Tony Romo, who could miss 6-8 weeks with a broken left clavicle, talked about the injury after the game.

"It doesn't feel good, but it's just normal," Romo said. "I didn't know that it was broken. I was kind of in shock. When it happens your body kind of goes in shock and I had a hard time breathing. I tried catching my breath, and when I did, it was hard to move this [left] shoulder. It felt like a good sprain and I was just trying to get back in. I was just really light headed."

Romo tried to get back into the game before being held back by a team trainer. Troy Aikman suffered a similar injury in 1998. He missed six weeks with one of those being a bye week.

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The roof will be open for tonight's NFC East battle. Making his pro debut tonight for the Cowboys will be OLB Brandon Williams. He should be sliding into ILB Jason Williams' slot on special teams.

For the Giants, there was some concern regarding WR Hakeem Nicks' hamstring; however, it looks as though he will start tonight.

Here are both teams' inactives:

Cowboys: QB Stephen McGee, LB Leon Williams, LB Jason Williams, OG Kyle Kosier, OT Sam Young, OT Jeremey Parnell, WR Kevin Ogletree, DT Sean Lissemore

Giants: CB D.J. Johnson, FB Madison Hedgecock, LB Phillip Dillard, OG Mitch Petrus, OT William Beatty, OL Jamon Meredith, DE Mathias Kiwanuka, DT Linval Joseph

CBSSports.com is SB Nation's fantasy football partner.

Now that we've got a handful of Cowboys' games to reflect upon, let's look closer at what this team has to offer from a fantasy football perspective.

QB Tony Romo - If you're a Romo owner, you have to be rather pleased with his fantasy production thus far. He has an array of weapons to throw to, and his protection looks better with Marc Colombo settling back in on the right side. In 5 games, he has completed 143 of 206 (69.4%) for 1,566 yards with 10 TDs. He looks spot on most of the time; although, the 7 INTs are frustrating. 

More often than not, Romo has put up some huge numbers against the Giants. Again, the Cowboys find themselves backed into a corner. Whether or not the defense and special teams continue their meltdowns, expect the Dallas offense to come out firing on all cylinders. It's a must win to salvage the season. Gamble on Romo coming up big. Start him.

RBs Felix Jones - He looks to be the guy at tailback for the Cowboys now, despite not being named the starter. Jones hit the century mark against the Titans two weeks ago, averaging more than 7 ypc. Although he gained only 32 yards on 14 carries last week in Minnesota, he led the team in receptions with 10 for 61 yards.

Jones hasn't yet hit the homeruns that we expect him to, but his role in the offense is expanding. This makes him a good bye-week filler and a viable #2 RB in PPR leagues. Consider starting.

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Remember when much of the worry about this Cowboys team surrounded the offensive line? All offseason, the transition from Flozell Adams to Doug Free at left tackle grabbed many a headline. Week 1's loss to the Redskins confirmed those worries from a depth perspective, as backup Alex Barron struggled mightily in his attempt to fill in for an injured Marc Colombo.

With Colombo back and Montrae Holland playing adequately enough at guard to backup the oft-injured Kyle Kosier and rotate in for an ineffective Leonard Davis, the worries about the offensive line have taken a backseat to a number of other team issues, including penalties, poor secondary play, and awful special teams play.

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Often it seems when the Cowboys need a day of reckoning, they find one against the Giants. Because of the two teams' successes in recent years, this division rivalry has been as intense as ever. And for Tony Romo, the games against New York have been pivotal.

We all remember Week 7 in the 2006 season when Bill Parcells made the halftime call to have Tony Romo replace incumbent starter Drew Bledsoe. It was the kid's first real action in a game that mattered. He started off shaky with a pick right out of the gates, but then settled in to provide the team the mobility at the position Bledsoe didn't have. The Giants won big 36-22; however, Romo showed enough leadership, moxie, and arm strength to make starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys his regular gig.

