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IRVING, Texas -- The Cowboys' offensive line had a solid performance, maybe its best of the season, in Sunday's loss to the San Diego Chargers.

As a rushing attack, the team gained 92 yards, and that includes a 15-yard scramble by quarterback Tony Romo. Despite three sacks allowed, one where Romo fell down, the quarterback seemed to have good protection for most of the day.

The first series of the game was rough with Romo under pressure on his first three drop-backs. But with Brian Waters starting the entire game at right guard for the first time this season, there seemed to be a chemistry going with the group.

"I thought they played well," coach Jason Garrett said. "We ran for nearly six yards a carry. We blocked a front that has traditionally rushed the passer well. There are some matchup problems that those guys can present. Dwight Freeney is a great player and has been a great player in this league for a long time. I thought we blocked him. I thought we blocked some of the other guys well. Tony had time to throw the football."

The next task is defending the Broncos defensive front, which allows 390.3 yards per game and has just five sacks in 2013.

Tuesday morning, Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones praised the offensive line's work in the Chargers game and expects it to continue against the Broncos.

"Our offensive line, frankly played a real good ballgame," Jones said on KRLD-FM. "A very good ballgame, they've been playing well. Tony's got plenty of time to make the throws. We just got to make the plays."

A weekly examination of the Eagles’ ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 25 Last Week: 19 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

Chip Kelly knows all about how a blowout can affect a football team’s place in the weekly rankings. He used to run up scores all the time at Oregon. In his four years there, Kelly’s teams scored 50 or more points 21 times.

It’s a little different being on the other side of that. In the smoldering aftermath of Sunday’s 52-20 humiliation in Denver, the Broncos are BCS bowl-bound at the top of the ESPN panel’s weekly rankings. The Eagles dropped all the way to No. 27. That’s two spots below their preseason spot, which was based on a first-year coach taking over a 4-12 team.

There is good news in the rankings for Eagles fans, though. Three of their next four games are against teams that are below them: home-and-home against the No. 30 New York Giants and a road game against No. 31 Tampa Bay. There is a home game against the NFC East-leading Dallas Cowboys in there, too.

So the Eagles are where they deserve to be, but there is an opportunity for them to start climbing back toward the top 10.

A weekly examination of the Cowboys’ ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 20 | Last Week: 15 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

The Dallas Cowboys dropped three spots in this week’s ESPN.com Power Rankings after their 30-21 loss to the San Diego Chargers, but they will have a chance to make a big jump if they can knock off the top-ranked Denver Broncos on Sunday at AT&T Stadium.

With the way the Broncos are playing and the way the Cowboys' defense played last week against Philip Rivers (401 yards passing, three touchdowns), that seems like too tall of an order.

Among the voters, Dan Graziano continues to be a believer in the Cowboys, putting them at No. 14 in the rankings, while Kevin Seifert gives them their lowest ranking at No. 21. The Chargers did not receive much of a bump in beating the Cowboys, going from No. 19 to No. 17.

The Cowboys remain the top-rated NFC East team by a decent margin. The Washington Redskins check in at No. 25, but the Cowboys’ two wins this year came against the No. 29 New York Giants and No. 26 St. Louis Rams.

Beating the Broncos and Peyton Manning could be a huge boost, but the Cowboys are so much of a week-to-week team that you cannot predict that it would mean much going into their Week 6 meeting against the Redskins.

A weekly examination of the Redskins’ ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 10 | Last Week: 25 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

The Washington Redskins felt good about their win in Oakland. However, they know they could have played better and that heavy lifting remains. The ESPN.com voters clearly agree.

A win at the Raiders helped the Redskins inch up in the Power Rankings, moving two spots to No. 25. While the Redskins could feel good about the victory -- linebacker Brian Orakpo, nose tackle Barry Cofield and linebacker Ryan Kerrigan all had two sacks apiece -- it was not the sort of aesthetic victory that makes anyone forget about their play in the first three weeks. And while the defense did what it should against a backup quarterback, the fact is it still has to prove it can get it done against a legitimate starter.

