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Calvin Watkins of ESPNDallas.com, a closet baseball fan who covers the Dallas Cowboys, was looking over his 2012 Cowboys' schedule the other day. Calvin was probably planning travel, and deciding which restaurants to patronize in the various road cities to which the Cowboys will be traveling, but while he was doing this he had an idea to list five opposing players who stand out as potential problems for the Cowboys in 2012. These are individual players Calvin thinks will cause matchup problems for the Cowboys, mind you, not necessarily games he's predicting them to lose.

Anyway, the guys over at ESPNDallas.com are real good about plugging my stuff, so in the spirit of symbiosis, I like to give you a look at theirs when it seems appropriate. And on a slow, rainy offseason day such as this, it did. Calvin's list includes Carolina quarterback Cam Newton, Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton, Baltimore rookie linebacker Courtney Upshaw and two players from the NFC East -- Washington Redskins tight end Fred Davis and New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul. Here's Calvin's take on Davis:

The Redskins tight end had seven catches in two games against the Cowboys last season. He's a threat to the linebackers and safeties who might cover him. Does Brodney Pool cover Davis? Gerald Sensabaugh? Anthony Spencer? Davis is athletic enough to provide matchup problems and with Robert Griffin III moving around the pocket, Davis becomes a target to find on the run.

And here's his take on Pierre-Paul:

The New York Giants defensive end is the new Cowboys killer. In two games last year, Pierre-Paul had 13 tackles, three sacks and a blocked field goal. The Cowboys couldn't contain this man. Last year, Doug Free had trouble with Pierre-Paul. Now, Tyron Smith gets his turn at one of the better young defensive players in the game.

I think Smith is fantastic, will have no trouble transitioning to left tackle and can be one of the best in the league at the position in short order. But I agree with the sentiment that Pierre-Paul seems like the kind of player who raises his game when the lights are brightest, and it wouldn't surprise me to see him terrorize the Cowboys again this year, even if they are better at left tackle. His talent is such that he always finds himself in the middle of the big play, and he's the kind of player around whom the Cowboys and the rest of the division are going to have to game-plan for years to come.

And yeah, on Davis -- his size and athleticism at the tight end position are an under-discussed advantage for Griffin in his rookie season. Davis was the Redskins' best receiving threat in 2011, and it's no slight against the upgrades they've made at wide receiver to predict that he could be again in 2012. People may have forgotten about Davis after his four-game drug suspension at the end of last season. But assuming he can stay clean, there's little reason to think he won't be a difficult force with which to contend for opposing defenses.

Everybody knows the Dallas Cowboys need to upgrade their secondary, and much of the attention has been on cornerback, where Terence Newman is sure to be released and the Cowboys are being linked to cornerbacks such as Brandon Carr and Cortland Finnegan in free agency and Janoris Jenkins and Dre Kirkpatrick in the draft. But they also need to address safety, and the Cowboys' website raises the interesting name of Brodney Pool as a possible solution there. Pool played for Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan in Cleveland and could be a fit in Dallas if it decides not to retain his former teammate, Abram Elam:

Having started alongside Elam in Cleveland, Pool's signing with the Cowboys would mean that Elam will play elsewhere in 2012, most likely. Gerald Sensabaugh has been locked up to a long-term deal, but the Cowboys could use an upgrade opposite him. Pool and Elam are comparable talents, but Pool is three years younger and has a bit more size and athleticism. The team would seem unlikely to use a first-round pick on one of the draft's top safeties like Mark Barron of Alabama, and could hope to buy more time for a young player like Barry Church before inserting him into the starting lineup. Pool is quite capable of bridging that gap.

This is the kind of name that makes sense for the Cowboys at a position where they have a serious need but aren't likely to fill it with a pursuit of the biggest, flashiest names. I wouldn't rule out them taking someone like Barron in the first round of the draft, especially if they like whatever they've done at cornerback in free agency. But there are enough Pool-type veteran safeties on the market that the Cowboys should be able to find someone to give them what they need at the position.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The New York Giants could not have asked for a better first half in the NFC East title game. They have done everything they've wanted to do on offense and defense. They have come out fired up behind high-energy stars like Mathias Kiwanuka and Victor Cruz. And when they've made mistakes, the Dallas Cowboys have consistently failed to capitalize on them.