Later in Week 13, the sparkle of hope for #9 shined brighter. In New York with the score tied at 20, exactly a minute left on the clock, Dallas on its own 32. Empty backfield, five wide. The Giants rushed just three, yet the pocket began to collapse within seconds. Although right-handed, Romo rolled to his left and then launched a perfect strike over two Giants' defenders into the hands of Jason Witten. The play put Dallas in range for Martin Gramatica's 46-yard game-winning field goal.

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With the Cowboys releasing offensive lineman Robert Brewster today and safety Mike Hamlin earlier in the week, the team's draft class of '09 is thinning out rather quickly.

There is a chance Brewster could be called back to the practice squad now that the promotion of receiver and special teamer Jesse Holley has opened up a spot there. Hamlin, however, has already been picked up by Jacksonville, which placed him on their practice squad.

The draft that saw the Cowboys select 12 players between rounds three through seven certainly has taken a shot in the potential department this week. From those 12 players, count on three to be contributors to the active roster: kicker David Buehler, linebackers Jason Williams and Victor Butler.

Three. That's a sad number, but if you take into account injuries and the fact that these were all rather low draft picks, then it's much easier to stomach.

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Today, the Cowboys decided to part ways with safety Michael Hamlin. The 2009 5th-round pick had yet to see significant playing time last season because of a broken forearm.

Although healthy this year, the play of UDFA safeties Danny McCray and Barry Church has seemingly pushed Hamlin off the roster.

Dallas has not filled Hamlin's roster spot, but they could sign another TE or FB to the 53 if Martellus Bennett's ankle prevents him from playing this Sunday at Minnesota.

Cowboys inactives
7 Stephen McGee (third quarterback)
36 S Michael Hamlin
50 LB Sean Lee
59 LB Brandon Williams
67 C Phil Costa
76 T Sam Young
79 T Robert Brewster
95 DE Sean Lissemore

Texans inactives
9 QB Matt Leinart (third quarterback)
19 WR Dorin Dickerson
30 CB Jamar Wall
53 LB David Nixon
64 G Kasey Studdard
71 G Shelley Smith
88 TE Garrett Graham
99 DE Adewale Ogunleye

It's been since January 9, 2010 since we've witnessed the Dallas Cowboys win a game that mattered. After a humbling playoff loss in Minnesota to end the 2009 season, we here at BTB have been looking forward to seeing how the Cowboys can build upon last season. Frankly, we've been disappointed at how the team has responded coming out of the gates to begin this decade. Their record, so far, says it all.

Entering Week 3, Dallas travels across Texas to Houston to take on the state's hottest NFL team, the Texans, who after their two wins, lead the NFL in total offense averaging 440.5 yards and 32 points per game. We all know about the Texans' passing offense, led by quarterback Matt Schaub and receiver Andre Johnson. But this version of the Houston offense also boasts the league's leading ground game (157.5 ypg), led by running back Arian Foster.

The Cowboys must prevail if they want to prevent going into their Week 4 bye week with a winless record. Backed in a corner...a wounded animal...in the face of adversity...must-win. Expect to hear a collection of such colloquialisms during every pregame show this Sunday because the odds seem quite stacked against Dallas.

Only three 0-3 teams have rebounded to make playoffs. That fact makes next Sunday's in-state showdown at the Houston Texans a must-win. One of those teams to dig out of the 0-3 hole was Wade Phillips' 1998 Buffalo Bills. But he admits this team is at a turning point.

"I think we are at a crossroads," Phillips said. "I don't think it's too early. It's right now. It's time to step up."

More VRR after the jump.

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Saturday, August 28th in Houston, Texas. The Cowboys were rolling into their fourth preseason game--the Texans their third. By that time, everyone knew that the Dallas offense had been featuring a "vanilla" approach to its gameplan. The team, as Head Coach Wade Phillips said, was tired. Cowboys, Cowboys, Cowboys. They were the focus of the media, the fans, and judging by the "flavor" of the playbook, the Dallas coaches.

