Well, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Cornerback Terence Newman will miss a month of playing time, but at least it wasn't a full-blown sports hernia. That could have cost him up to two months. From the DMN blog: 

Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman had surgery today on his groin and will be out at least a month. Doctors thought Newman would be out six-to-eight weeks, but discovered his groin muscle wasn't as badly damaged.

Hat tip to silverblue5 for first posting this news. 

Are you guys Pac'ed out? Yup, I'm tired of the whole Pacman mess this week. But, there is a little more news, so I have to post it.

NFL officials said Friday they will not complete their investigation into an incident involving Jones until next week.

We'll find out then. Until that time, I'd advise Jerry Jones to keep his mouth shut on the incident, or he'll say stuff like this.

"I almost feel like I'm an enabler," Jerry Jones said. "Because it's the very people that I have with him that created this. Had we not had that security with him, this wouldn't have happened. Really. Had we not had the security with him, it wouldn't have happened."

Just stop, please.

If you haven't had your fill, you can get more details here and here. 

Anquan Boldin is definitely out for Sunday.

Time to check in with cgolden at Revenge Of The Birds, SB Nation's  Arizona Cardinals blog, for a session of 5 Questions. Be sure to visit ROTB for all your Cardinals updates.

Blogging The Boys: Kurt Warner has been playing excellent ball. But in the past, if you get pressure on him, he makes mistakes. Is that still what you're seeing this year?

Revenge Of The Birds: That still holds true for the most part, with one minor exception. Through the first five games, Warner has actually been able to handle when teams bring multiple blitzers. The problem that he's run into is when the defense is able to generate pressure with their front three or four. The Jets were able to do that and it disrupted the entire offense for a quarter. If the offensive line can hold their own and the Cowboys have to bring five or six to put pressure on Warner, he can hurt you especially given the injury situation in the Dallas secondary.

BTB: In the running game, has Tim Hightower looked better than Edgerrin James? How are the carries split between the two and what are their strengths and weaknesses?

ROTB: The Cardinal running game is hard to describe other than to say, it's pretty ineffective for the most part. It keeps defenses honest but they gain 3.3 yards per carry so it's not like they're actually move the ball on the ground. Most of us are tired of watching Edge fall forward for three yards on every carry and even though Tim Hightower isn't averaging a Felix Jones-like 9.0 yards per carry, we're ready for him to start getting a 50/50 split in carries. As one of your readers stated earlier, a good description of Edge is "when you need a yard, he'll get you three, but when you need five he'll get you three." He simply doesn't have the speed or quickness to be a starting back anymore, at least not on a team without a dominant offensive line. Hightower runs alot like Marion Barber, not that he's got that kind of talent, but that's his running style. He's a force around the goal line because he's got great vision and makes decisive, explosive cuts and he runs with a full head of steam.

BTB: What's the injury situation? Is Boldin for sure out? What about the rest of the team?

ROTB: Boldin's hasn't been ruled out yet but it would be a minor miracle if he played. As for the rest of the team, Ben Patrick (sort of the starting TE) hasn't practiced all week and will have to practice tomorrow if he wants to play. Bertrand Berry, a good pass rusher, has been limited after missing the previous two games, but he's still questionable at best. Everyone else should play including Adrian Wilson, Eric Green and Roderick Hood (all starters). Hood is the only question mark since his injury sounded worse at the beginning of the week, but I haven't heard it even mentioned since Monday so I'm assuming he's good enough to play.

BTB: How much has coach Ken Whisenhunt played in the resurgence of the Cardinals? What's his style of play on offense and defense?

ROTB: Whiz is a huge reason why this team is on the verge of becoming a respectable franchise. He's brought heart, toughness and accountability to a franchise that's lacked it for as long as I can remember. His offensive philosophy actually works against the strentghs of the current players because at times I think he forgets that he's not in Pittsburgh anymore. He'll get caught up in "run on first down, run on second down, try to convert a 3rd and 6" at times but Todd Haley (former Cowboy) is helping open up the offense. On defense, I'm not sure how much he gets his hands dirty. This is Clancy Pendergast's system and it seems as if he's in complete control over it. Whiz's biggest contribution in my mind is that he isn't going to accept losing and it seems like it's trickling down through the franchise. He's got some learning to do with clock management and when or when not to challenge but that's to be expected.

