Mandatory Volunteerism

Eureka! In case anybody did not tune in to the Cowboys game Sunday, your favorite home team took a step back into the respectable realm.

Of course, Steve McNair is no David Carr, Derrick Mason is no Jabar Gaffney or Corey Bradford, and Eddie George is no James Allen. Wait a second – that doesn’t make sense. Can anyone explain to me how the Cowboys, with Larry Allen, who is their best player, hurt for most of the game, managed to beat the Titans?

Any preconceived notions I had about this season have gone completely out the window. Week one: beat the Texans? Piece of cake. Yeah, that worked out real well. Week two: well, the ‘Boys lost to the expansion team and the Titans beat the Eagles, a trendy pick to go to the Super Bowl this year. No way in hell they can pull that game out. Then Quincy Carter stops becoming the return of David Klinger and starts looking like he might someday be as good as Michael Vick. Last season. Maybe.

Antonio Bryant learned that finishing your routes might actually be a good idea, and those second Michael Irvin tags are sure to return this week. The defense made a transformation from looking like the Maginot Line to being the Great Wall of China. OK, maybe that is an overstatement because they didn’t play that bad against the Texans, but to give up less points to the Titans than the Texans does seem rather ridiculous.

Dave Campo can sleep with just one eye open this week. Jerry Jones has his second chance to say ‘see I told you so’ about Quincy Carter’s ability. Everything is looking good in Valley Ranch right?

Did anyone else see the Cowboys try to run the ball? Granted, Tennessee has a pretty solid run defense, but taking away a 22 yard run in the fourth quarter, Emmitt Smith ran for 37 yards on 17 carries. Not that those aren’t Pro Bowl quality numbers, but they might want to work on that just a little bit.

The Cowboy scorers, even without Bryant ‘The Flag’ Westbrook, still gave up a 100 receiving game to Derrick Mason, even though they did take the deep pass out of the equation.

And did anyone else notice the first half of the Titans-Eagles game last weekend? Donovan McNabb, who is much further down the path but whose style resembles Carter’s, manhandled the Titans in the first half, passing for 3 scores. The Titans came back in the second half to win the game, but it showed that perhaps those voices saying the Titans could return to their Super Bowl form this year perhaps should have been a little quieter. The Titans have now played 2 good quarters out of 8 this season. So maybe this should not have come as a big surprise.

Suddenly, a season that looked so bleak last week now looks completely unreadable. The Cowboys have the Rams and Eagles next, two games that, at the beginning of the season, one would have thought there was no way they would win. You may still think they won’t win, but have you seen the Rams?

Speaking of this, is anyone else happy that Mike Martz, Brian Billick and their supposed offensive genius aren’t doing so hot this year? All I know so far this season is this: the Patriots, as much as I hate to say it, are playing scary good, and Aaron Brooks throwing two interceptions a game is not doing wonders for my fantasy team, even if the Saints are winning.

The bottom line is this: Quincy Carter has shown us a second sign, after the 49ers game last year, that he could be on his way, and the Cowboys have taken a great step back out of the abyss. Everyone go celebrate and enjoy; let yourself think that maybe the good ole ‘Boys are on their way back. Just don’t let one thought creep into your mind. “Maybe the Titans just aren’t that good.” For the Cowboys’ sake, you’d better hope they are.