Monday Night Quarterback: Dallas Cowboys Have Concerns at Offensive Line

For the past few years, the Dallas Cowboys have fallen short of their ultimate goal: a Super Bowl win.

In 2007, many NFL fans thought the Cowboys were on their way to football supremacy as they won the NFC East and earned a first-round playoff bye. They were sharp on offense and tough on defense, which was just enough to push them over the edge as the best team in the NFC.

Then the New York Giants game happened.

For three quarters of the game, the Cowboys seemed to be in control. All of a sudden, the fourth quarter started and the ‘Boys fell apart. The offensive line was gassed and the vaunted Giants defensive line tore them apart.

Romo threw a costly interception to seal the victory for the Giants, but to have any chance of winning he had to heave the ball into the end zone. Under duress from the Giants pressure, he had also developed a bad case of happy feet by the end of the game.

For the first time, the Cowboys offensive line had let them down, but it wouldn’t be the last.

Fast forward to 2009.

For the last part of the year, the Cowboys were playing inspired football. They beat the eventual Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints and seemed to have the ship headed in the right direction.

Dallas had won its first playoff game in over 10 years with a big win against the Philadelphia Eagles at home and seemed to match up well with the Minnesota Vikings headed into their divisional playoff game. Their offensive line seemed to be in a good place, the defense was still solid and strong, and the backfield consisted of a few running backs that could start for any of the additional 31 NFL teams.

That was, until they actually played.

The Vikings stomped a mud hole through the Cowboys and kept stomping until their hearts beat no more. Tony Romo was sacked six times and harassed even more. He had no time in the pocket, as Jared Allen and Ray Edwards made sure Romo only saw the top of the dome and the pretty green FieldTurf.

It was simply a massacre. The offensive line, again, was a huge letdown.

For the past three years, the Cowboys have had a major weakness on offense. Despite the unnecessary and unwarranted criticisms tossed at Tony Romo, it hasn't been his play at quarterback or the sometimes inconsistent play at the wide receiver position; it has been the offensive line.

Last season, Tony Romo’s blindside protector, Flozell Adams, was called for what seemed like an infinite number of false starts and personal foul penalties. Adams lost a step last year and tried to compensate by anticipating the snap count to get a head start on speed rushers gunning for his quarterback.

Unfortunately for him, it cost him his job with the Cowboys, as he was released in the offseason.

The starting left tackle job now belongs to greenhorn Doug Free. So far, he’s performed well and will surely have a quicker step off the line than Adams did last season.

But the Cowboys are hurting on the line, aging, and not performing well. Starting left guard Kyle Kosier and starting right tackle Marc Colombo are nursing injured knees. In fact, Colombo missed seven games last season with a broken leg, so starting the year off with an injury may signal that he’s on the downside of his career.

Dallas looked even worse this past Saturday night against the Texans, as they never adapted to the Texans' defensive schemes and stunts run by their defensive line. It may have been a preseason game for both teams, but Dallas looked uninspired at best, seeming to roll over for the Texans.

The Cowboys second-team offensive line is suspect enough; if Kosier and Colombo miss the first game because of injury, then Dallas may be in for a long first half of the season.

The real test will come against the Redskins in the season opener, when the players will have greater focus than in the preseason. Jason Garrett will open the playbook up to reveal new wrinkles installed to combat blitz packages by a hungry Washington team.

Nevertheless, facing tough edge rushers in Brian Orakpo and Andre Carter for the Skins, Tony Romo may become eye level with the grass at FedEx Field more than he would like to.

Either way, let’s hope what we saw in the preseason from the ‘Boys is not a sign of things to come.

-JH

Join Jason every Monday night at 8pm ET for Monday Night Quarterback where he will talk Cowboys football and all things NFL on www.blogtalkradio.com/cowboyjay

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