Dallas Cowboys Week 4 Report Card: Grading Every Starter's Performance

Where do we start with this one? Is it Tony or maybe Dez? Do we skip to the defense and go with DeMarcus Ware or Frank Walker? Do we lay the blame on Rob Ryan or the way the defense played?

What about Jason Garrett’s play calling or the way in which Felix Jones ran the ball? Is it the offensive line or maybe the disappearance of Dez Bryant?

Where do we start?

Maybe it’s the entire team. Maybe the Cowboys as a whole deserve the blame and should be given an “F” grade. I mean when your team has a 24 point lead in the third quarter and the team still loses there should be enough blame to go around for everyone.

Maybe the offensive line didn’t block well enough and maybe the quarterback threw too many interceptions. Maybe the running back didn’t run hard enough and maybe the receivers didn’t catch the ball well enough.

Maybe the Dallas Cowboys just didn’t play well enough. Maybe the Dallas Cowboys just aren’t that good.

Maybe this is an overreaction and maybe things will improve in two weeks. But as of right now we are living in a world full of maybes with the Cowboys.

Let’s take a look at the Cowboys Week 4 report card.

Quarterback: Tony Romo, Grade: D-

After two weeks of goodwill the nicknames will probably start again. I won't list them here because some of them are just down right crazy but you won't catch me defending Romo in this post. He played a beautiful game for 2 1/2 quarters.

Romo had three touchdowns, was efficient, had over 200 passing yards, and his jersey was casket clean. Then his world fell apart when he threw his first interception to former teammate and best friend Bobby Carpenter. Bobby returned it for six and the Lions never looked back.

Big D had a big lead and allowed the Lions to erase a 24 point deficit by bad defensive play and turnovers. Romo gets a solid D- here due to his reckless play.

Runningback: Felix Jones, Grade: C

I like Felix, I really do. I think that he's a talented and a good running back but maybe he's not what we think he should be. Again—I believe that he has all the tools to be a great runner but so far he's had a marginal impact.

Jones is hurt and he's struggling to stay consistent through injury. He had a pretty good game last week against Washington but his 100-yard performance was based off of two long runs he had in the second half.

I like Jones but I don't believe he can carry the full load for Dallas and maybe Garrett realizes that as well.

Final State Line: 16 Rushes 57 Rushing Yards

Wide Reciever: Dez Bryant, Grade: C-

Dez had two touchdowns to put the Cowboys out in front. So I can't really say that he didn't play well, he just didn't sustain his play for the entire game.

Bryant seems to lose energy as the game progresses and maybe that's due to his injury. But his David Blain impression in the second half hurt Dallas and they could have used his production.

Still, he had two touchdowns with only three receptions for the entire game.

Wide Reciever: Laurent Robinson, Grade: B+

Robinson played well today. With Garrett losing faith in Kevin Ogletree and reducing his role this was Robinson's time to shine and he did just that. He had seven catches for 116 yards to lead the Cowboys receivers.

I think that he should have fought harder to break up the interceptions that were intended for him but overall he played pretty well. If he has this same type of performance against New England I think that we can say goodbye to Ogletree.

Tight End: Jason Witten, Grade: A

Witten always plays well and if not for him no way does Dallas play this well on offense. I've said it before and I'll say it again—he's the Cowboys' No. 1 receiver. He's Romo's go to guy and the offense seems to go right through him.

Against the Lions he had eight receptions for almost 100 yards and one touchdown. No blame on Witten because he played, as usual, with his heart and soul on display.

Center: Phil Costa, Grade: B+

Costa was almost run out of Dallas last week after his awful performance against the Redskins. He had issues getting the snap away and then blamed the Redskins for calling out Romo's cadence.

But no snap issues today and for the most part the offensive line kept Romo clean. Costa and Romo worked out their communication issues and we're talking about Romo's mistakes today and not Costa's.

Right Guard: Kyle Kosier, Grade: B-

Kosier was flagged for holding once but considering he was playing against one of the toughest defensive linemen in the game he did a great job. Kosier was tasked with keeping Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh off of Tony Romo and he did just that.

Suh was often double teamed or aided by a running back or tight end but he still kept Romo clean and that's all the 'Boys could ask for against Detroit.

