The VRR: Mike Jenkins' Knee Is Okay, But Cowboys Secondary Needs To "Clean It Up"

Giving up 277 yards and 3 touchdowns to the Bears' Jay Cutler would cause many an NFL secondary to worry. The 27 points the Cowboys' defense yielded yesterday in the loss at Cowboys Stadium has left the players frustrated.

Terence Newman says it's the players who need to step up, not the coaches. Word is is that T-New called for a players-only meeting.

"It's not our coaches," Newman said after Sunday's 27-20 loss to Chicago. "They don't really know some of the things that were going on. But as players, we have to crack down and make sure that some of the stuff that has been going on, doesn't go on.

We have to make it a game situation in practice. That's just what it is. We go hard in practice, but maybe our intensity needs to go up a little bit. We got to do that as players and not worry about the coaches."

More VRR after the jump.

As we have seen in the past, when Dallas defenders get beat for scores they look around at each other. It may not be a blame game, but the action certainly indicates confusion in who is supposed to cover whom, who is supposed to be where. Although the team has dropped its first two games of the 2010 season, is it too soon for a players-only meeting? Gerald Sensabaugh seems to think so. The Cowboys' starting safety chimed in today on players-only meetings and the hype surrounding the team's talent.

"A meeting is not going to do nothing. You just have to make plays. That’s how I feel about it. Talking is nothing. You have to show what you can do out there on the field. We are grown men. What do you have to give grown men a speech? We’re grown." 

"You look at the roster and we look good on paper, we look like crap on the field."

After yesterday's game, Mike Jenkins vented his frustration at his unit's lack of ability in handling the Bears' receivers, as covered in Lissyyyyy's FanPost.

"They came out and had a good game," he said of the Bears receivers. "We just underestimated their players. We could have come out a little more fired up. I put that on ourselves. They had a lot of great calls against us. Great catches. That just shows the caliber of receivers they are."

You can bet that Dave Campo will be working overtime this week.

``We didn't play as well as we had been playing so we've got to clean up some things,'' Campo said. ``It was a little bit of a combination. We weren't as clean as we need to be. That's something we've got to clean up ourselves. But I'm going to look at myself first to make sure I'm giving them the right looks and stuff.''

Although the Dallas secondary underachieved yesterday, they will need all their guns-a'-blazin' when the team takes to the road to Houston to face Matt Schaub and his bevvy of talented receivers, Andre Johnson, Owen Daniels, Jacoby Jones, and Kevin Walter. Fortunately, the news is positive on Jenkins' knee and he is expected to start Sunday.

Cornerback Mike Jenkins had an MRI on his right knee Monday and said everything was good. He had a small wrap on his knee while walking in a hallway outside the locker room.

In regards to Jason Witten, reports said he was indeed diagnosed with a concussion. The team's star tight end, however, says he feels "fine" with no lingering effects from hitting his head on the stadium turf.

"I didn’t feel like it was a concussion, you know. We did there for a little bit," Witten said Monday in the locker room. "But everything’s fine."