There are two 1-3 teams ranked ahead of Washington: Atlanta (16^th) and Minnesota (24^th). The Falcons at No. 16 is debatable, but they’ve lost close games to New Orleans (by six), Miami (four) and New England (seven). Those three teams are a combined 11-1. The Vikings' three losses, by a combined 15 points, have come against teams with a combined 8-4 record. Meanwhile, the Redskins’ three losses have been by a combined 31 points against teams that are 5-6 combined.

Also, the NFC East continues to plummet as three of the teams are ranked in the bottom eight. That’s what happens when your division has a point differential of minus-126, and the next closest division, the AFC North, is at minus-37.

IRVING, Texas -- The No. 1 job of the Monte Kiffin-led defense is to affect the quarterback.

The Dallas Cowboys did not do that in their 30-21 loss to the San Diego Chargers, sacking Philip Rivers just once and unable to put any consistent pressure on him.

The result was a 401-yard, three-touchdown day for Rivers.

Rivers was able to do most of his damage in a no-huddle offense with shorter throws to set up the deep shots. Simply, he did not allow the Cowboys the chance to generate much of a pass rush because he got rid of the ball so quickly.

“You’ve just got to get push in the pocket and you have to win quicker and you have to cover better earlier and not give them a place to throw the ball quite so quickly,” coach Jason Garrett said. “If you make him hold it on some of those routes, quarterbacks tend to get uncomfortable. They just did a great job. He got the ball out of his hands. They got guys open. They did it consistently through the game.”

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning will notice and use some of that against the Cowboys this week at AT&T Stadium. Manning has been sacked only five times and only twice since losing left tackle Ryan Clady for the season.

Garrett did not have a kind review of his defensive line from the Chargers game.

“They did not play to their level and a lot of different reasons for that,” Garrett said. “We’re playing a lot of different combinations ... but there are no excuses. One of the things that they did is they possessed the ball a lot. They were in that no-huddle offense and [Rivers] was at the line of scrimmage and they’re playing at a pace that they’re controlling. Sometimes that’s hard on defensive linemen but that’s the nature of this league. That happens a lot and you just have to make sure that you’re ready for the challenge.”

A weekly examination of the New York Giants' ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 12 | Last week: 29 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

I honestly do not know who would win a game between the Giants and the Jaguars on a neutral field right now, but that's the question at this point for me. I dropped the Giants to No. 31 on my own ballot, moving them behind Tampa Bay because at least the Bucs were in their game Sunday. The Giants are not competitive right now and fully deserving of their overall power ranking as one of the three worst teams in the NFL.

Kevin Seifert and John Clayton were the most generous to the 0-4 Giants this week, ranking them 29th. Jamison Hensley and I had them at No. 31. Jacksonville is the only team in the league with a worse scoring differential (minus-98) than the Giants' minus-85, and the next-worst team is St. Louis at minus-52. The Giants are bottom-of-the-barrel bad.

If you'd like to join us at 1:30 p.m. ET for our live Spreecast video chat about this week's Power Rankings, here's the link. Hope to see you there.

IRVING, Texas -- Jason Garrett played quarterback for 12 years in the NFL and saw Hall of Famer Troy Aikman up close for seven seasons with the Dallas Cowboys.

The Cowboys coach has studied the game forever and Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is doing things never been done before.

“He’s playing quarterback at maybe the highest level it’s ever been played,” Garrett said. “He’s been doing it for 15 years. He’s a fantastic player. His understanding of the game is second to none. His command is second to none. His ability to positively impact the people around him is second to none. Physically, he’s awfully good. He throws it where he wants to over and over and over again. He throws it on time. He’s accurate. He has the ability to make a ton of big plays and very few bad plays. He’s playing at as high of a level as the game has ever been played.”

Manning has 16 touchdown passes and no interceptions in his first four games. He has thrown for 1,470 yards. His quarterback rating is a ridiculous 138.0. His QBR is 91.4.

It’s only Tuesday so it might be a little early for the Cowboys to be tired of all of the Peyton Manning greatness talk, but there might come a point where all of the gushing about how well the Broncos quarterback is playing gets to be too much.

But could all of the glowing talk lead some of the defenders, rattled after last week’s performance against San Diego, make it seem like Manning is infallible?