Right Tackle: Tyron Smith, Grade: C-

We didn't hear Smith's name called this week and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. He's part of an offensive line that was in charge of keeping Romo's ribs from being cracked again and so far Tony's lung isn't punctured and his ribs are still healing.

Jason Garrett helped the offensive line by calling three step drops and quick passes and screens so that Tony isn't holding onto the ball. He was sacked only once and that was in the fourth quarter.

Left Guard: Bill Nagy, Grade: B-

Nagy played well in my eyes. He had his hands full as well as the rest of the line but again I stress that Romo's jersey came up clean for the majority of the game.

I like Bill and as long as he continues to grow he'll be just fine.

Left Tackle: Doug Free, Grade: B

Free didn't play well at all last week and this week he improved. His season isn't going as well as it did last year but we'll see how thing shake out for him by season's end. The offensive line as a whole did a great job against the Lions.

Nose Tackle: Jay Ratliff, Grade: C+

Dallas is great against the rush and while they failed to register a sack against the Lions they did pressure Stafford more than any other team this season.

The Cowboys had 63 yards for 3.7 yards per carry and for that I gift Ratliff a C+ grade.

Defensive End: Marcus Spears, Grade: B-

Spears is fantastic at defending the run and he showed that again on Sunday against the Lions. The Cowboys found out just how valuable Spears was to their team in the offseason and decided to re-sign him. Smart move as the Cowboys defense continues to grow.

Defensive Lineman: Kenyon Coleman, Grade: C

Coleman played for an injured Jason Hatcher, but the team failed to get adequate pressure on Stafford when it counted.

But again the 'Boys defense played well enough to aid the Cowboys to a 24 point lead but poor enough to a four point loss.

Linebacker: Anthony Spencer, Grade: C-

After a great game against the 'Skins last week Spencer failed to get a sack on Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Spencer did pressure Stafford but when it counted the Cowboys didn't get to Matthew.

Bradie James: Linebacker, Grade: D

According to the stat sheet James failed to record a single tackle. One would think that James was on the inactive list or injured but he just didn't show.

James and the Cowboys defense did a great job of limiting Johnson and Stafford in the first half but they played poorly when the momentum turned to the Lions.

Linebacker: DeMarcus Ware, Grade: B+

Ware pressured Stafford plenty but he never got to him. I'll say again and I'm sure I'll say it before I'm done with this article but the Cowboys really needed to make a play down the stretch and they simply couldn't.

Ware is the reason Stafford has problems getting going early and without him who knows how this game would have turned out score wise.

Linebacker: Sean Lee, Grade: A+

Sean Lee had four tackles and continued his assent to becoming one of the best linebackers in the NFC. Lee did have a tackle for a loss and we at least heard his name and saw his number unlike James.

Lee along with Ware, Spencer, Spears and Hatcher should keep Dallas in plenty of games this season.

Cornerback: Terence Newman, Grade: C

Newman was covering Johnson on that fade route in the end zone but I don't fully blame him. No way Newman was going to stop Johnson on that play which is why I think Ryan should have had someone to double Johnson.

The play was a run/pass option and when Stafford saw Johnson singled up he threw the fade route. The Cowboys had 12 players on the field and still didn't bother to help Newman out.

Cornerback: Mike Jenkins, Grade: C-

Jenkins played as well as expected against Megatron, but considering the type of season Jenkins had last season this is a vast improvement. He was a part of the four man jump ball with Megatron where they made the Cowboys look silly.

But Mike and the rest of the crew "held" Stafford and the Lions to 240 passing yards.

Free Safety: Gerald Sensabaugh, Grade: B-

Sensabaugh left with a concussion but I stand to believe that if he were a apart of that jump ball with Megatron, Johnson wouldn't have caught the ball.

Gerald has a 40-plus vertical and would have at least got a hand on the ball. He had one interception and played pretty well–too bad he had to leave with an injury.

Strong Safety: Abe Elam, Grade: C-

Elam had one tackle but was largely absent. Then again Stafford was off track for most of the game so the Cowboys defensive backfield did a great job of limiting Johnson for a big chunk of the game.

Kicker: Dan Bailey, Grade: A+

Bailey was three for three on field goals and with his performance I think the Cowboys have found a field goal kicker.

Punter: Mat McBriar, Grade: B

Nothing really to say about McBriar except he's one of the best punters in the entire league.

He had a 53-yard punt average with one touchback.