BTB: OK, give me the prediction and how you think the game will play out.

ROTB: I'll try to be too much of a homer with this but I've got to go with my gut. I think the Cardinals can win this game and it wouldn't be a total shock either. It's probably cliche to say this game comes down to match ups but I think the Cardinals match up well with the Cowboys, especially with the state of the Boys' secondary. The Cowboys' offense is going to score points and this game will come down to whether or not the Cardinals can give Warner enough time to score points as well. For a score, I'll go with 34-30 Cardinals.

Jerry Jones just addressed the media about the Pacman Jones situation. It was a long press conference and Jerry talked about a lot of stuff. I'll try to sum it up as best I can.

-         The Dallas Cowboys will not discipline Adam Jones in anyway because he did not break any team rule.

-         Jerry described the incident as a case of Adam and his security guard Tommy Jones getting into a scuffle that was not that big of an incident. He described it as two guys, because of the amount of time they spend together, had gone beyond the professional and into a personal relationship. Because of that, they were involved in friendly, but obvious uncomplimentary banter, that escalated. At some point, the wrong thing was said and they got physical.

-         The only damage was a piece of the vanity display in the bathroom.

-         The league is investigating the matter and Jerry didn't want to give all the details because he didn't want to preempt the league's investigation.

-         The incident was over by 11:15 PM or so and was not a late into the evening affair. Alcohol was consumed but Adam was not drunk.

-         Jerry was disappointed in the incident.

-         Jerry had given permission for Adam to go to the party because it was supposedly a private affair and a limited guest-list, so he thought it wouldn't be a problem. He never guessed that a problem would arise between Adam and one of his security team. He reasoned that he learned a lesson that when two people spend that much time together that it could turn into a personal relationship, a friendship and because they were friends, they could have playful arguments. And those could turn into something more like a fight.

-         Jerry made a point that Adam has done everything that he has asked of him. He's passed drug tests three times a week for the past couple of years and whenever Jerry asked him not to go somewhere or do something Adam has never argued. Jerry has given him pages of places in the Dallas area that he should never go to. It was also revealed that Jerry handles all of Adam's finances.

-         Jerry has no idea how soon the league will finish with their investigation and what the results of that will be.

So, what does everybody think now?

Well, that was interesting. For the first time, Wade Phillips really showed a temper with the press. It wasn't pretty. But here's a recap.

Terence Newman will be looked at by another doctor about his abdomen, we'll know more tomorrow, obviously he didn't practice. Pat Watkins will probably be out , Roy Williams was limited in practice but he's not ready yet. Andre Gurode, Deon Anderson, Stephen Bowen and Jason Witten all practiced.

On Pacman, we have all the facts, Jerry will address it later and how it will be handled. We're trying to get the team to focus on this ballgame, a tough game, we're moving on.

(Is this a distraction?) This team, from the get-go, has dealt with distractions, that's what we emphasize. The HBO deal was supposed to be a distraction, anything outside of us practicing, meeting and working on games. We feel like we focus and not let it bother us. I still remind them a lot of things are going on but this game is the most important.

I'll let Jerry address the facts. As far as I know he'll play Sunday. No indication on a suspension. The facts will come out, the real facts.

(Should he have been out at 11 o'clock drinking given history?) He's a part of the team. We're all part of the team. If you want me to police players being out at 11 o'clock, that is not reasonable. Let's get the real facts first.

(Have you talked to him?) I talked to Adam and what he said and I said will be kept private. (Did he apologize to the team?) I think he did apologize to the team, I wasn't there for it but that's what I was told. (What has Roger Goodell said?) I don't have any idea about Roger Goodell. Jerry will talk to you.

