to use this opportunity to give a thumbs-up. As someone who watched “Inside the NFL” for years on HBO, Showtime is doing a monumentally better job. Moving Dan Marino and Cris Carter out and bringing together James Brown, Phil Simms, Cris Collinsworth and Warren Sapp have been fantastic. Sapp still needs polish, but the chemistry is worlds better.

• The Tennessee Titans
The Kansas City Chiefs are awful, but rolling up 332 rushing yards and four touchdowns against any team is absurd. Quarterback Kerry Collins basically had a second straight bye week, throwing only 18 passes. It was a dominating win for the league’s best defense and an offense that didn’t even have its top two receivers (Justin Gage and Justin McCareins).

• Baltimore Ravens running back Willis McGahee
He’s had a tough season, and some people are wondering if at nearly 27 years old, maybe his body is starting to break down. But despite a fumble against Miami, McGahee ran for 105 yards and a touchdown against the Miami Dolphins and had a little bit of his old pep in his step. My money is on him getting better and stronger as the year goes on.

• The New York Giants defense
Six sacks, two interceptions, one fumble recovery and a safety for the unit in the win over the San Francisco 49ers. You hear about guys like Justin Tuck (who had two sacks) and Mathias Kiwanuka, but Fred Robbins (five sacks in six games) has quietly become one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL.

• The St. Louis Rams
Back-to-back wins over the Washington Redskins and Dallas. Say that out loud. This is a different team since the firing of coach Scott Linehan. I guess you can’t take that interim tag off Jim Haslett just yet, but his grip is tightening fast. And how about rookie wide receiver Donnie Avery? He looks like he’s going to hang on to that No. 2 wide receiver job.

• Rams running back Steven Jackson

He has been taking a beating much of this season, but he looked like the league’s best running back against Dallas while scoring three touchdowns and rushing for 160 yards. He packs a wallop for tacklers. Despite the slow start for the Rams, Jackson has 767 offensive yards and four touchdowns in six games.

• Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware
It’s not all gloom and doom in Dallas. Ware had three sacks and now has nine through seven games. He gets overshadowed on this team, but he’s clearly one of the top five defensive players in the NFL.

• The Chicago Bears
Yeah, the defense surrendered 41 points and made Bears fans sweat in the fourth quarter against the Minnesota Vikings. However, considering Chicago’s top three cornerbacks were out going into the game, it was the best of a bad situation. The special teams were excellent, and the offense was efficient and stable. If anyone is waiting for Kyle Orton to fall apart, they should stop. He’s legit.

• The Pittsburgh Steelers offense
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has five touchdown passes in his last two games, and the passing game is starting to look as potent as last season. But how about running back Mewelde Moore and that offensive line? Roethlisberger wasn’t sacked, and Moore now has 219 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the last two games. That is the definition of a quality free agent signing for depth in the offseason.

• The Steelers linebackers
Seven sacks against the Cincinnati Bengals, including two from Lawrence Timmons, who is getting better. LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison have been awesome: combined 16 sacks and four forced fumbles this season.

• The Green Bay Packers
They have righted the ship after that three-game losing streak. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers looks like he’s getting back to normal after that shoulder injury. Going into the bye on a positive note is big for this team. And the five games after the bye (at Tennessee, at Minnesota Vikings, Chicago, at New Orleans and Carolina) are going to determine whether this is a playoff team.

• Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson
The guy is playing out of his mind with 450 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the last three games. And this is despite facing consistent double coverage.

• Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson
Johnson caught two passes for an absurd 154 yards, including a 96-yard touchdown in the loss to Houston. It’s hard to believe he’s going to continually put up huge numbers with Dan Orlovsky as his quarterback, but Lions fans should take heart when they see Andre Johnson. Calvin Johnson is that type of player. (I’m not going to harp on the fact that Detroit passed up Johnson to draft Charles Rogers in 2003.)

• The San Diego Chargers defense
I spent last week with the Chargers and listened to them wax about renewed emotion and a new lease on life after the win over New England. So much for that. The secondary made few plays, but Buffalo’s Edwards never looked flustered against the San Diego pass rush. Jyles Tucker can’t get back soon enough.

• The Chargers offense
LaDainian Tomlinson said last week that the Chargers weren’t running the ball well, and nothing changed this week. He carried the ball only 14 times, but his longest gain was nine yards. The explosion is missing. And Philip Rivers’ end zone interception – his first pick in 13 quarters – blew the game up.