“The one thing I would say is nobody is building him up; he’s doing it,” Garrett said. “It’s not like this is false bravado. It’s on the tape. You are going to watch the tape and see how good they are, and see how well he is playing, and the weapons that he has and how he’s using them and just how efficient and effective they’ve been. So, we are going to watch the tape and evaluate and put a plan together and we are going to go play.”

IRVING, Texas -- In the first four weeks of the season, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has thrown just nine passes of 20 or more yards and fewer than 10 passes with 21 or more air yards.

To say the Cowboys don't take enough shots down the field would be fair. In Sunday's loss to the San Diego Chargers, 19 of Romo's 27 completions went for fewer than 10 yards.

Defensive coverage, time in the pocket and play call affect whether or not Romo throws passes down the field. It would seem Romo has the weapons necessary to take shots down field in wide receiver Dez Bryant and at times rookie wideout Terrance Williams. When healthy, Miles Austin is a deep threat, but his ability to beat defenses on slants is something the Cowboys like to take advantage of.

The Cowboys struggled on third down, going 3-of-9 and had four drops in the passing game, three coming on third-down plays. The Cowboys ran the ball well, averaging 5.8 yards per carry, but still didn't challenge one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL with deep throws.

"That’s certainly something you want to do," coach Jason Garrett said of deep throws. "You want to be able to make some chunk plays in the passing game. The touchdown that Dez had, the 34-yarder, was one of those kinds of plays. A ball doesn’t always have to travel that far in the air but you want to be able to make those plays, complete the ball in the intermediate range where you give your receiver a chance to break a tackle and go score. We didn’t do that on a consistent enough basis throughout the ballgame."

The touchdown Garrett is speaking of is the throw Romo made to Bryant in tight one-on-one coverage against the Chargers on a throw to the end zone.

"He can make that catch with two people on him," Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones said Tuesday on KRLD-FM.

Jones said he doesn't feel the need to challenge defenses deep all the time. In the Chargers game, Jones felt Romo had time to complete all sorts of throws because the offensive line played well.

It's just interesting that Peyton Manning (17), Geno Smith (17), Philip Rivers (15) and Alex Smith (14) just to name a few have more 20-yard throws than Romo. Michael Vick leads the NFL with 23 passes of 20 or more yards.

"I think if we would have done a better job on third downs, you get a few more of those opportunities and we wanted to be balanced and consistently try to run the ball throughout," Garrett said. "We were able to do that, and hopefully you mix in a high-percentage game with a chunk, big-play passing game and that’s the way you want to play offensive football."

IRVING, Texas – It’s time for Five Wonders while wondering just how many yards Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning will throw for Sunday at AT&T Stadium.

1. We’ll keep it with the Manning theme with the first wonder. The Cowboys have allowed two 400-yard passing games in a season for the first time in team history. That they came in the first four games is troubling with Eli Manning throwing for 450 yards and Philip Rivers throwing for 401 yards. I wonder how many 400-yard games they will allow this season. This Sunday they see Peyton Manning. In the future they get New Orleans’ Drew Brees, who threw for 446 yards against them last season, Detroit’s Matthew Stafford, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, Philadelphia’s Michael Vick and Chicago’s Jay Cutler. Vick and Rodgers already have 400-yard games this season. Washington’s Robert Griffin III has the capability of a 400-yard game. And then there’s a rematch with Eli Manning and the Giants. I wonder if the total will be four or five. What do you think?

2. I wonder if the Cowboys need to take shots down the field offensively. It’s not about throwing go routes all of the time, but the field shrinks when the Cowboys don’t take shots. So far this season Tony Romo has completed 72.4 percent of his passes, but he has only three completions of 25 yards or more. In 2012 he had 34. In 2011 he had 35. In 2009 he had 39. The offense has changed, and I don’t believe it’s Bill Callahan’s West Coast philosophy. I believe it’s Romo being more sure with the ball and getting rid of it quicker. Manning is the best quarterback in the world right now and he has 11 passes of at least 25 yards. Vick leads the NFL with 15. Romo is on pace for 12 this season. He is in a tough spot because if he throws it up for Dez Bryant or Miles Austin to make a play and the pass is intercepted he has to hear how he’s forcing the ball too much. That shouldn’t dictate his thought process and I don’t believe it does, but did anybody see Atlanta’s Matt Ryan just throw it up to Julio Jones on Sunday night? At some point you have to take chances.