(Do you need him on the field Sunday?) He's been active every game for us, so I would hope he'll play. I coach the team, he's here early every day, he's in the meetings, does all the things on the field, trying to be a good football player. The incident off the field, if there was one, we investigated it, and have the facts. Our security people are investigating the issue and Jerry will address it.

(If there was an incident? The police said there was an incident?) You're saying what the police said, I'm telling you what's going to happen. I don't know what the police said, our security people checked out. They'll tell you what happened. (very angry exchange)

(Are you disappointed in the incident?) If there was an incident, then yes, it would be disappointing. I trust my players, he's one of my players, I think he'll do the right thing.

(Is it tough planning game-to-game with the possibility he would be suspended?) A player can be hurt and not be there, it's the same with any player. You play with what you have and a player might not be there so you get the next guy ready. I believe he'll play on Sunday.

(Are Jenkins and Scandrick getting more reps because of this?) We practiced today like we did the past two days, we're getting ready to play the game. I have no idea if anything will change, I suspect not.

Roy, like Watkins, wasn't in pads, the worked on the show team, just moving around doing those things.

We're being prudent with Terence, we're having an expert in the field look at him again. Don't know the long term or short term.

Roy won't play this week, maybe in the next couple of weeks. It was a good step that he practiced. We let him do that and it wasn't a problem.

I'm waiting for Jerry Jones to address the facts, as it's been termed.

I haven't seen any significant news on Adam Jones so far, except for this.

An internal investigation by the Dallas Cowboys into Adam "Pacman" Jones' latest incident concludes that he was not in violation of his contract, or the understanding about conduct he had with owner Jerry Jones, a high-ranking team official said.

The team plans no disciplinary action, the source said.

Hat tip to Mullin for the post.

You might want to check out this article on Leonard Davis. The Cardinals just never figured out how to use him correctly. But Kurt Warner knew it.

"I think of the greatest moves with Leonard was moving him to guard," Warner said. "I remember talking to Leonard a number of times when he was here. I just knew that was his natural position. That was a position he felt more comfortable in, felt like he could really be dominant in smaller spaces because of his size and his stature and his athletic ability. I mean, the guy can get his hands on you and you can't do anything."

So T.O. was crying on the sidelines last week and the press went cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs over it. We now know why it happened, he had a death in the family, but Owens explains it even further.

The night before the game, [Owens' pastor] Gardner told Owens he would cry on the sideline and told him to profess his love for God in the news conference following the game.

A quote from Owens:

"Everything that happened on Sunday, I had talked [about with] my pastor Anthony Gardner out of Philadelphia the night before the game," Owens said. "When I got emotional, it was an anointed emotion, is what he explained to me.

"When it happened, I knew it was going to happen. He told me the night before it was going to happen, so when I went to the sideline, the emotions hit me."

You can read another take, here. 

I'm just waiting to hear from Wade this afternoon and see what he has to say about Adam Jones.

Hey Cardinal fans. My name is Grizz and I run SB Nation's Cowboys blog, Blogging The Boys. Real original title, huh?

Anyway, your man cgolden suggested that I create a FanPost where you guys could ask me questions about the Dallas Cowboys for this week's game and I will try to give you semi-coherent answers. So here I am.

I'll check back periodically to see the questions.

In the meantime, I'll say that this game should be a good one and might end up as an old-fashioned shootout.

And yes, I will answer questions about one Adam "don't call me Pacman even though I'm still acting like Pacman" Jones and everybody's favorite, Terrell Owens.

Looking forward to the game and to your questions.

- Grizz

This couldn't happen at a worse time for the Dallas Cowboys. Not that there is actually a good time for this to happen, but if it was the offseason, then it wouldn't hurt as bad if some action is taken by Roger Goodell. And if Terence Newman wasn't injured, possibly for much longer than initially thought, then it wouldn't hurt as bad either, if some action is taken.

