Romo and Ginobili, plus Roy Williams and Jeb Huckeba

Their Latino heritage and reckless style of play aren't the only things Tony Romo and Spurs guard Manu Ginobili have in common.

Watching Romo castigate himself Saturday night in Seattle conjured up memories of the way Ginobili went into a deep funk following a pair of miscues in the playoffs last season.

[snip]

Ginobili bounced back from his errors and it's a safe bet Romo will do the same. They cry and curse themselves because they care deeply about winning and their teammates. Those are the kinds of players that push franchises to greater heights. The Spurs are lucky to have Ginobili and the Cowboys should feel the same about Romo.

"We've got to get Roy close," Jones said on his weekly radio show. "We got to get him more where he can get up and make some plays. I think everybody recognizes that. We say we're going to do that every time this time of year, and we need to start doing it more."

Please don't misunderstand. Jones isn't talking about moving the 6-foot, 229-pound Williams to linebacker. That would be a disaster in the 3-4 defense or, for that matter, any scheme. Williams simply isn't big enough to take on 330-pound lineman. He started his career at safety and he'll end his career at safety.

I interpreted Jones' comments as another way of saying, "We need better personnel in the secondary, so we can allow Roy to play in the box." With that in mind, don't be surprised if the Cowboys search for another free safety in either the draft or free agency.

You know, the Pro Bowl safety who certainly did not perform this 2006 season like a guy earning an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii compliments of his peers and fans.

The same safety who led the Cowboys in interceptions on one hand, but also might have led them in blown coverages on the other.

The guy Cowboys owner Jerry Jones guaranteed $11.1 million this summer by extending his expiring contract through the 2010 season, handing him $5.5 million then and promising the remaining $5.5 million in March.

By all rights, the guy who should have been one of this team's leaders, both on the field and in the locker room, but who prefers to fade into the woodwork in either environment and has little to decreasingly no interaction with what seems to be a loyal fan base through its media intermediaries.

That guy.

Look, I know he had five interceptions this season, and another one in the playoffs. But sometimes interceptions don't tell the whole story, because if they did, then you would argue to me Williams is better in coverage than Terence Newman, who finished the regular season with only one interception.

This guy should be all about tackles, yet he had but 86 this year, fourth on the team - and behind a cornerback for goodness sakes (Anthony Henry). He had only two tackles for losses, one forced fumble and one quarterback pressure. And don't tell me they didn't blitz him enough. They did, but when they did, he didn't get there.

While re-signing most of their practice squad to 'futures' contracts this week, the Cowboys also met with a pair of street free agents, including defensive end Jeb Huckeba for a visit.

Huckeba was a 2005 fifth-round draft pick of the Seahawks who worked out for the Cowboys this past fall. He missed his entire rookie season with a foot injury and was then released after training camp this past season. Huckeba, who played inside and outside linebacker, along with defensive end at Arkansas, probably would be used as an outside linebacker in the Cowboys' 3-4 scheme.

Of the top 10 most watched regular-season games, the Cowboys played in six of them, including the five of the top six. The Cowboys-Giants game on Dec. 3 attracted an audience of 27.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research - by far the most watched game of the season.

Cowboys games against the Bucs, Colts, Eagles on Christmas Day, Jaguars and Eagles on Sunday Night Football all ranked in the top 10.
The Cowboys also played in the most watched Monday Night Football game on ESPN, with their home game against the Giants drawing nearly 16.0 million viewers.