Eli Manning is 15-for-20 for 199 yards and two touchdowns in the game so far. Ahmad Bradshaw has 46 rush yards and two touchdowns -- one on the ground and one through the air. The Giants are rolling with a 21-0 lead and will get the ball back to start the second half.

The Giants have been picking on overmatched Dallas cornerback Terence Newman all night, and Newman has given them no reason to stop. Not that he's the only Cowboy who should be blamed for what's going on here tonight. Here is a list of costly Cowboys mistakes from the first half. It's not for the faint of heart:

• Tony Romo overthrowing Dez Bryant on third down on the first series of the game after Bryant had gotten past Corey Webster and could have had a long gain.
• Newman missing a tackle and allowing Bear Pascoe to hurdle him and convert a third down deep in Giants territory.
• Newman getting smoked by Cruz for a 74-yard touchdown reception.
• Alan Ball failing to corral a muffed punt that would have set the Cowboys up with good field position in Giants territory.
• Abram Elam completely missing a one-on-one tackle and allowing Bradshaw to run in for a touchdown.
• Gerald Sensabaugh failing to pick up a Brandon Jacobs fumble, which eventually bounced back into the hands of Manning.
• Romo going past the line of scrimmage before throwing the ball to Bryant for what looked like a big third-down pickup deep in Giants' territory down 14-0 late in the second quarter.
• Ball downing an excellent Chris Jones punt inside the 5-yard line after going out of bounds, leading to an illegal touching penalty and awarding the Giants the ball on the 20-yard line instead of inside the 5.
• Henry Hynoski pulling a repeat of the Pascoe hurdle job on Newman on the play just before Bradshaw's short touchdown catch pushed the lead to 21-0 with 1:09 left in the half.

It all adds up to this: One team came to play and the other team looks as though it did not. The Giants have been creative and quick and effective with their pass rush, which has deprived the Cowboys of a chance to take advantage of the Giants' secondary or even really find out if Romo's hand is OK. The Giants have kept the Cowboys off of Manning, which continues a trend. The Cowboys didn't sack Manning in the game three weeks ago in Dallas, and haven't tonight. And the Giants have blocked fairly well in the run game when they've needed to.

The game is not decided or out of reach, but a different -- and much more focused -- Dallas team needs to come out of the halftime locker room, or next week's playoff game is going to be here and not in Arlington, Texas.

Over at the AFC South blog, Paul Kuharsky has a post that says the Texans' Johnathan Joseph was the most valuable free-agent signing of this past offseason. Surely, the transformation of the Texans' defense is a big part of the reason for their division title, and Joseph was a big part of that transformation.

But if you disagree with the choice, there's a SportsNation poll in Paul's post that allows you to vote for someone besides Joseph as the best 2011 free-agent signing. Other choices include New Orleans running back Darren Sproles, Tennessee quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, Denver running back Willis McGahee and Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Jason Babin.

What's interesting about this is that none of these guys was projected to have the impact he has had, while bigger-name signings have had far less impact. I guess that's the way it always works, but it got me thinking.

Babin was clearly the best free-agent signing in our division, the best of many by the Eagles, who likely imagined ballyhooed cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha would top their list. Asomugha has played fine, for the most part, but has had some memorable negative moments in his first season in Philadelphia. Babin, meanwhile, ranks among the league leaders in sacks and has made it clear that his first season as a dominant NFL pass-rusher (2010, in Tennessee) was no fluke.

So Asomugha was supposed to be the Eagles' best free-agent signing, but Babin actually was. How about our other three teams? Let's take a look:

Dallas Cowboys

Then: The biggest deal was to lock up left tackle Doug Free before he hit the market, and the Cowboys did. But Free has been a disappointment and could be moving back to right tackle next season as impressive rookie Tyron Smith moves over to the left side. Free-agent safeties Abram Elam and Gerald Sensabaugh have had their moments but are part of a struggling secondary.

Now: The Cowboys' best signing turned out to be wide receiver Laurent Robinson, who has 797 yards and nine touchdowns on 50 catches. He answered the team's preseason questions about the No. 3 receiver spot and was a more-than-adequate replacement for Miles Austin during Austin's many injury problems.

New York Giants

Then: The Giants eschewed external free-agent pursuits because of the importance of signing their own. At the time, the highest priority was running back Ahmad Bradshaw, who has played well on either side of the foot injury that cut out the middle of his season. Center David Baas has been a bit of a disappointment in his first year in New York.