3. I wonder how Orlando Scandrick will do against Wes Welker. He fared pretty well against him when the Cowboys played at the New England Patriots in 2011. Welker had a touchdown, but caught six passes for 45 yards. Leading into that game Welker had at least 81 yards in every game. He had only three games with fewer than 45 yards the rest of the season on his way to a 122-catch, 1,569-yard season. Scandrick’s quickness helps in his matchup with Welker, but so does his aggressiveness. He can play as well as he possibly can against Welker, but the Broncos have Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker and Julius Thomas that will cause the Cowboys issues.

4. I wonder when the Cowboys realize their running game is at its best when they run out of three-wide receiver formations. They want to be as 12 personnel team and run two-tight end formations as much as possible, but it’s just not sticking so far. The Cowboys like it because they feel like they can dictate to the defense because 12 personnel does not allow the defense to determine the strength of the formation. By my count, DeMarco Murray has 152 yards on 25 carries out of 11 personnel in the last two games. He has 83 yards on 15 carries out of 12 or 13 personnel. Both are good, but 41 of those 83 yards came on one play against St. Louis. When the field is spread, Murray is a better runner and the Cowboys are able to block it better. This running game is not about overpowering defenses. It’s about angles. With more room, Murray looks like he can get to the angles better.

5. The Cowboys have shown nothing has changed from the last two years with their win-one, lose-one start to the first quarter of the season. I picked them to go 10-6 at the start of the season and to be a wild-card team. Clearly the NFC East will not get a wild-card spot, so the Cowboys will have to win the division. Getting off to a 3-1 start was a must, in my view, and they are 2-2. So now I wonder where they will steal a win later in the season to make up for it. This week against Denver? Hard to be confident in that one. At Detroit later in the year? Stafford is playing well. At Chicago? Winning in December at Soldier Field is tough. At New Orleans? Yikes. Winning their division games is even more important now and they might have to win five of their six games inside the NFC, so they have to sweep the Giants and sweep either the Philadelphia Eagles or Washington Redskins. Garrett does not look at it like this. He’s a one-game-at-a-time kind of guy, but that doesn’t mean the guys in the locker room are thinking that way too.

IRVING, Texas -- A few weeks ago, defensive tackle Jason Hatcher challenged his teammates to stop the roller coaster the Cowboys have been on the past few years.

The team hasn't won consecutive games since a three-game win streak last December. The Cowboys (2-2) are currently in first place in the NFC East, but in some ways it doesn't feel like it given the 0-2 mark on the road.

Cornerback Brandon Carr said the team can't find a way to get off the roller coaster.

"You want to be consistent that’s the whole thing," Carr said Monday, the day after the Cowboys' 30-21 loss to the San Diego Chargers. "I get tired of saying it, the whole roller coaster thing, it’s real and we still haven’t found an answer to it. But all you can do is come to work each day and prepare and get ready for the next opponent we're going to face."

Carr called the loss to the Chargers humbling and said the defense was embarrassed. Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers threw for 401 yards with three touchdown passes. The Chargers offense kept the Cowboys' defense on the field for the bulk of the third quarter. The Cowboys' had seven offensive snaps in the third quarter as Rivers and the Chargers scored 20 unanswered points.

"It makes your stomach hurt," Carr said. "It gets your emotions and everything into it, it's just not a good feeling. We have too many good ballplayers, good coaches, just overall a good program, a good organization and we should be winning these games. It's tough to win on the road, but the good teams get the job done and we have to find a way to look within ourselves and get the job done."

IRVING, Texas -- There were plenty of questions during coach Jason Garrett's news conference on Monday about cornerback Morris Claiborne.

In Sunday's loss to the San Diego Chargers, an unofficial count had Claiborne allowing four receptions for 84 yards. The four times he was targeted in what was thought to be man coverage, were all completed passes.

Claiborne lost the starting job to Orlando Scandrick because of a shoulder injury, but he's continuing to play through the injury on passing downs and when offenses line up with three receivers.

It seems Claiborne is playing with a lack of confidence and is struggling with his techniques when he faces receivers in tight coverage.

