Tony Romo Still Undecided, Brad Johnson Named the Starter Against the Rams

The Dallas Cowboys are, without a doubt, the hottest topic in football right now. They have all of the drama surrounding Adam Jones and his indefinite suspension, all of the injuries plaguing the team on both sides of the ball, and  T.O. sounding off whenever he feels the urge.

The Cowboys have enough to worry about. Then, to top it all off, they’re not even certain as to whether Tony Romo is going to play with his fractured pinkie finger on Sunday against the Rams. Romo injured his finger in overtime Sunday against the Cardinals.

The injury to Romo has placed the Dallas Cowboys in the spotlight once more. Romo has been participating in practice and throwing balls to receivers for the past few days. He has not been ruled out as a starter for Sunday’s game. Although he is injured, he will dress for the game.

Romo has expressed his desire to play, but the decision ultimately lies in the hands of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Head Coach Wade Philips.

So, this turns our attention to Brad Johnson, the 40-year-old backup quarterback who hasn’t started a game since his 2006 season with the Minnesota Vikings. That sure makes Cowboy fans comfortable.

In order for the Cowboys to do well in the absence of Romo, the offensive line is going to have to play physical, yet disciplined, due to the fact that Johnson isn’t mobile enough to stretch plays like Romo. Disciplined, meaning they’re going to have to pick up blitzes, get the initial push off of the line, and protect Johnson better than they did Romo in last Sundays game against the Cardinals.

Johnson, nonetheless, is still an accurate thrower with a strong arm. He makes good, decisive, decisions with the ball, which in turn may cut down on the amount of turnovers for the offense.

The offensive line, along with Marion Barber, will also have to establish the run game as dominant, in order to open up the play-action passing game and set up some of the deep routes. But how will T.O. and Witten respond to the sudden change?

Will the Cowboys' offense, ranked third in the league, be able to put up the 400 yards per game (247 of which come solely from the passing game)?

This week, the Cowboys face somewhat of an easy opponent playing the Rams. Now the Rams, who have come off of a last-second victory against the Redskins last Sunday are riding high and feeling good. 

But the Cowboys seem to be focused, no matter who starts at quarterback on Sunday. "If Brad plays as quarterback, our team is ready to play with Brad. We have confidence in him, we feel like we can win with him," Phillips said, after Fridays practice.

As the saga continues, the Dallas Cowboys, at the end of the day, need to play better football as a team and quit playing down to their competition.

They have a lot of potential to blow the NFC East, along with the NFL, wide open and make it to the big game, but with the way they’re playing now, they’ll be lucky to make it past the first round of the playoffs. But with the addition of Roy E. Williams, it should be only a matter of time before they get things rolling again.