Now: When the Giants re-signed defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka and said they would be moving him to linebacker, it seemed like a desperate move from a team that had very little behind its defensive line. But Kiwanuka has been a major stabilizing force for the Giants at his new position, and he still moves up to rush the passer with his old defensive line buddies on third downs.

Washington Redskins

Then: The Redskins made a big splash when they signed defensive tackle Barry Cofield away from the Giants and made him a nose tackle for the first time in his career. Cofield has played well, but it took him a while to adjust to his new position. A year from now, this will look like their best 2011 signing from a list that includes Santana Moss, Donte' Stallworth and yes, Rex Grossman.

Now: The Redskins signed safety O.J. Atogwe just before the lockout -- a move a lot of people almost forgot they made once free agency began in earnest. He's had some injury problems, but when he's been on the field, Atogwe's been an impact player, as has cornerback Josh Wilson, whom they signed away from Baltimore.

You can't have as bad a game as Eli Manning had Sunday and keep your spot on the NFC East All-Division Team. Not when your closest competition is playing at such a high level. So we switch quarterbacks again this week, with Tony Romo ascendant. This has been a very close race all year, but statistically Romo is now pulling away. He's well ahead in passer rating and completion percentage. He has six fewer interceptions and one more win. All Manning has on him is yards and a head-to-head victory in which Romo played extremely well. So it's Romo with two weeks to go.

The disclaimer that no one will read: This is an All-Division Team based on overall performance this year to date. It is not -- repeat, NOT -- simply a list of the top performers from this past week. That's why Brent Celek isn't on it. Romo vs. Manning has been a running debate all year, and the main reason Romo has the QB spot this week isn't their relative Week 15 performances but rather the fact that Romo's season has been better than Manning's. Week 15 may have nudged him back ahead, but it's not the sole reason for the change.

I'll get to more explanations after the list.

Quarterback: Tony Romo, Cowboys (Last week: Eli Manning)

Running back: LeSean McCoy, Eagles (McCoy)

Wide receiver: Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz, Giants (Nicks, Cruz)

Tight end: Jason Witten, Cowboys (Witten)

Fullback: Tony Fiammetta, Cowboys (Fiammetta)

Left tackle: Jason Peters, Eagles (Peters)

Left guard: Evan Mathis, Eagles (Mathis)

Center: Will Montgomery, Redskins (Montgomery)

Right guard: Kyle Kosier, Cowboys (Kosier)

Right tackle: Tyron Smith, Cowboys (Smith)

Defensive end: Jason Pierre-Paul Giants; Trent Cole, Eagles (Pierre-Paul, Cole)

Defensive tackle: Cullen Jenkins, Eagles; Jay Ratliff, Cowboys (Jenkins, Ratliff)

Outside linebacker: DeMarcus Ware, Cowboys; Brian Orakpo, Redskins (Ware, Orakpo)

Inside linebacker: London Fletcher, Redskins; Sean Lee, Cowboys (Fletcher, Lee)

Cornerback: Josh Wilson, Redskins; Asante Samuel, Eagles (Wilson, Samuel)

Safety: Kenny Phillips, Giants, O.J. Atogwe, Redskins (Phillips, Gerald Sensabaugh)

Kicker: Dan Bailey, Cowboys (Bailey)

Punter: Steve Weatherford, Giants (Weatherford)

Kick returner: Brandon Banks, Redskins (Banks)

Punt returner: Brandon Banks, Redskins (Banks)

• I almost put Jason Babin in at defensive end. Everybody always complains about Babin not being on here, and with six sacks in two games he's now tied for the league lead in the category. He merits strong consideration, and he gets it every week. My question to those who don't like it is: Which guy do I bench for him? Cole's still the better all-around player on Babin's own team, still having the better all-around year, playing the run as well as the pass and drawing double-teams while Babin sells out for the sack on every play. And Pierre-Paul is basically the only thing the Giants have right now on defense, and he's been brilliant. So I put it to you, dear readers: Which of my starting DEs should be dropped for Babin? As of now, my answer is "neither." But he's getting real close. And it's no insult to the guy to rank him behind these two.
• It was a tough week for Nicks and Cruz, but they're not being challenged, really. The Eagles' receivers continue to muddle along, and the Cowboys are spreading it out too much. Nicks and Cruz are leading the division in catches and, by a healthy margin, receiving yards. Their 2011 seasons have been the best by any receivers in the division. I will offer honorable mentions to Dallas' Dez Bryant, who's been very consistent, and Washington's Jabar Gaffney, who ranks third among division wideouts in catches with 58 and yards with 842.
• You know how I feel about cornerback. Nobody in the division is playing it well. Thought about putting Corey Webster back in there, but whatever. He was covering Redskins receivers, and the Redskins picked up every third down. The Cowboys' secondary is a mess, too, which is why Atogwe got the safety spot this week over Sensabaugh. I almost put him in over Phillips, but I think Phillips' 2011 body of work is still better than Sensabaugh's. I've got my eye on that Giants' secondary, too, though. When you break down that much every week, everybody shares responsibility.

