While the entire sports world will focus on that lump of clay sitting on top of Tony Romo's throwing hand, word has come out that Dallas might have suffered another setback possibly as impacting as a less-than-100% Romo. Obviously if Romo is severely hampered by his hand contusion, that's issue numbers one, two and three. However a mid-season reacquisition that stabilized the offensive line appears to now be out for the long haul. Montrae Holland, according to reports, has suffered a torn biceps.
Holland had accumulated a +8.0 cumulative grade from Pro Football Focus, after he took over for rookie lineman Bill Nagy who suffered his own season-ending ankle injury. Lumpy, which has turned from a nickname of disdain into one of affection, returned to Dallas pseudo-svelt after being released for reporting to camp too overweight; disappointing the coaching staff. He was penciled in to be the replacement for released-for-salary-cap-and-loss-of-talent-reasons Leonard Davis. Jason Garrett, et al, decided they would rather roll with a seventh-round rookie than a player that didn't seem dedicated to his trade.
So now Dallas is going to be forced to try and protect Tony Romo with either undrafted rookie guard/center Kevin Kowalski or veteran Derrick Dockery at left guard. Dockery was signed right before the season to provide the veteran depth the Cowboys thought they had in Holland. He played all of Week Two against San Francisco with disastrous results, and has only amassed two snaps since. When C Phil Costa suffered a concussion against the NY Giants a couple weeks back, Kowalski acquitted himself rather well in his 37 snaps.
Kowalski didn't seem to have any egregious errors replacing Holland for the final seven minutes of the Eagles loss. His man never got true pressure on Stephen McGee, although the Cowboys went with several short routes down by 20 in the fourth quarter with their backup quarterback. Dockery was inactive for the last two games, so it will be interesting to see what Dallas' plans are with both players available.