Yes, I'm talking about this newest incident involving one Adam "Pacman" Jones. So far, we don't know a whole lot more than he was involved in a fight with one of his own bodyguards at a Dallas hotel. Of course, even that is being doubted by one of his lawyers, but the preponderance of evidence is on the side of a fight taking place. Why? Because the police were called and one of them is confirming that much of the story. 

No one was arrested and no one will be charged in connection with the fight late Tuesday night at The Joule, an upscale downtown hotel.

[snip]

"Someone from the business called police," Dallas police spokesman Cpl. Jerry Monreal told The Associated Press. "Police arrived and spoke to the parties after they had a verbal argument. Both parties agreed to leave, and they left."

Adam Jones has been cited as one of those parties. So even that much could lead to the hammer coming down from the Commish. Here's where it gets even worse. If the bodyguard was one of the babysitters hired by Jerry Jones to watch over the talented but troubled cornerback, then it's possible he could automatically be in violation of the Personal Conduct Policy. I loath to use Pro Football Talk as a reference, because they are hit and miss in their coverage of rumors, but here's what they say according to sources.

Per a league source, the "bodyguard" with whom Jones fought in the bathroom of a Dallas hotel was an off-duty police officer who has been hired by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to babysit Pacman.

If this is true it could really force Goodell's hand.

The open question is whether the bodyguard was someone whom Jones had hired, or whether the bodyguard was retained by the team to shadow and/or babysit Jones.  If it’s the latter, Jones might have committed an automatic violation of the Personal Conduct Policy since, technically, the bodyguard is a co-worker.

So what was Jones doing at the hotel? 

According to the sources, Jones was attending a party hosted by the rapper Ludacris, who is in town shooting a movie with actor Mark Wahlberg.

And why did he get into the alleged fight? More from PFT.com.

The source says that the problem started because the babysitter popped off to Jones' female companion.  Jones, who had been drinking, then started up with the guy, and it culminated in a scuffle.

Jones, we're told, had marks on his face at practice on Wednesday.

Before anybody starts with the whole macho "I would fight him too if he said something to my girlfriend" idiocy, stop and think a second. Sure, if I was out with my girlfriend and someone started popping off to her, and I couldn't handle it without resorting to fisticuffs, then I would throw some haymakers, too. But that wouldn't end with me getting fired from my job. I'm also not a professional athlete who has a specialized skill who is getting one last chance to play the game he supposedly loves. On top of that, if he gets into trouble again he's likely squandering any chance of millions upon millions of dollars, the future security of his baby daughter and all kinds of other things. So no, it would take a hell of a lot more than someone saying some random comment in that situation to get me to throw away all that. They're just words, and if your brain can't function on a level high-enough to understand that, then you deserve what you get.

Now that was a long rant, but here's the shorter version. If what's being alleged actually happened, then I have no sympathy for Jones. Do I hope he gets suspended again? Heck no, we need him right now. Is a fight that sounds pretty minor really worth suspending him? Normally the answer is no way. But this isn't just any ordinary player we're talking about.

I guess all I can do is hope Goodell has some sympathy for Jones (fat chance) and by extension, sympathy for all Cowboys fans.

But listen to this from the Star-T's article referenced above.

Jones apparently got in a violent scuffle with his bodyguards. According to a source, it's not the first time Jones and one of his bodyguards have come to blows.

If true, the guy has zero self-control.

Of course, his lawyer is spinning fast and furious.

"I'm not satisfied anything has happened,'' Robinson said. "I perform due diligence on rumors anytime there is an allegation made against a player I represent, and at this point I can tell you that I'm not satisfied that anything occurred.''

Well, the cops seem to think something occurred, and so do patrons at the hotel, so I'm pretty sure that line of defense isn't going anywhere.

Sometime soon, Jones will be making another trip to New York to explain himself.

The expectation is that Jones is likely to be called to New York to explain his conduct to Goodell, a source close to the player said. Jones' reinstatement is contingent upon his ability to conduct himself appropriately.