So what'd I get wrong?

Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com has a column up, and it's about the Dallas Cowboys' defense. Specifically, it's about first-year defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, who Tim says is struggling to coach something out of the same cast of characters that helped get the previous coach and defensive coordinator, Wade Phillips, fired a little more than a year ago.

Tim's hypothesis is that maybe it's not the fault of the coach or the scheme in Dallas, but that maybe we've all been overrating the players the Cowboys have on the defensive side of the ball:

The truth is that this defense has three cornerstone players -- outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware, nose tackle Jay Ratliff and inside linebacker Sean Lee -- and a whole bunch of question marks. Throw a dart at the defensive depth chart and you're pretty much guaranteed to hit a draft need.

Cornerback Mike Jenkins has first-round talent and deserves credit for fighting through injuries all season, but he's on-again, off-again. Outside linebacker Anthony Spencer, another former first-round pick, has flashes of brilliance that are lost in long stretches of mediocrity.

Cornerback Terence Newman is way past his prime and looks like he's on his last legs after a few weeks of actually playing well enough to earn his massive contract earlier this season. Inside linebackers Bradie James and Keith Brooking are tough, old warriors whose glory days are long gone.

The rest of the defense is filled with JAGs, to borrow a term from Bill Parcells. The just-a-guy list includes safety Gerald Sensabaugh and [Orlando] Scandrick, even though they've been given five-year, $20-plus-million contract extensions this season.

It's an interesting point, for sure. Two years ago, when the Cowboys turned it on this time of year and won a division title, Spencer and Jenkins played like stars. They have not done so since, and as a result there are very few players on the Cowboys' defense who are. It's one thing when you have five or six guys playing like stars. It's quite another when you have only two or three.

The theory behind hiring Ryan was that the Cowboys underachieved on defense last season and needed a fresh voice to coax the talent out of all the talented players they already had in place. And while he's been able to get something out of Spencer and Jenkins (and, earlier in the season, Newman) that wasn't there a year ago, Tim's right that none of those guys is playing at a star-caliber level. Can they the rest of the way? Sure. We've seen it before for brief stretches with some of these same guys. But once this is all over, it seems the Cowboys are going to have to make some more serious and sober assessments of just what exactly they do have on defense.

A down year in the NFC East is reflected not just in the standings but in the Pro Bowl fan balloting as well. Fans' votes count for one-third of the final Pro Bowl decisions, which will be announced Dec. 27, so we won't know anything final until the player and coaches' votes are added in. But if it were up to the fans, as of now, our division would have just two Pro Bowl starters -- the Dallas Cowboys' DeMarcus Ware, who's the leading NFC vote-getter at outside linebacker, and the Philadelphia Eagles' Jason Babin, who's second in voting among NFC defensive ends.

Eagles running back LeSean McCoy is the division's leading vote-getter so far, and No. 8 in the entire league in fan votes. But he trails Minnesota's Adrian Peterson by nearly 60,000 votes among NFC running backs.

The league only released the leaders at each positions and the overall top 10 so far, but I have applied my considerable investigative reporting skill to obtain more detail. Either that or Pat Yasinskas has a document that shows the top five at each position so far and he let me look at it.

The New York Giants' Eli Manning is fifth in Pro Bowl voting among NFC quarterbacks, behind Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Cam Newton and Matthew Stafford. It's not even close, actually. Manning has 316,687 votes. Stafford, in fourth, has 451,469. Poor Eli just can't get any respect. I wouldn't expect much help either from the player vote, since it was the players who left Manning off their list of the NFL's Top 100 players when that list was a big deal last summer.

Manning's receivers don't get any love either, as neither Hakeem Nicks nor Victor Cruz cracks the top five. Of course, as many have pointed out to me recently, Cruz isn't even on the ballot, since he wasn't listed as a starter when the season began. Neither was Giants' defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, even though he started the opener with Osi Umenyiora hurt, so he's not among the top five in voting for defensive end. Umenyiora is, though. Seriously. He's fifth in the NFC in defensive end voting. Babin, as I said, is second, behind only Minnesota's Jared Allen.

