Monday Musings: Nothing special for Dallas Cowboys in loss to Arizona Cardinals

Arizona scored on the first and last play Sunday.

Both touchdowns came courtesy of shoddy Cowboys special teams play in a 30-24 loss in overtime. Ugly, disgusting special teams play.

I would not want to be Cowboys special teams coach Bruce Read this morning. Let me rephrase, I would not want to be Read if the Cowboys were an organization who held people accountable for such things.

They are not, at least not recently.

This is not to say the 93-yard kickoff return by J.J. Arrington and the punt blocked by Sean Morey in overtime that turned into the game-winning touchdown by Monty Beisel are necessarily all Read’s fault. He did not miss the tackles. He did not miss the block, allowing Morey to come free off the edge. But he is the guy who has been watching silliness like this happen for a while and thereby, he is responsible.

“Everybody’s been saying our special teams coach has been hanging on by a thread. It’s not him,” linebacker Kevin Burnett said. “That’s not cool.”

Too bad Read did not sound like he had any answers on how to solve what has become an almost-weekly problem of varying degrees of special teams ineptitude.

“If we knew, we’d clean it up,” Read said. “The result, I suppose, is the most disappointing. Our guys are working hard and we have good players.”

He was a little more harsh than anything we get from Coach Wade, although, not quite hard enough. Especially considering they just handed the Cardinals 13 points on special teams.

I am pretty sure Read will keep his job. And if we are being fair, he probably should not since nobody is held accountable. But this has to get better, and quick.

While I ponder if this hot mess also is the figment of negative media imagination, let’s dive into another round of Monday Morning Musings:

1. Losing in Arizona may actually help this Cowboy team more than another pull-it-out-of-their-you-know-whats win.

OK, I admit to pulling you into a debate we had on our live Game Log (click here to view a replay of Sunday's Game Log), and by “we” I mean S-T writers and Cowboy fans blogging together. I am not normally a believer in “losing is good” yet I found myself arguing for this.

Let’s be frank, losing always stinks.

But what we learned this week was the Cowboys do not learn from winning ugly. They barely beat Cincy a week ago, looked pretty average doing so and chafed when called on this fact. Unfair expectations and meanie media was the plaintive cry. And what did we see in Arizona? A Cowboy team who barely won the week before and sloughed off their problems as not important because they won.

Blame for this has to fall on Coach Wade.

If he refuses to hold them accountable, how will they ever be accountable? Or get better? Or fix mistakes? Or get up for a game? And players seem to be noticing this as well, with a few even starting to call him out on his lackadaisical approach to this team.

“Maybe we need our asses chewed out or something,” Cowboys receiver Pat Crayton said. “You never know that might jumpstart something.”

2. The Cowboy offensive line owes Tony Romo an apology, or a massage, or a promise to be much much better in St. Louis.

The only thing saving them from being judged the worst unit on the field Sunday was Read’s special teams. They were not good. And Romo has bumps and bruises and a dinged ego as proof.

Flozell Adams failed. So did Marc Columbo.

Andre Gurode had enough bad moments that Romo and T.O. jumped him on Sunday. And nobody had a worse day that big Leonard Davis who had an idiotic unsportsmanlike penalty and an obvious holding late. And, yes, I realize the penalty for spiking the ball is weak but it is on the books so there is no excuse.

So what was wrong with the line on Sunday, Coach Wade?

“Their pressure gave us problems,” he said. “We need to find out why.”

Wow, if that doesn’t make you feel better, nothing will.

3. Speaking of Romo: He is hurt. Or at very least hurting.

Right before halftime, FOX cameras caught a glimpse of Romo on the sideline. He was clinching his right hand, as if squeezing a tennis ball and he looked to wince. He had it wrapped in ice afterwards. The official word is he sprained his finger.

Does this sound like last season to anybody?

A rumored thumb injury caused Romo to be “off” much like what we saw Sunday -- floating that pass in OT, fumbling what unofficially was five times, et al -- and in many ways stymied this Cowboy offense. Again, like we saw Sunday.

I am not making excuses for Romo, just noting that his problems against the Cardinals looked to be at least somewhat injury induced. Of course, as John Madden noted about Pats QB Matt Cassell during Sunday night football, at some point the ball has to come out, you have to get rid of it.

4. I don’t know if Pacman was a distraction but he certainly wasn’t a factor.

Unless you count getting beat.

Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald had a big day. And while not all of his catches came against Pacman, he used his size advantage to use and abuse him plenty.

Was this because of his Joule episode? Hardly.

But when he probably would have helped himself with a big game or even just a good game after a week where his teammates spent a lot of time talking about him. And where is this amazing punt return ability we heard so much about?

Of course, AHenry hardly played like a beast. He had his hands full with some Cardinal rookie named Breaston. It probably shuts up everybody who was saying the Cowboys wouldn’t miss TNew. They do. And will until he returns in four weeks from surgery.

5. What was especially crazy about this Cowboys loss is the Cardinals tried really hard, and repeatedly so, to give them this game.

They were sloppy.

They committed stupid penalties.

Their quarterback was sloppy.

6. My usual bright-side section is limited. I’ve got Marion Barber and …

Anybody? Maybe that Miles Austin touchdown? What little we saw from Felix Jones before he got hurt? T.O. for not going ballistic? Sorry folks, I am struggling.

7. How does this day go from bad to ugly?

If punter Mat McBriar is seriously hurt. I know they said X-rays were negative but Monday is usually the big day to see how sore or swollen a player is.

8. I am not T.O. defender but to quote him … why is he here?

He obviously is having a hard time getting off the line in press coverage and is not catching as many passes as he’d like. Why not put him in motion? Why not find ways to get him involved more? Because for the most part, I’m ignoring that one ugly drop, he makes plays when you get the ball in his hand.

Find. A. Way.

9. Your homework assignment was to answer this simple question: Do you trust Coach Wade to win a playoff game? Yes? Or no?

We here at LBOH headquarters were stunned to learn 99 out of every 100 Cowboys fans did not trust Coach Wade to beat Arizona (good foresight), much less win a playoff game.

In no particular order, as we do every week, we present my favorite responses:

Mark Pletcher of Frisco wrote “if the playoff game in question is actually a bye week, then I absolutely trust Coach Wade. If they actually have to play the game, not so much” while Alvin Reid from Kirkwood, Mo., added a very direct “no, huh-uh, nope, please”. Jeff Scholl from Fort Worth used my reasoning, saying “absolutely not. He does not hold anyone accountable for their mistakes”.

Coach Wade was not without defenders, including Jim Stotts from Burleson who said “It’s the 3-million dollar offensive coordinator and a 60-million dollar quarterback I DON'T trust”.

My favorite comes from Jay Burch from Mount Pleasant who noted “Wade, or Bum 2.0 as I call him, is clueless as a coach and against the Bengals looked like a lost beer vendor walking the sidelines. I see them losing at Arizona next week if this meltdown continues and Lord knows Bum 2.0 can’t light any fires under them. And December’s not even here yet. Maybe Wade could sell beer on the sidelines though.”

10. Your turn: What is your biggest concern about this Cowboys team? Please remember to include your name and location for credit purposes. I am all about credit.