While we quibble over backup quarterbackiness and ponder every imaginable trade scenario to make defensive salad out of chicken ish, the lead is getting buried.
This offense has much to prove. Ever since Demarco Murray went division AWOL and Dez got his dough, this unit has been suspended in hopeful animation. A brief glimpse of a game and a half last year left us wanting more. A WHOLE lot more.
The ball moved, but the scoreboard didn't. Romo looked antsy, and the pass protection seemed confused. The run game flashed but didn't dominate as hoped, albeit with a two-bit criminal in the lead role. There wasn't the zip we expected, and the first two wins felt cheap and undeserved.
Then, in a flash, it was over. We read Romo's lips, "it's broken." Season over.
Since then, here we've sat in a frozen pause, still wondering if all is right in Cowboy world. Was that just a blip in the process, or does this thing have more monkeys than wrenches. Is Romo really OK, and can he stay that way? Is Zeke the Demarco on Red Bull that we hoped? Is Dez' foot cool, or will lis' franc rear it's historically ugly head.
The unsure wince in our hedged hope is apparent in this over-fascination with backup quarterbacks. We obviously lack trust in the result of those first 10 hits on Romo. We need to see those, though we can't bring ourselves to look. He's either fine, or he's done. There's nothing in between.
Zeke seems like the surest bet, even though he's a rookie. His pedigree behind that line is where the real money is being played.
Dez remains Dez, a freak show of eclectic proportions, somewhat unpredictable but mostly all good. Is he ready to return to being that guy in Green Bay that caught the ball, or is he the guy with no explosion or niftiness that we saw late last season?
We hesitate because we know just how good the offense has to be early on. The defense will find itself as we go if given the chance, but that requires football perfection from the offense really soon. Like almost now.
The whole thing feels like an enigma in a maze wrapped in a riddle. Reason doesn't apply yet because too many boxes remain unchecked.
Where are we anyway? I don't know. You don't know. They don't know. Nobody knows.
Let's hope soon we know for sure.