The Cowboys' Tony Fiammetta ranks fifth in the fullback voting, well behind leader John Kuhn of Green Bay. Jason Witten is third among tight ends, behind the Saints' Jimmy Graham and the Falcons' Tony Gonzalez. And the Giants' David Baas is the only offensive lineman in the division in the top five at his position, ranking third among NFC centers.

The Eagles' Cullen Jenkins is the third-leading vote-getter among NFC defensive tackles, behind Detroit's Ndamukong Suh and San Francisco's Justin Smith. And the Washington Redskins' Brian Orakpo is the third-leading vote getter in the NFC at outside linebacker, behind Ware and Green Bay's Clay Matthews.

Philadelphia cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha is third in fan voting among NFC cornerbacks, behind Charles Woodson of the Packers and Carlos Rogers of the 49ers. The Eagles' Kurt Coleman ranks fifth in voting at the strong safety position. And the Giants' Antrel Rolle and the Cowboys Gerald Sensabaugh are third and fifth, respectively, among NFC free safeties.

So you know how much I like to mix it up with all of you on Twitter. It's the first thing I check when the wheels of the plane hit the ground, and when that happened at Newark Airport this morning I saw that @EZ_Money13 had sent me this bit of 140-character wisdom:

This loss isn't by any means on Romo but it's gonna b "the talk of the town" bc it was n December

And @EZ_Money13 is right, of course, but what I told him and what I believe is that that's plain silly. Not only that, it goes to show how silly all of this obsessing over Romo's December record is. Romo was 21-for-31 on Sunday for 321 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. That's not a good game for a quarterback, it's a great one. And if you're a quarterback and you throw a touchdown pass that puts your team up 34-22 with less than six minutes on the clock in a home game, you have every right to consider that game won.

The problem, as later tweeters pointed out, was that Romo missed badly on a third-down toss to Miles Austin just before the two-minute warning that would have, if completed, either padded the Dallas lead or at least allowed them to chew more time off the clock. But (a) Austin said he lost the ball in the lights and (b) are we really going to hit Romo for one of his 10 incompletions in a game in which the Cowboys scored 34 points?

No, the only way this loss is on Romo is if they asked him to go in and play nickel cornerback on the last two Giants possessions and he refused. Or if he had a mirror on the sideline and was reflecting light into the eyes of all of his defensive backs, rendering them unable to cover anyone in a Giants' uniform in the game's final five minutes. This loss was on the defense, plain and simple, and anyone who watched the game knows that.

This was on Rob Ryan, the first-year defensive coordinator who had the defense clicking so well in September but has been unable to find ways to stop teams at critical times in the past month. But it goes deeper than that. The Cowboys have personnel issues in the secondary that are costing them. Terence Newman has faded terribly after a hot start. Mike Jenkins makes plays, but he seems to get hurt or at least nearly get hurt every time he does. The mixing and matching of blitzes has resulted in miscommunications and coverage busts in the secondary, and Sunday night they paid for it at the hands of Eli Manning, who's having one of the best seasons of any quarterback in the league.

The Cowboys knew this was going to be a problem. Remember, they tried hard to sign free-agent cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha in the offseason before the Eagles snatched him away. They were going to cut Newman to make room for Asomugha in their lineup and under their salary cap, and they believed he'd be a major upgrade. Asomugha hasn't played up to his hype in Philadelphia, but it's no stretch to believe he'd be doing better at this point than Newman is.

This is an area the Cowboys must adjust in the next offseason. They appear set to part ways with Newman and go with Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick as starting cornerbacks. They're committed to safeties Abram Elam and Gerald Sensabaugh. But they need depth in the secondary, and they need to add a playmaker or two, because the major problems they're dealing with now are personnel problems more than they are scheme problems.

Make no mistake: Ryan deserves his share of the blame and will surely accept it. The talk a couple of weeks ago about him as a head coaching candidate has cooled and will continue to do so as long as teams can throw and score at will against the Cowboys in the fourth quarter. But the Cowboys knew they were going into this season shorthanded on the back end of the defense, and lately it has begun to show up. Sunday night, it showed up big time, and it -- not the Cowboys' quarterback -- lost them a pretty important game.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Well, we thought there would be a lot of points in tonight's divisional showdown between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys, and the first half did not disappoint. Even though it was the Giants' defense that scored the first points when Jason Pierre-Paul sacked Tony Romo in the end zone for a safety, the offenses didn't take long to get in gear, and the Cowboys hold a slim 17-15 lead with the Giants set to get the ball back to start the second half.