For the sake of the Cowboys season, I hope this is all an overblown incident just because the name Pacman is involved. But I'm having a hard time convincing myself of that reality. Probably about as hard a time as Jones will have convincing Goodell.

Oh by the way, there is other stuff going on.

An Arizona paper has whole list of players and things they hate about the Dallas Cowboys.

An opinion that the Cowboys have the best offense in the NFL. 

Our old friend, The Breerman, takes some shots at the Cowboys. 

The news on Terence Newman's injury sure doesn't sound good. 

OK, I don't know how much to make out of this, it might turn out to be nothing more than an argument that got out of hand. Anyway, CBS 11 in Dallas is reporting that last night Adam Jones got into a "violent confrontation" with his own bodyguard at a Dallas hotel. According to their sources, Jones and his bodyguard were fighting in a bathroom and broke a mirror and patrons outside could hear the whole thing. Security guards at the hotel had to pull them apart. Police were called but no police report was filed. By the time they got there Jones had left and supposedly without paying his tab.

I don't know if this means anything in terms of his future. It could be treated as a "nothing incident" between two guys that turned a little nasty. But given his history, it makes me a little nervous to hear about it, especially with Roger Goodell out at the Ranch today.

I'm not going to overreact, but I'm just reporting to you guys what local Dallas TV reported. You can view the story over at CBS 11's website.

Summary of Wade Phillips' press conference today.

Terence Newman has a slight abdominal strain, he's had pain with it, he hurt it when he came back. His groin is well now but he'll probably be out this week. Tank Johnson is back working again. Pat Watkins wasn't in pads today because of the neck stinger, doubtful he will play. Deon Anderson played last week and is OK, Stephen Bowen could play this week. Andre Gurode is fine as is Jason Witten.

A big challenge this week, Arizona is in first place in their division, they're 8-2 at home under Ken Whisenhunt, they won 72-27 in their two home games. It's a big, tough game.

(Marion Barber's apartment was broken into and memorabilia stolen). Unfortunately that's part of what happens, these are high-profile people, it's a concern with all players, we've had other incidents in past. You have to look out for those things. (Suspect is the son of Port Arthur columnist Bob West, do you know him?)  I know Bob West. (Are you surprised his son is a suspect?) I don't anything about what's going there. I don't know who did what.

Tank Johnson practiced today, he looks better than last week, he's been getting better the last few weeks. We're holding Pat Watkins out to clear up the injury with no reoccurrences, they want him to rest for a few weeks and receive treatment.

Terence Newman's injury is troubling because he's Pro Bowl player and he's unable to play. We think he'll get better.

Newman being out affected us, we had three really young players, I'm counting Pac as young and new to us, and two rookies in packages. It takes time to be ready to be play all things even though they have ability. Some of it is just changing up coverages and audibles in coverage, it's not just playing man-to-man or zone. The more they play the better they'll get. Pac is getting better, Scandrick played pretty well last week, Jenkins did some good things. Right now we're more comfortable with zone. We've been playing some awfully good WR's last week and this week, good WR's can beat you in man-to-man. It's tough to play them that way all the time. There's pressure on pass defenses with a QB like Warner playing great even without Boldin playing. Last week and both home games they really annihilated the other teams. They're good at what they do and their QB can use those weapons.

(Warner mentioned he might retire) He should retire right now. (laughter) He's playing great, he threw it 42 times last week with no sacks and scored 41 points. He hit almost every pass in the Jets game and they came back strong in that one. And they did it to Miami at home, too.

Our pass rush is pretty good. We're going to see the same things - more people in blocking, doubling the outside guys. Our inside rush is getting stronger. Ratliff is doing well. I think Canty will come along and we have good outside rushers. We've gotten sacks and pressure and it has affected the passing game of the other teams.

