ARLINGTON, Texas -- Next man up is a great philosophy.
Sometimes it even works. Sunday was not one of those for the Dallas Cowboys.
Tony Romo, his left arm in a sling with a broken collarbone, was on the sideline Sunday for the Cowboys’ 39-28 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Dez Bryant was on the sideline with his right foot in a protective boot. Jeremy Mincey was on the sideline, too, unable to play because of a concussion, which he said he suffered in last week’s warm-ups.
Add Greg Hardy (suspension), Rolando McClain (suspension), Randy Gregory (ankle) and Ronald Leary (groin) to the list of missing players, too.
During the game, the Cowboys were without free safety Barry Church for a first-quarter series to repair a cut lip, and the Falcons drove 80 yards for their first touchdown. In the third quarter, the Cowboys were without Sean Lee for a series with a torn lip and they surrendered 87 yards for a touchdown.
At some point the next man up just isn’t good enough, like Sunday.
“We had guys out there and we didn’t get the job done, so there are no excuses, guys,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “There’s no excuses who was there, who wasn’t there. We didn’t get the job done as a football team. They did better than we did and they won the ballgame.”
Next man up is a noble concept, but by the end of the game the Cowboys' defensive line was rookie Ryan Russell, Davon Coleman, Nick Hayden and Jack Crawford.
That’s quite a bit different than DeMarcus Lawrence, Tyrone Crawford, Hardy and Gregory, which is Cowboys' preferred nickel pass rush. But they won’t have Hardy for one more game and Gregory is likely going to be out until after the Oct. 18 bye week.
Romo won’t be able to return until Nov. 22 at the earliest, but that would mean he would play two games in five days. There is optimism around Bryant’s return, but the earliest he could be back would be Oct. 25 for the New York Giants.
What will be the Cowboys’ record at that point?
“We had an opportunity today against the Falcons for three hours at our stadium, we didn’t get the job done,” Garrett said. “The guys that were dressed for the game are the guys we’re playing with. At the end of the day, they did a better job in this game than we did.”
It really is that simple, but the Cowboys could not have started better and finished more poorly, especially defensively.
The Falcons scored 25 straight points after the Cowboys took a 28-14 lead with 40 seconds left in the first half. They scored on drives of 66, 87, 89 and 62 yards on 33 plays. They ran through the defense with Devonta Freeman, who was starting for an injured Tevin Coleman, and around the defense with Julio Jones and Matt Ryan.
Freeman had 79 yards on 17 second-half carries. Ryan completed 13 of 17 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns to Jones in the second half. Jones had nine catches for 137 yards in the third and fourth quarters.
“That’s pathetic, the way we played defense in the second half,” defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford said. “We definitely need to change that and never have that happen again.”
It better change in a hurry, especially if Drew Brees is healthy enough to play next week for the New Orleans Saints. After that, Tom Brady visits AT&T Stadium with the New England Patriots, and he has yet to throw an interception on the season.
Hardy and McClain will be back for the Patriots game. When the next man up is a defensive end (Hardy) with 27 sacks in his past 32 games and a linebacker (McClain) with 108 tackles in 12 games last season, that helps.
When it’s not, it’s just a philosophy.