Giants quarterback Eli Manning is only 9-for-19, but he's made some very nice throws under pressure and has already hooked up with Hakeem Nicks fro 105 of his 146 passing yards. A couple of drops by Victor Cruz have hurt the overall numbers and cost the Giants yards. Romo is a more efficient 10-for-14, but for only 104 yards as he has so far been unable to work wideouts Miles Austin and Dez Bryant into the mix. Romo loves him some Laurent Robinson, though, especially when it's time to score a touchdown, and the Dallas run game doesn't look like it's lost much with Felix Jones subbing in for an injured DeMarco Murray at tailback. Guess all of that hype about the impact of fullback Tony Fiammetta's return was on the mark.

If one of these defenses is able to make some halftime adjustments and some second-half plays in coverage, that team could well run away with the game. But right now it seems more likely that the offenses will continue to rule the night and that many more points await before this one's over.

Some more thoughts on the first half:

• Real curious to see whether Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw plays in the second half. Word is he was benched for blowing curfew, but he's dressed and eligible to play. In his absence, Brandon Jacobs looks like a complete animal, running over people and inflicting pain on would-be tacklers the way he did early in his career.
• With the exception of the Gerald Sensabaugh pass interference penalty that led to Jacobs' touchdown, the Cowboys have to be happy about the way their red zone defense has played. They've held the Giants to field goals twice, including in the final two minutes of the half after Jones' ill-timed fumble gave them the ball at the Dallas 14-yard line. Earlier in the game, they held on after a 64-yard Manning pass to Nicks set the Giants up with first-and-goal on the four. Some credit for that stand, however, goes to questionable playcalling by the Giants, who called end zone corner fade routes on first and second downs and a weak draw play with D.J. Ware on third.
• Injuries are mounting for Dallas. Center Phil Costa is out with a concussion. Murray left with an ankle injury, and it doesn't sound as though they expect him back, which is why Jones is getting the carries. Hey, at least Jones should be fresh after sitting behind Murray all of these weeks.
• And from the irony department: Dan Bailey's 49-yard field goal with 15 second left in the half was 49 yards long -- same distance as the one he made and then missed at the end of regulation last week in Arizona.

Before I head off for the weekend, we have a bit of Friday news in the NFC East. The Dallas Cowboys have apparently agreed with free safety Gerald Sensabaugh on a five-year, $22.5 million deal of which $8 million is guaranteed. Calvin Watkins tells me it's a good deal for Sensabaugh, who's having a nice year for Dallas, because it gives him the stability he was seeking last year in free agency before he settled for the Cowboys' one-year offer. I love Calvin like a neurotic brother who calls me to complain when I don't like his stories enough, but he knows and I know there's no such thing as "stability" in NFL contracts. Still, good for Sensabaugh if this is what he wants. And I guess the Cowboys can cross safety off their offseason to-do list.

As for the programming note, and because I know you guys like to know what I'm up to...

I'm going to Dallas, obviously. Leaving tomorrow, having a nice Mexican dinner and maybe a beverage in Fort Worth and then going to the Giants-Cowboys game on Sunday night. Obviously I will be tracking the Redskins-Patriots game and the Eagles-Dolphins game and posting my thoughts on those as they end and throughout Sunday night and into Monday morning. But we all know it's all about Cowboys-Giants in the NFC East this week, and I'll be on the scene along with ESPNDallas.com and ESPNNewYork.com to get you all you need to know from there.

Enjoy the weekend.

Getting cold in the East as we arrive at December. What can we expect for this month? A spirited Cowboys-Giants race? A hot finish by the Eagles or Redskins to make things fun or interesting? A daily serving of links? I can only promise the last.

Dallas Cowboys

Gerald Sensabaugh says it's amazing to watch film and see how good Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald is at getting open even when double-teamed. Fitzgerald will be the greatest challenge Sunday for a Cowboys defense that needs to shut down Arizona and get a win heading into the first Giants game. There's some talk in that Dallas Morning News story about how having already seen top wideouts Calvin Johnson and Brandon Marshall will help the Cowboys against Fitzgerald. No mention, though, that those two guys combined for 13 catches for 199 yards and three touchdowns in their games against the Cowboys. So I mention it. So there.

