It’s usually not wise to pronounce a team’s playoff chances dead after only seven weeks. But an exception can be made for the 2010 Cowboys.

Tony Romo broke his left clavicle in an embarrassing 41-35 loss to the Giants at home on Monday night. As of this writing there hasn’t been a timetable given for his return, but it’s estimated that he’ll miss anywhere from six to 10 weeks, which means the 1-5 Cowboys can essentially put a bullet in their season.

Jon Kitna did throw for 187 yards and two touchdowns while subbing for Romo, but after the Giants took a 38-20 lead midway through the third quarter it was evident that the game was well in hand. The ‘Boys scored on a 15-yard Dez Bryant touchdown with 40 seconds remaining to cut the Giants’ lead down to six, but New York dominated the game once Romo left early in the second quarter.

It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Wade Phillips keeps his job. He’s come under fire for many things over the past few years but the one caveat is that his defensive game plans are usually sound. But the Cowboys’ defensive effort on Monday was atrocious.

They were left on the field for long periods of time, but as a defense you still have to tackle. You still have to find ways to generate a pass rush and you can’t allow 497 total yards – 200 of which coming on the ground. The Cowboys did pick Eli Manning off three times, but he completed 25-of-35 passes for 306 yards and four touchdowns and at one point he completed 18 of his 21 pass attempts. With how easy it was to find space in Dallas’ secondary, receivers Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham must have thought that they were lining up against their scout team.

The Cowboys faced an uphill climb when Romo was healthy but now that he’s going to miss a big chunk of the season, it’s safe to say that the Cowboys aren’t realistic playoff contenders. The Giants are light years better right now and we’re talking about a team that turned the ball over five times on Monday. I can’t imagine what the score would have been had the Giants not given the Cowboys’ scoring chances throughout the game.

The Cowboys suffered a tough break when Romo went out, but there’s no excuse for how the defense played tonight. Phillips and company are in for a long rest of the season.

It’s rather amazing to think about how Tom Brady has evolved. He went from a nobody to an American underdog to, “Man I really hate that Tom Brady. Cut your hair, hippie.”

But whether you love him or hate him, as a football fan you have to respect what the man has accomplished over the course of his career.

Thanks to the Patriots’ 41-14 lambasting of the Dolphins on Monday night, Brady notched his 100th win to become the 11th NFL quarterback to reach the milestone. He also needed less starts to accomplish the feat than any other signal caller who has 100 wins in his career.

Dan Marino and Jim Kelly needed 157 starts to reach 100 wins. Peyton Manning needed 154, Brett Favre needed 153 and Terry Bradshaw needed 147. The only QB to come close to Brady’s mark of 130 was Joe Montana, who needed just 139 starts to reach 100 career victories.

Perhaps the best part for Brady tonight is that he didn’t even have to break a sweat to earn his 100th. With his team trailing 7-6 at halftime, Brandon Tate took the second half kickoff 103 yards to give the Pats a 13-7 lead. Then, after New England blocked a punt on Miami’s first possession of the second half, BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushed for a 12-yard touchdown to put the Pats up 20-7.

Adding insult to insult, the Pats then blocked a Dan Carpenter field goal attempt at the start of the fourth quarter. Kyle Arrington scooped up the loose ball and went 35 yards for the touchdown to essentially put the game away. A Patrick Chung 51-yard interception return for a touchdown capped the scoring at 41-14 and ended an embarrassing night for the Dolphins, who could do nothing right the entire night.

Despite throwing for 302 yards and two touchdowns, Chad Henne was picked off three times, including twice in New England territory. And the two touchdown passes were more a testament to Davone Bess and Ricky Williams work after the catch than Henne’s throws. (The screen to Williams was an outstanding play call and well executed on all fronts.)

It’s easy to kick a team while it’s down, but how good does Miami’s two wins look now? They barely beat a horrendous Bills team 15-10 in the opener and then dropped a lifeless Vikings squad 14-10 in Week 2. The past two weeks, they struggled against divisional opponents and tonight they showed little fight after Williams’ touchdown early in the third quarter. There they were down three touchdowns and with over nine minutes left on the clock and they displayed zero sense of urgency.

Enjoy the bye next week, Miami. Because after that you play at Green Bay, home against Pittsburgh, at Cincinnati, at Baltimore and home against the Titans. We’ll certainly find out what this Dolphins team is made of over the course of the next five weeks.

If Alex Smith goes on to have a solid year in San Francisco, people are going to point back to this night as the moment everything turned for the 26-year-old former first round pick.

