Each week we've thrown one team under the bus after it demonstrated it was already out of Super Bowl contention. For the end of the season and through the playoffs we'll accelerate the pace until every team has been eliminated -- except the one holding the Lombardi Trophy.Who will be back with the Cowboys next year? Bill Parcells? Terrell Owens? Both? Neither? Answer that and you've answered how interesting the Cowboys will be next year, but not how good they'll be.
One person we know will be back is Tony Romo. Sure, he dropped the K-ball on Saturday, but in his first year as a starter Romo was every bit as good as Cowboys fans could have hoped for. Dallas has its quarterback of the future.
All the talk about Owens and Romo obscured the real problem in Dallas: The pass defense collapsed down the stretch. The off-season stories will all be about Parcells, Owens and Romo, but the story of the 2007 Cowboys will be whether they've improved that defense. If they do, they'll still be in the title hunt a year from now -- with or without T.O. and or the Tuna.