Preseason is over, but commentary regarding the team's ineptitude during its play is not. After having dropped their first two regular season games, the Cowboys have yet to shed the criticism that followed after each preseason game. The offense, especially, has yet to respond in a productive enough manner to defeat its defensive opponents. The 0-2 start to the 2010 season has every pundit analyzing what is wrong with the Cowboys. Are the Cowboys focusing too much on the same thing?

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It's the 1-0 New Orleans Saints at the 0-1 San Francisco 49ers. In four career starts, Saints QB Drew Brees has yet to lose against the 49ers. However, Patrick Willis and Mike Singletary's defense will try to change that.

Feel free to use this thread to discuss tonight's contest between these two NFC teams.

Giving up 277 yards and 3 touchdowns to the Bears' Jay Cutler would cause many an NFL secondary to worry. The 27 points the Cowboys' defense yielded yesterday in the loss at Cowboys Stadium has left the players frustrated.

Terence Newman says it's the players who need to step up, not the coaches. Word is is that T-New called for a players-only meeting.

"It's not our coaches," Newman said after Sunday's 27-20 loss to Chicago. "They don't really know some of the things that were going on. But as players, we have to crack down and make sure that some of the stuff that has been going on, doesn't go on.

We have to make it a game situation in practice. That's just what it is. We go hard in practice, but maybe our intensity needs to go up a little bit. We got to do that as players and not worry about the coaches."

More VRR after the jump.

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It's Manning vs. Manning tonight as the New York Giants visit the Indianapolis Colts. The Giants sit at 1-0 after defeating the Carolina Panthers in Week 1, and the Colts look to rebound from their Arian Foster-led loss to the Texans.

At 0-2, the Cowboys are looking up at the Giants as well as the other Beasts in the NFC East. The Eagles improved to 1-1 today after defeating the Detroit Lions 35-32, and the Redskins, now 1-1, looked impressive against the Houston Texans in an overtime loss at home.

Losses hurt. At least last weekend's loss to the Redskins wasn't plagued with injuries for the Cowboys. Today, they were not so luck in their home opener against the Bears.

You saw how upset Jason Witten was being kept out of the game by team doctors. That's today's NFL, though. They don't mess around with concussions, which is apparently what Witten suffered on his 23-yard reception after being tackled by Bears safety Chris Harris.

After the hit, Witten seemed dazed as teammate Marc Colombo attended him. NFL rules do not allow players back into a game after a concussion is confirmed by team doctors. Witten caught 5 of his 8 targets for 51 yards before leaving the game.

As for Mike Jenkins, he was carted off the field with an apparent right knee injury. This tweet from Newy Scruggs offers us some hope. We, of course, will update as more news rolls in.

Just saw CB Mike Jenkins walking dressed in locker room and says he had a bruise.

If you are watching the Texans @ Redskins game right now, you know the Cowboys will definitely need these two starters for Week 3 in Houston.

Yesterday, I was driving around listening to fans call in to ESPN1250: The Zone, listening to their complaints about Alex Barron, Jason Garrett, yadda, yadda, yadda. It's given that fans vent after a loss. That's what we've all been doing here the past few days. Surely, it will happen again down the road this season. But not this week!

One caller told Cowboys fans not to be "surprised" if they lose to the Bears. Not to be surprised? The entire sports world would be surprised if the Dallas Cowboys lost their home opener to the Chicago Bears! Vegas isn't known to lose more money than it makes, and it still has the Cowboys as 8.5 point favorites--just tempting folks to throw down on the Bears! 

Okay, enough with the exclamations. Time to get declarative. The Cowboys will beat the Bears. Too cautious? Fine. The Cowboys will not only win the game, but they will even cover the spread.

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In considering the focus of each draft since Wade Phillips was hired as head coach in 2007, one could assume that the Cowboys front office has been in agreement to focus on solidifying the defense. Prior to Phillips taking over for Bill Parcells, he inherited some solid starting players in DeMarcus Ware, Jay Ratliff, Terence Newman, Bradie James, and Marcus Spears. Looking at Dallas' other starters on that side of the ball, the team has invested many more resources in Phillips' favor. Anthony Spencer, Mike Jenkins, Orlando Scandrick, and Alan Ball were all drafted during the Phillips regime.