The 49ers turned the ball over four times in their 25-22 loss to the Saints on Monday night, yet there they were with just over two minutes remaining in the fourth and a chance to tie the game with a touchdown and a 2-point conversation.

What Smith did next was exactly what quarterbacks have to do in that situation: he orchestrated a flawless two-minute drive and tied the game. He completed four of five passes for 51 yards and managed to scramble for 24 yards on two carries after New Orleans defenders crashed the pocket. Frank Gore capped the drive off with a 7-yard touchdown run and then Smith found Vernon Davis on a successful 2-point conversation attempt, although the play had to be reviewed because the original ruling was that Davis was stopped short of the goal line.

Unfortunately for Smith and the 49ers, Drew Brees still had 1:19 left on the clock and three timeouts. With his team only needing a field goal to win, Brees led the Saints on a seven-play, 54-yard drive that ended with a Garrett Hartley 37-yard field goal (which was partially blocked, yet still had enough mustard on it to get through the uprights).

Smith did what he had to do to give his team a chance to win, but too bad for him Brees has long mastered the art of the game-winning drive.

It was a significant win for the Saints because in all honesty, it was a game they couldn’t afford to lose. Obviously there’s an entire season yet to be played, but the 49ers handed this game over on a silver platter and had San Fran completed the comeback, we would be looking at a reeling New Orleans team heading into a huge divisional matchup with the Falcons this Sunday. (A game in which they may not have Reggie Bush, who injured his leg on a muffed punt midway through the fourth quarter.)

But at 2-0, the Saints remain perfect on the young season.

With how exceptionally well he played as a rookie last year, it’s easy to forget that Matt Ryan only has 24 career starts under his belt.

Ryan did some great things in the Falcons’ 35-27 loss to the Saints on Monday night, most notably throwing a 68-yard rainbow to Roddy White to cut New Orleans’ lead to 28-21 early in the third quarter. He also found White and Tony Gonzalez on some key third downs to keep the chains moving and leave the Saints’ dynamic offense on the sidelines for most of the second half.

But he also made some mistakes that second year quarterbacks are unfortunately prone to making. Things like zeroing in on Gonzalez or forcing a pass into a well covered White late in the first half that led to a huge defensive touchdown for the Saints. He also looked rushed in the pocket at times and took a couple of unnecessary sacks because he didn’t go through all of his progressions. For a young man who has built the reputation of having ice water in his veins, “Matty Ice” looked uneasy several times when the Falcons needed a big play in the passing game.

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With their thrilling 35-27 win over the Falcons on Monday night, the Saints are off to their best start in franchise history at 7-0.

They were far from perfect tonight, but it’s hard not to watch the Saints without getting a sense that this team is destined for big things. Their offense is balanced and can beat opponents in a variety of ways, while the defense is incredibly opportunistic and more aggressive under new coordinator Gregg Williams than they have been in years past.

Save for a fumble that led to a Falcons’ defensive touchdown and an interception (what a play by Atlanta cornerback Brett Grimes) that killed a potential scoring drive, Drew Brees was incredible again tonight. Some of the throws he made were so perfect that he couldn’t have walked them to his receivers any better. And speaking of his receivers, Marques Colston, Jeremy Shockey and Robert Meachem made some absolutely athletic catches with defensive backs draped on top of them. The one-handed grab that Shockey made in the fourth quarter to help set up the Saints’ final touchdown was one of the best catches of the year.

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After their loss to the winless Kansas City Chiefs last week, the Washington Redskins stripped head coach Jim Zorn of his playcalling duties and handed them over to Sherman Lewis, who hadn’t even been with the team for a month.

The move was made in hopes to spark the Redskins’ dismal offense, but as their 27-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles tonight can attest to, Lewis isn’t going to change Washington’s misfortune over night.

The Redskins’ loss to the Eagles actually had very little to do with Lewis’ playcalling and more to do with Washington’s lack of execution. In the first half, quarterback Jason Campbell had a ball batted into the air by a defensive lineman and intercepted by linebacker Will Witherspoon, who returned it for a touchdown. Later in the half, Campbell escaped the pocket but didn’t get the ball out of his hands in time and was stripped from behind. The Eagles recovered and turned the gift into three points to take a 17-0 second quarter lead.

Campbell finished the night 29 of 43 passing for 284 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. For all intents and purposes, his final numbers weren’t bad (he had a QB rating of 91.6), but he often settled for check downs or underneath routes and both of his touchdown passes came around the goal line. He still struggled with hanging onto the ball too long and missing open receivers.