"I think it’s probably a combination," Garrett said. "Technically, you go back at each of the completions against him and you say, 'Hey, you should do this. You should do that.' But I also think confidence, playing that position, is critical. And usually those two things work hand in hand. When you’re playing technically sound and you have ability, you tend to have more and more confidence because you’re in the right place. They went to him too much in this ballgame, and they were too effective. He’s just got to play better, and he will play better."

An NFC personnel man had this to say about Claiborne: "He's a good cover guy with top-flight weight, height and speed to cover, but he gets lost trying to find the ball. He disrupts the ball, but he's not a ball hawk."

The same personnel man said chargers receiver Keenan Allen exposed Claiborne. Allen caught three of his five passes for 80 yards against Claiborne. On Allen's second reception of the game, he adjusted to a deep pass faster than Claiborne did to make a 31-yard reception.

The Cowboys expected more from Claiborne as he enters his second season and considering what the team did, move from No. 14 to No. 6 in draft selections to get him, you might say he's been disappointing.

"It’s a challenging position," Garrett said. "The quarterbacks and receivers in this league are very good. Guys at the college level, they don’t face the expertise or just the level of play, the level of skill that these guys have, so sometimes if you’re a more talented player, you can get away with being a little late to the ball because you can come back. The ball’s not really where it’s supposed to be. But guys in this league throw the ball on time. They throw it where they want to throw it. The route running is good. So technically you just have to be really, really sound to give yourself a chance to succeed out there, because you’re by yourself."

IRVING, Texas -- Jason Garrett and his Dallas Cowboys coaching staff have shown they will not be patient with players.

Through the first quarter of the season, they have made a change at safety, replacing veteran Will Allen with rookie J.J. Wilcox; Brian Waters replaced Mackenzy Bernadeau at right guard, and in the second half of Sunday’s loss to the San Diego Chargers linebacker Bruce Carter was benched and replaced by Ernie Sims.

“I think we’ve always strived to make everybody feel accountable for what they’re doing around here and oftentimes competition allows you to do that better as a football coach and as a football staff,” Garrett said. “You look at the guys you have available to you and you make your best decision for your football team. And if you have guys who are competing for a spot and you can put the next guy in and he can be as good and maybe better than the guy who’s playing right now, you are more willing and able to do that. Hopefully the competition will bring out the best in both of those players who are competing for that spot and they’ll get better and you’ll consequently get better as a team.”

Guard Ronald Leary allowed a sack and had a key penalty, which could put Bernadeau in the mix at left guard. Cornerback Morris Claiborne did not play well against the Chargers, but the Cowboys are not ready to go with rookie B.W. Webb in the slot in order to keep Orlando Scandrick outside.

“We feel like the combination we had out there is the best combination, and if we thought otherwise we would make that change. But what he needs to do is just play better,” Garrett said. “He needs to play with the right technique and do it consistently over and over and over again.”

New York Giants general manager Jerry Reese continues to decline interview requests through the team's media relations department. The Giants insist they are not the sort of franchise whose ownership and management-level leaders hold running commentary about the season, and their 0-4 start is not going to make them be who they are not. That's fine. I can respect that. I disagree, because I think it would constitute a public show of leadership and support if Reese and/or John Mara were to talk publicly at the end of this September. But that's their way of doing business, and you have to stay true to yourself. All good. Long as they don't mind if I keep asking.

This also allows us to write whatever we want to write about Reese and the way he assembled the 2013 Giants roster, because he's not taking the opportunity to present his side of any of it. So with that in mind, I hereby present my wholly objective opinions on five of the significant Giants roster decisions Reese made this offseason.

1. Releasing running back Ahmad Bradshaw

Why they did it: Cap room, and the belief that Bradshaw wouldn't be able to stay healthy enough to count on.

Were they wrong? No, not even in hindsight. Bradshaw's already hurt for the Colts, who have already spent their 2014 first-round pick on an upgrade. To look back now and call this a mistake would be an unjustified second-guess. It was time for the Giants and Bradshaw to part ways.