Despite early week optimism that wide receiver Miles Austin would return from his second hamstring injury of the year and play against the Cardinals, Austin missed practice again Wednesday and his status remains in doubt.

New York Giants

Former Giant Michael Strahan stopped by practice and spoke with the Giants' current defensive line, which hasn't been as good at sacking the quarterback lately as it usually is. This is a big deal here in the New York metropolitan area because it recalls a time last season when Strahan gave a pregame pep talk and the defense went out and sacked Jay Cutler nine times in the first half. Should this indeed be a similar situation, it would be well timed, as the Giants have the Packers coming to town this week. The Packers are currently on a 17-game winning streak that began with a 45-17 victory over the Giants last Dec. 26 in Green Bay and includes a Super Bowl victory, so they're pretty hot. Or maybe due for a loss? One or the other.

Dave D'Alessandro says the Giants have been asking too much of Eli Manning and that he can't do it all.

Philadelphia Eagles

Kevin Callahan says the only way things are going to be better for the Eagles in the final five games than they were in the first 11 is if they give running back LeSean McCoy the ball more. Why does it increasingly seem like the only people who don't believe this are the ones making the Eagles' game plans each week?

One of the things Jeff McLane and Jonathan Tamari are watching tonight in Seattle is DeSean Jackson, since whatever he does is going to be making headlines in the coming days, good or bad. We're at the point where Jackson is almost a bigger story than what's going on on the field for the Eagles, since everybody's looking ahead to next year and beyond and wondering what chance remains that he's a part of the team going forward.

Washington Redskins

Barry Cofield was a bit of a surprise signing for the Redskins back in the offseason -- a 4-3 defensive tackle signed to play the nose in Washington's 3-4. But Cofield was game, and has played it fairly well, though he and the team acknowledge that he's still learning it and should expect to eventually be better at it than he is now.

It seems as though safety LaRon Landry's groin injury is worse than the Redskins initially thought it was. Landry missed practice Wednesday, and his injury-plagued season continues.

The New York Giants are dropping in the standings and on the NFC East All-Division Team, where they lost two of their spots this week following Monday night's horrendous performance against the Saints. This week's team includes nine Cowboys, seven Eagles, seven Redskins and four Giants, which may not look totally fair since the Giants have two more wins than the Eagles and Redskins have, but that's not what this is based on. This is based (ATTENTION! Disclaimer That No One Will Read!!!) on overall individual position-by-position performance to date. It is not, repeat NOT, a list of Week 12 awards. That's why Roy Helu isn't on it.

In a couple of cases as noted below. I may have used a Week 12 performance as one of several factors to help decide a close competition. But in no case was Week 12 performance the only determining factor in whether a guy got, kept or lost his spot. Okay, maybe one. But even in that one, as you'll see, it's not as though it was a clear-cut deal to begin with.

Anyway, quarterback stays the same. Tony Romo and Eli Manning are still very close, both having great years and both having played leading roles in their teams' successes. But Romo's team is having more success, especially lately, and he gets the nod for the second week in a row.

The rest of the explanations follow the team.

Quarterback: Tony Romo, Cowboys (Last week: Romo)

Running back: LeSean McCoy, Eagles (McCoy)

Wide receiver: Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz, Giants (Nicks, Cruz)

Tight end: Jason Witten, Cowboys (Witten)

Fullback: Darrel Young, Redskins (Young)

Left tackle: Jason Peters, Eagles (Peters)

Left guard: Evan Mathis, Eagles (Mathis)

Center: Will Montgomery, Redskins (Montgomery)

Right guard: Danny Watkins, Eagles (Watkins)

Right tackle: Tyron Smith, Cowboys (Smith)

Defensive end: Trent Cole, Eagles; Jason Pierre-Paul, Giants (Cole, Pierre-Paul)

Defensive tackle: Jay Ratliff, Cowboys; Cullen Jenkins, Eagles (Ratliff, Jenkins)

Outside linebacker: DeMarcus Ware, Cowboys; Brian Orakpo, Redskins (Ware, Ryan Kerrigan)

Inside linebacker: London Fletcher, Redskins; Sean Lee, Cowboys (Fletcher, Lee)

Cornerback: Terence Newman, Cowboys; Asante Samuel, Eagles (Newman, Corey Webster)