That said, his pass protection wasn’t that great and his receivers dropped a few passes. He also didn’t have Chris Cooley, who left the game early in the first half due to an ankle injury and never returned. All in all, it was a complete team effort by a Redskins squad that somehow generated 17 points from a brutal showing. Lewis wasn’t the problem tonight – lack of execution by the players was.

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1. Royal is making his presence felt in other facets of the game
After hauling in 91 receptions for 980 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie last year, Eddie Royal has largely been a bust in his second year. But he proved Monday night that he could contribute in other areas, especially on special teams. He returned a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the first quarter and a 71-yard punt return in the second quarter. As Denver’s offense sputtered in the first half, Royal provided a major spark.

2. The Broncos’ offensive line has been fantastic
Kyle Orton has turned out to be a great fit for Josh McDaniels’ offense, but he owes a lot of his success to his O-line. They’ve protected him like Fort Knox all season and did so again Monday night. Orton had all day to throw and was accurate when his receivers broke free from defenders. The Broncos’ front five continues to be one of the better units in the league.

3. The Chargers’ defense is a mess
One would have thought Ron Rivera would have fixed some of San Diego’s defensive issues during the team’s bye week. But the same problems that the Bolts had heading into the bye were evident again tonight: They couldn’t generate any pressure, they didn’t tackle well and they couldn’t come up with the big stop when they needed it. The Broncos did whatever they wanted offensively in the second half.

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For those who couldn’t tune into Monday night’s game between the Cowboys and the Panthers, you didn’t miss much.

The Cowboys were sloppy, the Panthers were sloppier and thus Dallas won the ultimate snooze fest 21-7. Victories are hard to come by in the NFL, but if I were Wade Phillips or Jerry Jones, I wouldn’t be breaking out the party favors and bubbly after this one.

The Panthers are bad – real bad. And it’s not fair to pin all of their problems on Jake Delhomme, who threw two more interceptions tonight to run his season total to 407. Delhomme has been bad, but he’s hardly the only reason why Carolina is 0-3 right now and has little to no chance of repeating as NFC South champions.

The Panthers might as well cheat and set up speed bumps on every play, because their run defense is horrible. The Cowboys rushed for 212 yards tonight on 32 carries (6.6 YPC) without Marion Barber as Carolina made Felix Jones and Tashard Choice look like Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen.

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I’ll get to the greatness of Peyton Manning in a second, but first I’d like to know what the hell the Dolphins were thinking on the final series of their 27-23 loss to the Colts on Monday night.

For three and a half quarters, Miami’s game plan was executed to perfection. They ran the ball well, grinded out the clock and kept Manning and the Colts’ potent offense on the sidelines.

But once Manning led Indy on one of his vintage drives late in the fourth quarter to put the Colts up 27-23, Tony Sparano and his coaching staff didn’t make any adjustments. The Dolphins played their final offensive series like it was their first drive of the game. They ran the ball, they wasted time by not getting to the line of scrimmage quickly and on least two occasions, they called play action passes.

Now why, in the name of all that is holy, would you run play action in an obvious passing situation? Did offensive coordinator Dan Henning think that he would get the Colts’ safeties to bite on the run with 36 seconds left and Miami needing a touchdown to win? It’s wasted time for Pennington to mimic a handoff to his running back when he could have used it to find open receivers. He should have been in the shotgun or at the very least in a five or seven step drop so he could survey the entire field. Play action doesn’t do Pennington any favors in that situation.

And I’m sorry, but if Ted Ginn Jr. wants to be a No. 1 receiver in this league, then he’s got to come down with that pass in the end zone on 3rd and 10. It wasn’t an easy catch by any means, but he out jumped the defender and Pennington put the ball in only a place where Ginn could get it. I know he had a good night (11 catches, 108 yards), but Ginn has to come down with that ball and give his team a chance to win.

I don’t have the numbers, but I’ve never seen a team win in the NFL by only running 35 total plays like the Colts did tonight. For the Dolphins to execute their game plan for 58 minutes and lose in such a way at the end should piss Sparano off. And if it doesn’t, then maybe Bill Parcells made the wrong choice for head coach a year ago.

As for Manning – he’s a freaking machine. The way he read what Miami was trying to do on that 48-yard touchdown pass to Pierre Garcon was pure Peyton. I love watching Tom Brady play in a tight ball game, but I don’t think any quarterback is smarter than who the Colts employ under center every week.