ESPN

The Cowboys' fans told their team what they felt about their first-half performance. And the boos were heard loud and clear.

Carolina leads, 7-0, on a Jake Delhomme 25-yard touchdown pass to backup tight end Dante Rosario. The Cowboys failed to get a first-half sack but did force a turnover, when Mike Jenkins intercepted a deep ball.

Dallas is playing with little fire right now, and the offense hasn't done anything. It's the first time this season the Cowboys have failed to score in the first half.

The Good

*DeMarcus Ware has a hit on the quarterback and little else.

*Felix Jones has 54 yards rushing on seven carries.

*Jenkins has the first interception of the season.

The Bad

*The offense was booed. No points.

*No sacks for the defense. Ware and Anthony Spencer are not getting it done in one-on-one coverage.

*Nick Folk missed a 40-yard field goal try. It's his first miss of the season.

Well, the Cowboys are not alone anymore. They were the only NFL team without a sack and a forced turnover, until 7:26 to play in the second quarter when second-year cornerback Mike Jenkins intercepted a deep Jake Delhomme pass.

Delhomme's pass was for intended for Muhsin Muhammad, but was underthrown. The Cowboys, however, still have yet to record a sack.

DeMarcus Ware, who isn't getting close to the quarterback, has one hit on Delhomme right now.

Some good for the Cowboys in the scoreless first quarter:

* DeMarcus Ware knocked Jake Delhomme silly on a third-down pass play. That's 12 quarterback hits for the Cowboys defense this season, with no sacks.

* Felix Jones has 46 yards rushing on five carries.

The bad:

* The Cowboys missed a 40 yard field goal from Nick Folk.

* Terence Newman, the team's leading tackler through two weeks, has two missed tackles on Steve Smith.

Looks as if Steve Smith is being covered by Terence Newman, who missed two tackles on the speedy receiver.

Mike Jenkins, who makes his second start of the season, is covering the taller Muhsin Muhammad.

DeMarcus Ware is having trouble, again, in one-on-one matchups, this time vs. Jordan Gross.

The Cowboys' first drive of the game started off well, with Felix Jones gaining 20 yards on a screen pass, and Tony Romo finding Roy Williams on a 17-yard pass on a third down. But it ended with a missed 40-yard field goal by Nick Folk, wide right, as we remain scoreless.

The drive was bogged down when Carolina weakside linebacker Thomas Davis went almost untouched -- Flozell Adams pushed him slightly -- and sacked Romo, forcing third-and-long.

Romo's third-down pass was behind Tashard Choice, forcing the failed field-goal attempt. We're scoreless.

One big question concerning the Cowboys going into this game with the Panthers is the amount, or lack thereof, of running plays.

The Cowboys have rushed 53 times for 369 yards on the year, but their lack of runs in the fourth quarter of the loss to the Giants raised concerns about offensive coordinator Jason Garrett commitment to the run.

Felix Jones starts tonight for the Cowboys. We'll see if how much time he gets off to start the game.

Cowboys running back Marion Barber is listed as inactive for tonight's game.

Owner Jerry Jones had said earlier in the day that Barber was "doubtful," so that doesn't come as a huge surprise.

Besides Marion Barber's absence, here are the Cowboys inactives:

S Mike Hamlin

LB Jason Williams

G Montrae Holland

C/G Duke Preston

T Pat McQuistan

WR Kevin Ogletree

For the Panthers:

RB Tyrell Sutton

S Chris Harris

FB Brad Hoover

LB Na'il Diggs

T Garry Williams

G Duke Robinson

DE Everette Brown

Also, Quinton Teal will start at free safety for the Panthers and Tony Fiammetta takes the place of Hoover as the starting fullback.

The roof is closed, the sun is shining through the huge glass doors and fans are piling in for the start of the game. Several players are warming up. We're waiting to see if Cowboys running back Marion Barber will be one of them.

Jerry Jones said Barber is doubtful for Monday's game against Carolina. Barber's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said the running back's status was a game-time decision. I think Barber will try and test his quad slightly and if things don't go well, he will sit down.

We'll keep you posted on Carolina punter Jason Baker and whether he hits the video board. Most opposing kickers do hit it in pregame.

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson will attend Monday night's game at Cowboys Stadium. It's Richardson's first road appearance since undergoing a heart transplant in February.

Richardson attended Panthers' training camp in August and a few games.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that starting running back Marion Barber was "doubtful" for Monday's game against the Panthers. Jones said the fact that Felix Jones and Tashard Choice are both healthy will probably cause the Cowboys to take a "conservative" approach with Barber.

Jones stopped short of ruling Barber out, but it certainly sounds like he won't play.

