10. Now you believe me? Norv Turner > Wade Phillips.
9. Safety Gerald Sensabaugh picked a horrible time to have his first terrible game as a Cowboy. It was his oops that led to both Chargers' touchdowns: Interference at the 1 on a reverse pass set up San Diego's first touchdown; Badly beaten by Antonio Gates on the fourth-quarter score that gave Chargers a 17-10 lead.
8. I know it's December 13 and all and the elves are working double-shifts, but nothing about Neil McCoy singing "Let it Snow" amidst 70-degree weather made it feel like Christmas at Cowboys Stadium. Bah. Humbug.
7. Phillips' attempt at post-mortem spinning? "There's nobody more disappointed than I am. But the season's not over." It's not? I mean, yeah, it's not. Among the bummed-out at the game were Texas Rangers' pitchers Tommy Hunter and Derek Holland and rapper Eminem. Wonder if any of 'em can kick?
6. The Cowboys lost this game in the first half, when they ran 28 plays in Chargers' territory but produced only three points.
5. Only thing that flopped worse than the Cowboys was the 3D experiment. The Cowboys passed out 90,000 pairs of cheapo 3D glasses and switched JumboJerry to 3D for the second half. My review: Sucked. Just very underwhelming. When the world's largest TV dumped the 3D and returned to normal, Cowboys Stadium erupted in applause. Worst idea since the CueCat.
4. Only good news of the day is that DeMarcus Ware seems to be okay. Frightening moment in the fourth quarter when he slammed head-first into the left thigh of Chargers' offensive lineman Brandyn Dombroski. As he lay motionless on the turf, Cowboys Stadium fell eerily quiet and owner Jerry Jones buried his face in his hands. Though he left the field on a cart strapped to a stretcher, Ware had movement and strength in his extremities and apparently suffered only a sprained neck. Whew.
3. It wasn't exactly Barry Switzer running "Load Left" to Emmitt Smith on consecutive fourth-down plays at Philly in '95 or Jimmy Johnson firing strength coach Bob Ward after the Cowboys couldn't score on four runs from the 1 at the New York Giants in '89, but, admit it, the failure on the four running plays to Marion Barber just may define this season. With a first down at the Chargers' 4, Barber banged right behind mammoth guard Leonard Davis on four consecutive plays without scoring. "We're running two tight ends with two backs, we gotta make a yard there," said Jason Witten. "No excuses. It was a great call. We gotta be better than that." Echoed Phillips: "We weren't good enough to punch it in. We weren't good enough to kick the field goal. We're weren't good enough to stop them on that last drive." Translation: The Cowboys just may not be good enough.
2. So now Phillips is gonna something about his team's kicking problem? Friggin' now?! Let me guess, let's change long-snappers? It takes Nick Folk missing a 42-yard field goal in a 3-point loss for Phillips to say afterward about losing confidence in his kicker, "Certainly. We'll look at all our options." See, when a championship coach senses trouble he fires a pre-emptive, pro-active move to avoid negative results. "Successful losers" like Phillips? They wait, wait, wait and then react after negative results. After it's too late.
1. Sorry, but at this point doesn't 9-7 seem more realistic than 11-5? And, no, 8-8 isn't off the table. Is it?
