emergency.
Ding, Ding. Hello? The "Rams, dude" were kicking you up and down the field in the first quarter 21-7. Your backup quarterback, although he strung together an impressive opening-game drive, wasn't getting the job done.
Emergency!
The Rams didn't fear Johnson. And the Cowboys did nothing to offset that. St. Louis didn't think Johnson could throw it deep. He didn't. They didn't think he could hurt them down the field and he didn't.
Therefore, they made sure the Cowboys couldn't run the ball consistently, and they didn't.
But you didn't need to get all the way to halftime with the Rams leading 24-7 to say this one wasn't working.
To me, I give it a shot.
See what your superstar has. I kinda thought he was one of those, you know, "gamers" - a guy who just does it when the lights come on.
Maybe he's not 100 percent. Maybe his pinkie would be a problem. And here's the big maybe . . . maybe Tony Romo would re-injure the finger even more and could be lost for the season.
Or just maybe Tony Romo would get the job done. Maybe he would've given a little life to this team, because it didn't have any.
We can play the "maybe" game all day but we'll never know because the Cowboys never tried.
And with that, you can make the argument that the Cowboys never had a chance on this day. What kind of message does it give when you don't put your top guys out there?
Again, if he was hurt, then he's hurt and he can't play. But there's a reason Felix Jones didn't make the trip. There is a reason Terence Newman wasn't there either. They can't play. They can't overcome their injuries and on this day; they're not better than the alternative.
I'm not sure Romo wasn't better than the alternative. And if the Cowboys were completely convinced that he wasn't, then they shouldn't have even put him out there.
Again, if the guy was hurt and can't perform, then don't play him. Put him down, in street clothes and say, "There's no way, not today."
But halfway putting him out there told the Cowboys that there are more important times than this game.
And for the next four quarters, that's exactly what they showed.
The Cowboys made an organizational decision not to risk further injury with their star quarterback. But the players' made their own decision not to rally around it and rise to the occasion.