The impact: The problem is that Reese didn't work hard enough to replace Bradshaw (this is a recurring theme you'll see here). The thought was that second-year man David Wilson could be the primary ballcarrier and Andre Brown could handle pass-protection and goal-line duties. But Brown broke his leg in the preseason and Wilson fumbled twice in the opener, and the Giants were exposed as way too thin at running back with only Da'Rel Scott and Michael Cox on the bench. They had to go out and bring back Brandon Jacobs just to fill out the meeting room. Big mess. Where they really miss Bradshaw is in pass protection, where he's the best running back in the league at picking up the blitz. No matter who they brought in, it would have been tough for anyone to replace Bradshaw in that area. Brown was okay at it, but he has an extensive injury history that made him difficult to count on. Reese likely should have found a veteran pass-blocking back to fill out the roster in camp.

2. Signing Will Beatty to a five-year, $38.75 million contract.

Why they did it: The Giants gave Beatty his big deal right before free agency because they feared left tackles like Jake Long, Sebastian Vollmer and Andre Smith would push the tackle market through they roof. They had a 28-year-old who'd played well for them in 2012 and knew their system, and they got him on a cap-friendly deal before the market could act on him.

Were they wrong? Yes. The market for free-agent tackles didn't go where Reese expected it to go. Long broke the bank with the Rams, but Vollmer and Smith re-signed with their own teams for less than half of what Beatty got. And while those guys play right tackle and Beatty plays left, the difference is not what the contracts indicate. Had they waited, it turns out they likely could have had Beatty for less than they spent.

The impact: If Beatty plays like a franchise left tackle, as he did in 2012, the Giants won't regret the cost. But if he plays the way he's played so far this year -- overmatched physically and employing sloppy, inconsistent technique that's impossible for him to overcome -- then they have a long-term problem that would require him to be replaced and them to be overpaying a right tackle. Four games in, there's a question mark at a position that was supposed to be solved. And with the rest of the line looking like it needs to be addressed in the short- and long-term, that's no good. The issue on both lines is that there's too little in the pipeline -- that they haven't developed players to replace the ones they've lost. They paid Beatty as though he was the exception, and to this point he hasn't looked it.

3. Signing Victor Cruz to a five-year, $43 million contract.

Why they did it: They view Cruz as a special talent and a long-term piece of their puzzle -- a slot receiver capable of catching the ball anywhere on the field and going all the way with it. Eli Manning trusts him completely, and he's a huge part of why their passing game works.

Were they wrong? No. They stayed patient and waited while Cruz sat out offseason practices in the hope that they'd raise their offer. Ultimately, he came to them and accepted the deal at the team's preferred price. They got the player at the cost they wanted, and it helps them as they deal with wide receiver Hakeem Nicks' free agency this coming offseason. They'd have been in a tough spot if they'd had to make decisions on both of them in 2014.

The impact: Cruz was the best Giants player on the field Sunday in Kansas City. He has scored four of their seven touchdowns so far this year. The answer to the question "Where would they be without him?" is obviously exactly where they are right now at 0-4. But they'd be there with one less bright spot to offer any hope for improvement. Cruz is a keeper.

4. Replacing TE Martellus Bennett with Brandon Myers.

Why they did it: Bennett got a four-year, $20.4 million contract from the Bears. The Giants, who have started four different tight ends the last four years, view the position as replaceable. As soon as he was getting multi-year offers elsewhere, Bennett was a goner. Myers, who caught 79 passes for the Raiders a year ago, was the most enticing of the veteran options remaining on the market.

Were they wrong? Absolutely. Not in declining to outbid the Bears for Bennett but in the steps they took to replace him. Rather than bring in Myers, who's a receiving tight end who can't block, they should have focused on replacing some of the blocking ability of Bennett, who (like Bradshaw) grades out as one of the best blockers at his position in the NFL.

The impact: It's being felt most in the run game, where the Giants are getting no effective blocking whatsoever at the point of attack. The glaring example Sunday was the third-and-1 David Wilson run to the right side where he was behind three tight ends and all three of them got smoked and Wilson couldn't get the yard. Myers is what he is, and it's not a blocking tight end. The Giants need one, and especially with Bear Pascoe having to play fullback in place of the injured Henry Hynoski, they really don't have one.

