David Arkin and Cole Beasley will carry the offense.

We're halfway though preseason. There's still few things to do before hitting the panic button and cranking up the defeatism.

Number one, next Monday teams will have to cut down to 75 players. Then on Friday down again to the final 53 + practice squad. That's 41 percent of the player pool getting cut in the next 10 days, or 1,147 new free agents besides our own. The Beasleys and Arkins of the current roster are being weighed against everyone else's bubble players.

Offhand I wouldn't be surprised to see Briscoe cut from the Skins. NE has a few questions about Branch/Stallworth/Gaffney too. Besides all of the camp bodies, teams are going to have to let go of a few interesting younger guys they like plus some still-capable vets for salary and other reasons. Just like an Albright or Spears might interest someone else, I'm sure there will be some centers and WRs of interest to us.

And despite the offseason/preseason frustrations, try to remember the first game is still 2 weeks away and there's a bye in Week 5. Other than the now-gone Bill Nagy, there are no players lost for the year. The Witten and Austin situations suck, but Wit will be back at some point and Austin/Dez are supposed to be a go for Week 1. Compare that to, say, the Eagles losing Jason Peters for the year.

The Texans were out there last year with no Mario Williams and starting their 5th-round third-string at QB and finding ways to win. Giants overcame major personnel losses last year to win a SB, and GB the year before that. Everybody else has worries of their own too, not just us.

As of today, all Cowboys offensive starters not named Witten are expected back in time for the Giants. Witten is questionable. Costa expected to take a few snaps in the last preseason game and the rest including Livings are already up. So that's something. Livings I'm nervous about between his rust and PFF grades, just going to hope the pro scouting dept is right about him.

On defense there's still a few guys not practicing (like Ware) for precautionary reasons but will be there for Week 1. There's Wilber out a few weeks but we're okay at OLB for now. Jenkins seems at least possible to be there for the Giants game from what he and Garrett were saying, I'd feel better having him there in case needed. The secondary needs to stay healthy.

All told they just need to avoid any injuries to key guys for a couple of weeks. Get Witten and Jenkins up as soon as they can and see what happens.

I would be pretty shocked if Witten, Miles and Dez all play week one. I just have a feeling one of those injuries is going to stick around.

Possibly, but if so I'd bet against it being Dez. The fact that we even have those three guys at all is pretty fortunate, some teams don't even have one player with comparable talent anywhere in their WR and TE corps. Miles's hamstring is pretty weak but he's so good when on the field there's no much you can do but keep your fingers crossed.

Just was looking through a Cowboys thread from four years ago. Kinda miss Cardo and some of the old timers.

I'm here, bitch!

So good news:

- Witten avoided needing surgery
- Dez is all but confirmed for the opener

Meh news:

- Witten may be held out to week 2 since they have a Wednesday game

Whats our chances at stealing one on the road against the Giants? Super Bowl hangover maebe?

Have a sick feeling JPP & co. are gonna make our oline their bitch.

id say Dallas has a 10% chance to win


normally on the road in division I like to think they have a 35-40% shot

I think they're a lot better than 10%. Was the o-line any better last year? All we're doing is switching tackles and plugging in Bernadeau & Livings in place of Nagy, Kosier & Holland. The other major weakness in 2011, the secondary, was radically revamped. Barring injury it's extremely unlikely we don't see a big improvement there. Plus, what did the Giants improve?

On the downside there is all of the missed training with injuries, and Witten is most likely out.

The offense probably won't be a powerhouse, but if the defense isn't giving up 31 or 37 points they're not out of it. Romo's still pretty elusive and his quick release helps with a line like this, plus he's got excellent skill players. He did well last year in spite of the line. Giants have some weakness too.

Offensive line cohesiveness is sort of a biggie. Pisses me off how well the Giants have run but w/e.

spread is only 3.5

looking good this game so far

Playing the Rams is good for ones soul.

Romo to Harris is the new Aikman to Irvin

Orton might have just died. Offensive line how does it work.

romo better not miss more than like 1 game this season

Cole Beasley the new Wes Welker?

what's the deal with ogletree?

Watching the game on nfl network, Goddamn romo crushed that quarter.

One thing I noticed is that Claiborne didn't seem to stand out and he was giving a lot of cushion.

Not noticing CBs is generally a good thing afaik. Zoned out at certain points but Claiborne broke up a couple of passes one which should have been an int before Sensabaugh/McCray ran into each other.

Yeah he looked better in 2nd quarter.

I guess by not stand out I didn't see myself going holy **** he looks good.

Freakin Dwayne Harris was straight beasting and so was Lee

Claiborne made some quiet plays. I'm hoping for a good 2nd-corner type season out of him and consider anything extra beyond that a bonus. He missed a lot of time so expect a slower start. For now he's one of the softer spots on the defense, and will be tested. The good news is that, in this scheme, he will have less to acclimate to.

Ratliff has a high ankle sprain, those go 2-4 weeks usually, so I would expect he'll be out for the Giants and Seattle games. Josh Brent and Sean Lissemore, come on down.

The line is still in rough shape but the Romo and backs made it work. It's the Rams and all--and they looked really, really bad--but with no line, no receivers and no Witten, Romo looked prime.

Starting defense has given up 6 points and no TDs this season, and that's without some key personnel. Ratliff hasn't played much at all, Spencer and Hatcher either, Ware was out today, you know about Claiborne and Jenkins. Butler and some of these new guys have really looked good. And once again, Albright and Hamilton looked like keepers. Carter looks better than Connor at this point. I feel pretty good about the defense all around, other than backup safety and Ratliff's injury.

Best guess at final roster after the dress rehearsal. Asterisks for the ones I'm most unsure about.

QB Romo
QB Orton

HB Murray
HB Jones
HB Tanner*
FB Vickers

TE Witten
TE Phillips
TE Hanna

OT Smith
OT Free
OT Parnell
G Livings
G Bernadeau
C Costa
C or C/G free agent
G Arkin*
G Leary*

WR Austin
WR Bryant
WR Ogletree
WR Harris
WR Beasley*
WR Coale*

NT Ratliff
NT Brent
NT/DE Lissemore
DE Hatcher
DE Crawford
DE Spears
DE Geathers*

OLB Ware
OLB Spencer
OLB Butler
OLB Wilber
OLB Hamilton

OLB/ILB Albright

ILB Lee
ILB Carter
ILB Connor

CB Carr
CB Claiborne
CB Scandrick
CB Jenkins (wonder if that trade still brewing with Irsay?)
CB Butler*

S Sensabaugh
S Church
S Johnson
S McCray
S Silva*

K Bailey
P Jones
LS Ladeoceur

PS:
DE Bass
QB Carpenter
CB Smith
HB Olawale
NT Callaway
WR Holmes
Whoever