In other news, Jones said he would keep the Cowboys Stadium roof closed for Monday's game. The roof was open for last week's home-opening loss against the New York Giants.

Terence Newman had a terrible game against Giants WR Steve Smith last week. He'll get a tougher matchup of the same name tonight.

Newman and Carolina's Steve Smith have an interesting history. They've faced each other five times, with Smith averaging 83.6 receiving yards and scoring three touchdowns in those games.

The most memorable Smith-Newman meeting was Carolina's playoff win in January of 2004, when Smith caught five passes for 135 yards and a touchdown.
Newman, then a rookie, vowed to reporters in the visiting locker room that night that he would learn from the experience.

Newman got a little revenge the next time he faced Smith, holding him to one catch for 18 yards. Smith was so frustrated that he was ejected midway through the third quarter for grabbing an official.

"I like Terence Newman," Smith said during a conference call this week. "He's a competitor. He's a great guy. I respect him. I think a guy like that, when I play against Terence, I really have to pay attention and be on point. I can't have any mistakes because he'll take advantage of it."

It will be interesting to see if Newman follows Smith all over the field tonight. Wade Phillips was tight-lipped about his plans for Smith, but Newman thrives on that sort of challenge. With some safety help, Newman held notorious Cowboys killer Santana Moss to 29 receiving yards in the Cowboys' win over the Redskins last season.

One key to any player succeeding in the NFL is dialogue with teammates and coaches in private meetings.

After Tony Romo threw three interceptions and earned the second-lowest quarterback rating of his career (29.6) in a loss to the Giants last week, he turned to the quarterback room.

In that room, Romo speaks with offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson and his veteran backup Jon Kitna, all of whom have years of NFL experience.

Romo is able to speak freely to the threesome and receive genuine feedback on his play.

"It's a great room," Romo said. "You have to understand, everyone in there has played the game. No one is immune to not having an off day. When I say that, I mean everybody who has ever played the position. "

The Cowboys run defense responded to an embarrassing effort in the season opener with a respectable performance against the Giants, who led the league in rushing last season. The Carolina rushing attack poses just as big of a challenge, in large part because of the Panthers 6-6, 330-pound right tackle.

As a rookie last season, first-round pick Jeff Otah was a major reason the Panthers were the best right-handed running team in the league. Carolina averaged 5.6 yards per carry on running plays to the right side, according to Stats Inc.

Cowboys OLB Anthony Spencer, on the other hand, has yet to justify his draft status after being selected in the 2007 first round. With Greg Ellis gone, Spencer has struggled in his first two games as the full-time starter.

Spencer's inability to get to the quarterback has been in the spotlight since the Cowboys are still hunting for their first sack of 2009 after leading the league with 59 last season. But his play against the run, which is supposed to be his strength, has also been of concern. Tampa Bay had success running right at Spencer. He had an excellent first half against the Giants but was gassed late in the game.

If Spencer can't hold up against Otah -- it would help if Wade Phillips would give him some rest during the game -- DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart could run wild on the right side.

Hours of sports talk radio were filled debating how much the Cowboys would miss Terrell Owens as a downfield threat.

But Tony Romo has run into trouble early this season in the short passing game. In fact, he's been the league's least efficient starting quarterback on throws of 10 yards and shorter, according to the numbers crunched by ESPNs Next Level researchers.

Romo's stats on such throws: 22 of 39 for 204 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. That puts his short-throw passer rating at 58.1. Oakland's JaMarcus Russell (59.0) is the only other quarterback with a passer rating under 60 on short-distance throws this season.

It is, of course, an extremely small sample size. And the two interceptions are ratings killers. One of those came when Romo made an incorrect pre-snap read and was surprised when Giants cornerback Bruce Johnson dropped back into a zone instead of playing man coverage. The other was a result of a bad pass and worse luck, with a ball thrown well behind Jason Witten bouncing off the tight end's heel into the arms of Giants safety Kenny Phillips.

"We've really done a great job of protecting the football up to the last game, and I expect that trend to continue," said Romo, who was intercepted a third time on a deep ball into double coverage. "Hopefully it was a hiccup."

On Thursday, the FBI arrested a Jordanian immigrant who attempted to blow up a Dallas skyscraper with a car bomb. The foiled plot has raised concerns about security at NFL stadiums.

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones conducted a brief summit for reporters this summer over what type of security measures the new Cowboys Stadium has. Jones and stadium officials said Cowboys Stadium is one of the most secure venues in the world.

"The NFL, as well as the city of Arlington, as well as our management of security is very in place, very visible" Jones said. "I think that we're addressing it with the type of emphasis that we should."

Jones would not say if more security will be on hand for Monday's game.