The Dallas Cowboys lost its' star quarterback Tony Romo, likely for the season, after Giants linebacker Michael Boley slammed Romo to the ground, breaking his left clavicle.  Granted, even the most optimistic Cowboys fan figured if the Cowboys were 1-5 with Romo, Dallas' season would likely spiral even further out of control with backup quarterback Jon Kitna taking charge. 

What fans did not expect, however, was for the Cowboys, both on offense and defense, to fold up like lawn chairs en route to a 35-17 loss to the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars last Sunday.   

Kitna went 34-for-49 for 379 yards, a touchdown and four interceptions.  Those statistics aren't pretty and just by looking at the box score alone, Kitna looks like an easy scapegoat.  But what's missing from the box score is the side note explaining that Kitna threw three perfect passes to receivers and running backs that were clearly looking ahead and bracing for contact instead of focusing on bringing the ball in, resulting in three tipped passes for interceptions. 

The Cowboys duo at running back featuring Felix Jones and Marion Barber combined for 38 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown run by Barber. 

Just for arguments sake, let's excuse the Cowboys offense considering the unit was just one game removed from losing its' franchise quarterback.  What excuse could there possibly be for the once highly touted Cowboys 3-4 defense? 

The Cowboys defense made Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback, David Garrard look better than Peyton Manning in Madden 2011 with the game settings on rookie mode.  Garrard was 17-of-21 for 260 yards and four touchdowns with a quarterback rating of 157.8, higher than Manning, Philip Rivers, Tom Brady or any quarterback has achieved in the 2010-11 season. 

The Cowboys secondary wasn't anything to brag about, even before the season began when Dallas was the Super Bowl-bound media darling.  But to allow four easy touchdowns, two of which were to a wide-open tight end in Marcedes Lewis, that's embarrassing even for the Cowboys secondary, which has looked horrendous over the past few games.  

Look no further than the Cowboys most enthusiastic cheerleaders for justification of the Cowboys quitting in last Sunday against the Jaguars. 

"I'm embarrassed, of course I am," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said after Sundays loss.  "I'm dumbfounded that we are 1-7." 

Jones mistakenly gave the record of what the Cowboys will have after the beating the Green Bay Packers hand Dallas next Sunday, but nevertheless, the message is unchanged.  The Cowboys have failed in every way imaginable and although nobody in the organization would publicly admit the fact, it's clear what needs to happen.

To say what has taken place over the last eight weeks is the equivalent to the Titanic sinking would be an understatement.  The recent popular trend that's developed over the last few weeks has been to say the Cowboys aren't as good as everyone thought and the talent on the roster was overvalued.  That's just an easy excuse for everyone, myself included who drank the Cowboys Kook-Aid and picked this team to make it to the Jerry Bowl. 

Whether it's transitioned onto the field on Sunday's or not, this team has talented players.  Even if almost every player on the Cowboys roster was "overvalued," the team should still be better than at the bottom of the NFC with a 1-6 record. 

Now, nobody is saying that the Cowboys' players aren't grown men, or that they shouldn't be held accountable for the dreadful play that has taken place just less than midway through the season.  But unfortunately, when the players aren't holding up their end of the bargain, it relies solely on the head coach to get them back in line.  Clearly that hasn't happened. 

Cowboys' coach Wade Phillips is notorious for finding the silver lining in practically every situation, no matter how ridiculously wrong he is.  But even Phillips couldn't put a positive spin on the loss to Jacksonville. 

"It was embarrassing I thought, the way we played and the way we coached," Philips said in the post-game press conference.  "I thought we'd come out and really play with a lot of passion and so forth but we didn't.  If I knew what to do, I'd already have done it." 

We appreciate the explanation Wade but with a 1-6 record, it's clear that you have no clue what you're doing.  This isn't to say that Phillips doesn't understand the ins and outs of football, but it's very evident that the lackadaisical  approach of coaching where Phillips would never dare criticize a player and instead aims to make sure he's on everyones Christmas list, isn't the way to go. 

"We've got a lot of good players and we're not getting them to play up to their caliber," Phillips said.  "And that goes right, straight to me." 

After the game Jones also addressed the issue of possibly making a coaching change mid-season. 

"I am not in any way for making changes," Jones said.  "There's not enough time to change." 

By my calculations, the Cowboys have plenty of time.  With nine games left on the schedule and the playoffs a distant mirage, 11 months should give the Cowboys plenty of time to change. 

"You should have better than this," Jones said. 

That's absolutely right Jerry, the fans do deserve better that what has been rolled out onto the field, so go ahead and give the Cowboys a nine-week head start by telling Wade to hit the road.