Prior to last season, free agents Igor Olshansky, Keith Brooking, and Gerald Sensabaugh were brought in to fill in the starting lineup--signings that scream of Phillips' influence. During the '09 draft, we witnessed 7 of the 11 players selected being defenders, and David Buehler was brought in to help lengthen the field for opposing offenses.

I was going to do a Bright-Side-of-the-Washington-Loss-type post, but screw it. The game is lost and time to move on. Judging by many of your comments on why the Cowboys lost that game, much of the blame outside of Alex Barron is focusing on coaching. Similar to last season, much of the criticism is focusing on the offensive playcalling of Jason Garrett.

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A collective mid-week sigh of relief should spread across the world of the Dallas Cowboys today, as both starting LG, Kyle Kosier, and starting RT, Marc Colombo, are expected back in practice today, which means they should start against the Bears.

Now, Montrae Holland did have himself a pretty decent game Sunday night against the Redskins in relief of Kosier. Alex Barron: not so much in Colombo's stead. Let's just hope that the arthroscopic knee surgery Colombo had in mid-August will return his power and mobility to help renew the physical presence on the right side of the O-line.

Wade Phillips sounds as if he would rather take his chances with a sub-100% Colombo than go again with Barron for the Cowboys home opener. Wouldn't you agree?

"You just have to see what happens," Phillips said. "If he comes back the way he was, he'll be fine. He was practicing fine, until he got hurt."

More VRR after the jump.

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It's rant day if you're a fan of the Cowboys. After we've waited months for the season opener, our favorite team struggled mightily against one of our least favorite teams. Now, the Redskins sit atop "the Beast" with the Giants while the Cowboys join the Eagles in the 0-1 cellar.

Before I roll out a "bright side-type" post, let's vent. The disappointment of losing 13-7 to the Redskins will sting through this week, especially seeing that the Cowboys came so close to escaping FedEx Field with a win. The dark side of the Dallas loss will be discussed incessantly on every NFL news outlet, so let's prepare for what we should expect to hear.

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What better way to kick off the NFL's Opening Week? The ol' Cowboys @ Redskins rivalry on Sunday Night Football should give us a preview of what to expect of this team in 2010.

Earning a win within the division right out of the gate would prematurely help this Dallas team's playoff hopes, as the Giants (home vs. Carolina) and Eagles (home vs. Green Bay) will have played some pretty tough games by 7:20 EST on Sunday night. I'm getting ahead of myself in mentioning the playoffs, but it's hard not to grin when thinking of the Cowboys having a 1-0 record after the first week, especially if all the other Beasts sit at 0-1.

Back to the SNF game. Both teams have questions--Washington's are much more concerning than Dallas'. New head coach, new quarterback, new defense, relatively trumps the concerns regarding the Cowboys. But here at BTB, our focus is the Cowboys and our main concern falls directly on the play, performance, and injury status of the offensive line. 

More VRR after the jump.

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[Ed note: The following is a collaboration between Aaron and O.C.C. Since it's a holiday, I thought it would be a good time for something lighter, a little comedy to start your day. Enjoy! - Dave]

In a joint task force, the Office for Cyber Craziness and the Agency Against Repeated Online Nonsense have investigated some of the mysterious going-ons at BTB.

Their investigations have shed light on some of the exclusive code-talking at BTB as well as the covert identities of some Cowboys players. They also uncovered the activities of a secretive organization on the blog, discovered a method behind the madness that are the BTB comments, and found that fanposts on the blog follow a reliable and predictable pattern.

Their full report after the break.

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The cuts are in and the initial 53 is all set for the Cowboys. Now, for the practice squad players.

TEs Martin Rucker and Scott Chandler (Giants)

WRs Manny Johnson and Jesse Holley

OL Travis Bright and OT Cliff Louis (Lions)

RB Lonyae Miller

CB Teddy Williams

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