Redskins vs. Cowboys: Plenty of Blame to Go Around in Cowboys' Lackluster Effort

For winning a football game, the Dallas Cowboys sure raised a lot of questions on Monday night against the Washington Redskins.

After the Cowboys' 18-16 nail-biter on Monday, the mood was anything but cheery. Quarterback Tony Romo looked as if he was about ready to erupt, and it wasn't because he failed to lead the Cowboys to the winning score in the closing minutes.

You could blame Romo for throwing an interception and no touchdowns, but it mainly wasn't his fault. Center Phil Costa was just bad. He snapped the ball twice when Romo wasn't even looking and misfired on two other snaps. On top of that, the loss of star receiver Miles Austin exposed the Cowboys' thin receiving corps, with multiple incompletions coming from receivers not running their entire route or not getting to where they needed to be.

Said Romo, via the LA Times: "It was a hard, hard game...We had a million mistakes tonight. We have a lot of young guys, but they were out there for a reason. We'll get it right."

Translation: those young guys should have played much better despite being inexperienced.

This has to be a little concerning for Romo and the Cowboys. The defense has looked surprisingly effective after being horrendous last season (or perhaps not surprisingly, given new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan mans the unit now). But the offense has two athletic receivers in Austin and Dez Bryant, who you have to figure will have their fair share of tweaks every season. The Cowboys' lack of depth at the receiving position is undoubtedly troublesome.

Of course, that's not mentioning Costa. Now, I hate to single one man out, but the center is a rather important position in football and if he continues to struggle, that's going to makes things a nightmare for Romo and Co. The truth is, the Cowboys' offensive line has been rather solid beyond Costa. They had given up just five sacks coming into Monday's game, and they gave up just one sack against a much-improved Redskins pass rush.

But there are clearly problems with this team that were overlooked in the offseason.

The defense has rebounded, but the offense has plenty of question marks.