• The Saints
The defense is what it is at this point – a middle of the pack unit that can’t be put in holes by turnovers. And while it’s hard to worry about that offense after one bad week, you wonder what the unit would look like without Reggie Bush, who is expected to undergo surgery on his left knee this week. Considering what Bush has produced in total yards (660), and the fact that teams have to prepare for him, it can’t be good.

• The Vikings secondary
Considering how little they were on the field – less than 25 minutes – Minnesota’s defensive backs have to make some plays. Something about this defense seems off. It’s not the wild, chaotic, gambling bunch that it was last season. The run defense is still superb, but offenses can score on this unit.

• Vikings quarterback Gus Frerotte
Minnesota’s running game was strong, Chicago’s secondary was devastated, and yet Frerotte threw four interceptions. If he can’t limit his turnovers and make good decisions, is he any better than Tarvaris Jackson?

• The Bengals
I’m running out of bad things to say about this team. Maybe they should take a cue from the Rams and give coach Marvin Lewis a permanent paid vacation.

• The Colts
It just goes to show you what injuries and the losses of depth at defensive tackle will do to a defense. Lest anyone forget, this is a unit that held opponents to a league-best 16.4 points last season. It has looked hollow more often than not this season. It didn’t help that quarterback Peyton Manning was terrible against Green Bay. Has there been a more maddening player this season?

• Lions coach Rod Marinelli
He is getting some absurd questions from the Detroit media about resigning, but he needs to maintain perspective. Criticizing reporters about “respecting the game” has no merit in a city where the team is on its way to its seventh double-digit losing season in the last eight years.

• 49ers coach Mike Nolan
Things have fallen apart since that 2-1 start. The 49ers have surrendered 130 points in the last four games. That’s the death rattle for a defensive coach like Nolan. And the 13 penalties – 13! – against the Giants were awful. Mike Martz could very well be named San Francisco’s new coach during the Week 9 bye.

 

The consecutive passes thrown by the Washington Redskins without an interception.

 
 

(FIVE THINGS I LOVED AND FIVE THINGS I LOATHED)

Loved: ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” feature on the troubles in Dallas. Seeing Jerry Jones talk about the suspension of Adam “Pacman” Jones while wearing a hard hat was appropriate. But the best part was hearing Jones talk about how excited Terrell Owens was to have wide receiver Roy Williams join the team, then seeing a clip of a rather dour Owens talk about Williams having been a good wideout in college. Apparently T.O. missed Roy’s 2006 Pro Bowl season.

Loathed: Seeing Pittsburgh throw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward with less than two minutes left and already leading Cincinnati 31-10. I think I might be the last guy left who thinks teams shouldn’t pour it on with less than two minutes left in a game.

Loved: The film breakdowns on the NFL Network. The overall production value of the show still has a long way to go, particularly when they take the studio talent and have them standing at a table talking to each other and not looking into the camera at their audience. But the film analysis is top notch, and they present more of it than any other pregame show.

Loathed: Hearing Chris Berman singing a verse of some song I didn’t recognize, couldn’t understand, and didn’t care about in the middle of his analysis. Are there actually fans out there who are sitting on their couches going “Wow, a snippet of a song! Awesome.” It’s time for Berman to dial the corniness … back … back … back.

Loved: ESPN’s “Soundtracks” segment of Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden miked up. Set aside an hour and scour the Internet for Gruden clips. You won’t regret it.

Loathed: Seeing Kansas City quarterback Brodie Croyle get plowed under against the Titans and suffer a season-ending knee injury. He showed some mettle working to recover from his shoulder injury, and then this. It’s a cruel game.

Loved: The Yao Ming sideline interview during the CBS broadcast of the Detroit/Houston game. It wasn’t football, but it was still good stuff, particularly Yao talking about wanting to be an NFL kicker. It’s crazy that this guy knew no English only six years ago and is now as fluent as he is.

Loathed: Seeing Troy Polamalu on a cell phone on the bench late in the game against Cincinnati. He’s a great guy. But come on. Really?

Loved: Seeing the comeback block by Hines Ward that destroyed Cincinnati linebacker Keith Rivers. It was unfortunate that Rivers may have suffered a season-ending broken jaw on the play, and it won’t help Ward’s reputation as a slightly dirty player. But the hit wasn’t dirty, and anytime a 200-pund receiver throws a block like that on a 240 pound linebacker, it’s amazing.

Loathed: Watching San Francisco quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan melt down at the end of games. He looks like a mental mess in the fourth quarter.