If this isn't the low point then I don't know what is. In my time as a die-hard Cowboys fan I have endured blowouts and bad losses, but never before have I seen such a talented team become so inept on the field. Since the game was not broadcast on TV here, I decided to travel to a local sports bar to watch it. Never before have I been embarrassed of the Cowboys in public. Usually I defend my team with undying loyalty but today I had nothing to say. I walked out of that bar with my head hanging, trying to figure out how one of the most talented teams in the league has just completely fallen apart. Folks, this is the crisis point. The Cowboys are now faced with the very real possibility of not making the playoffs when all expectations were focused on the Super Bowl.

Ugh.

• Tough to pin this all on Brad Johnson but I think we all realized the value of Tony Romo today. Even when he had a good clean pocket Johnson had bad passes miss his receivers. They were high, low or late and for the most part it seemed like the timing just wasn't there. That wasn't what I was expecting to see from one of the most accurate passers in league history.
• Speaking of Romo, I applaud him for making the right choice today. Some may think, "It's just a pinkie, be a man!" Well, that pinkie is very important to Romo's velocity and accuracy. I played catch yesterday paying attention to how my pinkie is used and I understand how much it affects him. Would Romo have made a difference today? Doubtful, especially since no one else on the team played with any heart.
• While no excuses will be accepted injuries on starting to take their toll. A lot of starters are on the injury report but perhaps none is as important as Felix Jones. With Brad Johnson struggling and the Cowboys behind, the Rams were able to pin their ears back and come at him. A healthy Felix would have kept them on their toes and I guarantee he would have made them pay once.
• The Cowboys were impressive in their blitz pickups today, unfortunately the quarterback was unable to take advantage except on a few occasions. Now the game tape may say something different, but I remember noting during the game how Marion Barber and the offensive line continuously were able to adjust to the blitzes. Then everything just fell apart in the end and it didn't matter.
• Some might look at the play selection and call out Jason Garrett for putting too much on the 40 year old, Super Bowl winning quarterback. But I don't think a simpler, more bare bones approach would have mattered when said quarterback routinely missed 8 yard crossing routes. Need to see more quick slants though, like the one Miles Austin caught and ran with. I like those.
• There was only ONE player on the field today that played up to his potential. Demarcus Ware. The man played like a beast possessed, but unfortunately he can't play in the secondary either. He finished with three official sacks, but I am sure the Cowboys will appeal to at least get him an extra half sack, when Bradie James was credited after Ware slammed Marc Bulger into his arms. The Cowboys started moving Ware around more than they have the season in an effort to get favorable matchups and boy did it work. Too bad such an excellent game went to waste.

Numbers game:

• 44, 17, 34. Thats the field position the Rams got inside Dallas territory three possessions in a row. While the Cowboys' defense certainly played poorly, that is a tough challenge to hold a Rams offense that is suddenly healthy and fired up in check with such a short field. We were lucky it wasn't 28-7 at the end of the first quarter instead of just 21-7.
  
• 4-0. That's the turnover ratio, not in favor of the Cowboys. If you want to look and see just what the heck happened that it got out of control so fast, the turnovers on consecutive drives is what did it. A tipped interception and another Marion Barber fumble. Only one led to a score but it just gave even more momentum to the Rams.
• 8-56. Penalties; an absolute killer. The Cowboys had a chance to get right back into the game in the second half and had some spunk charging down the field. Then a false start killed a fourth and one try, that was made. An illegal motion call negated a long first down. Holding. Tough to try and come back when you keep yourself from doing anything positive.
• 67 yards. That how many the Cowboys' leading receiver had. Know who it was? Martellus freaking Bennett. Anyone see something wrong with this?

For the record, I have officially leaped from the Wade Phillips bandwagon. I was going to write a long rant about Wade "Aw shucks" Phillips, but I will leave that for another post. For now, I just have this to say:

Why in the blue blazes of all that is sacred is Jerry Jones giving the butt chewing speech in the locker room? I love that Jerry cares so deeply, but that is something that shouldn't be needed because the freaking head coach should already be doing it!!!!