Moving T.O. around depends on the other team and what they're doing. We moved him around, run reverses to him, pitched to him out of the backfield, played him at X and Z. I don't have the stats on last year compared to this year but we moved him around. We do it more with teams playing man-to-man. We see them double him wherever he goes. It helps us when they line up two on him, we use the running game or the TE in the passing game. There's lots of ways they cover him, some will run a guy underneath, others use in-and-out (bracket), or they do up-and-back, they're playing that more now. The up-guy, they're jamming him, pulling him, grabbing him. Those guys haven't been real successful overall though.

Teams haven't covered Jason Witten that well. It helps our running game when they double T.O. Want to get the ball to our WR's more, not just Terrell but to Crayton or Austin or Hurd. We didn't get the ball enough to them last week. We still scored 31 points. We work for perfection each week. We want to do what we do, not get dictated to.

Pac is coming along well. He's had a lot of tackles, he's been aggressive in coverage and made a lot of pass breakups. He's on pace to have his hands on the ball more than any of our players did last year.

Scandrick isn't ahead of Jenkins. Jenkins has played on all our dime stuff. Scandrick only played in Newman's place on the slot. Scandrick is doing well but both of them are rookies, both of them are really talented, but they make good plays and bad plays. I like Scandrick's feel for the game, he tries to do the right footwork and pays attention to detail well, he seems to get it quicker than some rookies.

The commissioner came and talked to the players, he had some things to say to the players about the league. And he took questions. He talked about the bargaining agreement, the owners passing on that and the direction they'll go without Gene Upshaw. He's committed to player safety and they agree with that. Tank gave him a standing ovation, he and Roger are buddies. (laughter) He calls him Roger, I call him Commissioner Goodell.

For these two QB's (Warner, Romo) to be unnoticed coming into the league and be successful are great stories. Proves you don't have to be a #1 pick to be successful. Warner has a quick release, good savvy, a good feel for the game, and good decision making. Both have quick releases, they can hold the ball a little longer and wait on receivers and still get the ball away.

Time for the Film Review of the defense. The offensive Film Review is here.

NT - Jay Ratliff continues to be a force in the middle. He's quietly (or not so quietly if you've been a reader of this blog) become one of the most underrated defensive linemen in the league. He has two great run tackles where he penetrated the line and brought down the runner at the line of scrimmage and contributed on a couple of other tackles. He managed to pressure the QB once and picked up a sack at the end of the game. I only saw one run play where he was blown out of the middle. Tank Johnson is still struggling a bit and hasn't put together a dominating game. He did have one of the biggest plays of the game when he poked the ball out for a fumble and had another play where his penetration disrupted a run. But too often he's getting pushed out of the middle and he picked up and offsides penalty. His ankle is limiting his effectiveness.

DE - Surprise! Marcus Spears had one of his better games I can remember. He batted down a pass at the line, worked down the line to make a run tackle on the opposite side, and had four other plays where he made excellent plays against the run. He also got penetration a couple of times to disrupt plays. He was very active and in a change from the past, was actually making tackles instead of just clogging up lanes. We need more of this. On the other hand, Chris Canty wasn't as active and got in on only a couple of tackles. He had a couple of plays where they ran through his gap protection. Jason Hatcher played quite a few snaps in the game with Stephen Bowen inactive, but only got in on a couple of tackles against the run. He hasn't been the pass-rush specialist so far this year that he showed in flashes from previous seasons.

OLB - DeMarcus Ware was actually pretty good against the run in this game, something that has been underrated when talking about his skills. He had a tackle for loss against the run and made tackles at the line on a couple of other plays. He ended up with a sack at the end of the game and had a couple of other QB pressures. But I was surprised at how often the defense asked him to drop into coverage in the game (Greg Ellis was also asked to do this) against the running backs. Watching the film made me think the Cowboys were very concerned about getting as many defenders in coverage as they could and rarely brought both OLB's on a play. Greg Ellis had the INT early in the game when he dropped into coverage but was also beaten by the running back on a pattern in the endzone but Palmer's pass was a little off. He didn't provide much in pass rush and wasn't making tackles against the run. Besides the INT, I didn't see him add much to the defensive effort in the game. Anthony Spencer made the recovery of the fumble that was huge, but really only provided one tackle. For whatever reason, the Cowboys used the OLB's in a very conservative manner and really didn't stunt the line and linebackers much in the game.

