Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
LIVE VIDEO: NBCSports.com shows Washington-New York, with alternate camera angles, HD views and more.
PBT: Jeremy Lin wasn't his hot self on Saturday, but he still led the Knicks to victory.
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
 | Video |
 |
Roundtable: T.O. is worried (and should be) The FNIA crew listens to T.O.'s postgame presser and then dives into Dallas' woes. |
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Give credit to Jerry Jones, Wade Phillips and Terrell Owens, the Dallas Cowboys’ three most prominent spokesmen. They acknowledge that even with a healthy Tony Romo, there are some other problems with their team that need fixing.
The preseason favorite to win the Super Bowl fell into last place in the NFC East on Sunday by losing 35-14 to the New York Giants. And while it’s not your ordinary last place — the Cowboys are, after all, still a winning team at 5-4 — last is last.
“We know where we are,” said Jones, the owner, general manager and sometimes coach. “We did not plan to be here at all.”
Two things were interesting about Dallas’ reaction to Sunday’s loss.
One was that they essentially said they expected it. The other was that they suggested that even with Romo, they would have a hard time beating the Giants because there are a lot more things wrong with their team than an injured quarterback.
That’s a lot different than the way the Cowboys talked last year, and the way they spoke even at the beginning of the season.
After the Giants beat them in Dallas 21-17 in the playoffs last January, Phillips intimated that the better team had lost. Even after New York capped its remarkable postseason run by beating previously unbeaten New England in the Super Bowl, the word that kept emanating from Texas was: “It should have been us.”
|
“I’m not sure it would have made a difference if we had Romo or some of the other guys we were missing,” Jones said. “The Giants are a superior team and are playing that way.”
Added Phillips: “We knew coming in it was going to be tough. We had to play the perfect game and we didn’t.”
Neither did the Giants.
Eli Manning threw three touchdown passes, but also threw one to the Cowboys on a play on which he and Plaxico Burress miscommunicated — Burress going deep and Manning throwing a sideline route right into the hands of Mike Jenkins. Burress also had a less than stellar day, dropping what would’ve been Manning’s fourth TD pass just before Derrick Ward ran 17 yards for New York’s final score and dropping a third-down pass.
Manning also lost two fumbles, but the game still was never close, an indication of just how superior the Giants were. At 7-1, they lead the loaded NFC East. They’re a game ahead of Washington, two games ahead of Philadelphia and three in the loss column ahead of Dallas.
“If you give me the playoffs, I’ll take it and not worry about winning the division,” Jones conceded.
Owens, who caught a fourth-quarter TD pass from Brooks Bollinger, Dallas’ only offensive touchdown, showed a little bit of class by not bothering to celebrate a score that simply cut a 28-7 deficit to 28-14. Afterward, like most of the Cowboys, he just seemed relieved that the team had finally reached its bye week after losing four of its last six — two of the losses with Romo at quarterback.
Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
 | Slideshow |
 | Super Bowl XLVI shots See the best moments before, during and after the Giants' win over the Patriots more photos |
Latest from ProFootballTalk |
 | Video: Football from NBC Sports |
 Getty Images |
| Slideshow |
 | NBCSports.com |
| Video |
 | Mad Dog Minute: Trouble in Dallas Nov. 3: The Cowboys have a lot of work to do and very little time to make changes, Chris Russo says. |
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
NBC Sports TV and livestream listings
Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