5. Drafting Justin Pugh, Johnathan Hankins and Damontre Moore in the first three rounds.

Why they did it: Pugh was the Giants' first first-round offensive lineman since 1999, and they picked him not with the idea that he'd start at right tackle this year but because they knew they had long-term offensive line needs at multiple positions and they saw him as a guy who could play tackle or guard. Hankins is a defensive tackle, and at the time of the draft they didn't realize they had two veterans in Shaun Rogers and Mike Patterson who would make their team at that position. They felt they were getting thin there, and that Hankins could help as a rotational player in his first year and a long-term piece. Moore was a pass-rusher they felt dropped too far, given his talent and his college sack numbers. They believed he could infuse the pass rush immediately, helping replace what was lost with the free-agent departure of Osi Umenyiora.

Were they wrong? Well, it hasn't worked out as anticipated. Pugh is the starting right tackle because David Diehl got hurt. Hankins has been inactive for all four games because he's fifth on the depth chart at defensive tackle. And Moore, who missed most of August with a shoulder injury, has had an impact on special teams but not yet on the defense.

The impact: Pugh is learning on the job, and it's costing the Giants in pass protection. He shows some good and some bad, as all rookies do, and at this point it looks as though he might be better off moving inside to guard. But they're right to try him at tackle to find out. He's surely not their only problem right now on the line. Hankins is developing in practice, and there's no way to know what kind of pick he'll turn out to be. But with 2011 second-rounder Marvin Austin having flopped and with Linval Joseph eligible for free agency after this year, they need Hankins to be a hit. Moore looks fast and athletic and could be a bolt of energy to the flagging pass rush, but as is the case with Wilson at running back, the coaches are hesitant to play him. The 2013 draft hasn't helped very much, which it's not necessarily supposed to in 2013. But the way the picks were made indicated that the Giants expected at least some help from the early-round guys this year, and it's possible they won't get much of it.

IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys linebacker Bruce Carter was taken out of the lineup Sunday against the San Diego Chargers not just for poor play but also a slight foot injury.

“That’s something we heard about in the second half of the game,” coach Jason Garrett said.

But the coach was clearly displeased with Carter’s performance. He was beaten by Chargers running back Danny Woodhead for two touchdowns and had other struggles in coverage.

“There were some other things going on in our other coverage that he didn’t do quite enough good job on,” Garrett said. “We wanted to give Ernie Sims some chances to come play, particularly in that nickel package. ... We’ve just got to get better there. Bruce has been a good cover linebacker for us, and he’ll be a good cover linebacker for us again.”

Garrett did not commit to Carter in the nickel package.

“We’ll continue the evaluation and we’ll give them both chances as the week goes on and make those determinations by game time,” Garrett said.

IRVING, Texas -- The day after, Cowboys rookie wide receiver Terrance Williams was still dealing with his fourth-quarter fumble in Sunday's loss to the San Diego Chargers.

Williams caught a short pass over the middle and while trying to stretch out for more yards, he was stripped of the ball at the Chargers 2. The miscue came at a difficult time for the Cowboys. They trailed 30-21 and a touchdown would have made it a one-score game. Instead the Cowboys had to continue to play catch-up after the fumble with 2:42 to play in the game.

"I still feel the same," Williams said of his sour mood. "I should have gotten down. I felt like we were pressed for time, but I should have gotten down so we could have kicked the field goal."

Williams was escorted off the field by Bryan Wansley, the director of player development. And several of his teammates, Dez Bryant and DeMarco Murray, along with team owner Jerry Jones offered words of encouragement to Williams in the locker room.

Williams also dropped a sideline pass earlier in the game. Overall, Williams had career highs in catches (seven) and yards (71) in the loss to the Chargers and continues to show the Cowboys why he's got a bright future.

But some mental mistakes, including running the wrong route which led to an interception against the New York Giants in Week 1, have opened the door for critics.

"He made a number of plays for us," coach Jason Garrett said. "He obviously had the fumble going in -- we had a real good scoring chance with a few minutes to go in the game. It was an effort play he was making, there's no question about that. He catches it short of the goal line and he wants to get in and he extends the ball, and one of the things he's going to learn as a young player is when you're in those situations guys are fantastic at getting the ball out. It's a physical game and they're going to knock the ball out. So, he'll learn from that experience."