ILB - Bradie James had a pretty typical game although his activity was a more muted than in previous games. He has a beautiful tackle for loss when he blitzed through an open hole and nailed the running back and he contributed to a few other tackles in the game. But he had trouble getting off some blocks and wasn't the force you'd like to see in the middle. He had good coverage on the TE on one play but also gave up a few other passes. Zach Thomas made some his standard gap-fills for tackle in the game and had good coverage breaking up one pass, but also didn't quite get deep enough in zone coverage on a couple of occasions. He also was susceptible to blocks in the running game on occasion. Both starting ILB's were OK, but neither put their stamp on the game. Kevin Burnett broke up a pass, made a good tackle on a short pass but really shone on special teams coverage, where he had a couple of very nice tackles. They also tried to blitz with him through the middle, especially in the second half but these were not successful. He was tipping off the blitzes too early and he wasn't physical enough to win the battle. Bobby Carpenter and Justin Rogers were the guilty parties of not covering the onside kick that Cincinnati recovered. They were too deep and didn't react quickly enough to get to the ball. Carpenter had a tackle on kickoff coverage and Rogers got in on a couple of special teams tackles.

CB - Adam Jones, in my opinion, is becoming our most effective cornerback. He's not scared to press-up on a receiver and seems to get his hands on more passes than other members of the Cowboys secondary. On the positive side, he was very tight in coverage on three occasions, had a pass breakup, and was strong in making tackles after catches and even stuck his nose in there on a running play. On the negative side, he did whiff on a tackle and Chad and TJ started to get the better of him later in the game towards the sidelines. He also dropped an INT. Still, he was active and aggressive, a trait that only he seems to be exhibiting among the corners. Anthony Henry was a mixed-bag. He plays a soft corner and will give up underneath routes. He got too aggressive on one play and picked up a pass interference call, he got beat for a third-down conversion and whiffed on a tackle on a hitch play. But he did make a nice play on a WR screen, made a nice tackle against the run and recovered enough to make a difference on a big play. The Bengals TE beat him for an apparent catch at the 1-yard line that would have set Cincinnati up for a TD, but he managed to push the receiver out-of-bounds (confirmed on replay) and the Bengals settled for a FG. But on the TJ TD late in the game, Henry was the guy in the middle of the zone but he followed a receiver to the flats where the Cowboys already had a man in coverage, leaving TJ wide-open crossing the middle for the TD.

Mike Jenkins had a rough outing too, on the other TD bunch play, he was extremely soft in covering the zone and seemed confused between picking up the short receiver or following the other receiver into the endzone (who was already covered), basically he ended up doing neither. He also got blown up by a receiver when trying to bump him at the line and was way too soft on a couple of other coverages. On special teams, he downed a punt inside the 10-yard line and was blatantly held on the Bengals long kickoff return after the T.O. TD. Orlando Scandrick did a pretty good job from the slot, he helped on a pass breakup and had good coverage on a couple of other plays. He also got in on a few tackles. He did get beat late in the game for a pass but overall it wasn't a bad effort from the young corner.

S - I'll say this, the Cowboys secondary was getting beat mostly outside the hashmarks along the sideline, so the safeties didn't give up anything deep in the middle. Ken Hamlin had a pass breakup that was almost an INT and contributed some tackles and Keith Daivs also got in on a couple of tackles. He also made the huge play of breaking up a pass on a 2-pt. conversion attempt while in man-to-man coverage. That was big. Not seeing safeties on screen is usually a good thing though, so I'll say they did their job without making any big plays besides the aforementioned 2-pt. play. Courtney Brown must have played in the game but I never saw him involved in anything.