Safety: Kenny Phillips, Giants; Gerald Sensabaugh, Cowboys (Phillips, Abram Elam)

Kicker: Dan Bailey, Cowboys (Bailey)

Punter: Sav Rocca, Redskins (Steve Weatherford)

Kick returner: Brandon Banks, Redskins (Banks)

Punt returner: Brandon Banks, Redskins (Banks)

• No position upsets me more each week than cornerback, which has been played poorly almost all year by almost everyone in the division. I thought Webster's performance Monday night was bad enough to justify taking away his spot. All of the talk in the Giants' locker room Monday night in New Orleans was about how they believed the effort was there, but watching the game again on tape I thought Webster was an exception. He looked like a guy who wanted to be somewhere else. Newman had a lousy game, too, on Thanksgiving. We'll never forget both of his arms wrapped around Brandon Marshall's neck as Marshall made the touchdown catch anyway. But I'll leave Newman where is is because at least egregious pass interference represents an effort to stop someone. Why Samuel? Well, I consulted Pro Football Focus for help here, since I can never find any good candidates for cornerback, and they have Samuel rated as the 12th-best cornerback in the league this year. The next-highest-rated corner in the division is Newman at No. 34. So I'll go with them.
• I also took Weatherford's punter spot away from him for his dumb fake-punt attempt -- the one Tom Coughlin openly ripped in his postgame news conference. Weatherford/Rocca is a close race anyway, so that wasn't the only factor, but it was a enough of a tiebreaker for this week, for me.
• The Cowboys' newcomers are interesting cases. DeMarco Murray's no threat right now to overtake McCoy, who has him by 216 yards and nine touchdowns. But if, for example, this toe injury McCoy has were to cost him a game or two, the youngster would have a chance to make it interesting. I also thought about Laurent Robinson for one of the wide receiver spots, since as much as I love Nicks he's not exactly having his greatest year. If Robinson keeps producing this way once Miles Austin comes back, you never know.
• Weekly honorable mention to Todd Herremans, who's the third-best offensive lineman in the division but can't get one of the tackle spots because Peters and Smith have been too good. Sorry, Todd. No offense.
• And a couple of intra-team switches at safety and outside linebacker. I can only assume that the competition for a coveted spot on the All-Division Team is providing extra motivation and friendly competition between Sensabaugh and Elam in Dallas and between Orakpo and Kerrigan in Washington. What can I say? Happy to help, fellas.

So there it is. Let me know what I got wrong.

As you get ready for this afternoon's Thanksgiving Day home game against the Miami Dolphins, here's one reason for Dallas Cowboys fans to feel good and one reason for concern:

Feeling good: The Dolphins' defense is tough up front, but they're not as tough in the secondary, and with Dez Bryant, Laurent Robinson and Jason Witten, the Cowboys and Tony Romo have enough downfield passing game targets to overmatch the Dolphins on the back end. They'll try to run it with DeMarco Murray, but even if that doesn't work and they find themselves having to outscore the Dolphins through the air, the Cowboys should be able to pull it off.

Cause for concern: The Dolphins' passing game has been better lately, with Matt Moore getting comfortable at quarterback and looking often for big, physical No. 1 wide receiver Brandon Marshall. With cornerback Mike Jenkins out and safety Gerald Sensabaugh a game-time decision due to injury, the Cowboys could have trouble finding ways to contain Marshall. If he's able to get open, he could beat the Cowboys with some big plays.

Busy day for injury news in the NFC East, with the most recent and surprising being the announcement by the New York Giants that starting left tackle Will Beatty will have surgery Thursday to repair a detached retina in his right eye. There's no timetable yet for Beatty's return from the surgery. Presumably, he'll need some time to get his vision all the way back, and doctors will have to assure him that he's not putting his eye in unusual danger before they clear him to play again.

What the Giants will do in Beatty's absence they have not yet said. They play Monday, so their normal practice schedule this week is pushed back a day and they didn't practice or speak with the media as they would on a normal Wednesday. Coach Tom Coughlin held conference calls with members of the New York and New Orleans media, but those took place before the Beatty news broke, so he didn't address it. They could either just replace Beatty with backup tackle Stacy Andrews or move left guard David Diehl back to left tackle and play Kevin Boothe at left guard. Neither is an appealing option for an offensive line that's already struggling.

In other Giants injury news, Coughlin told Saints reporters that running back Ahmad Bradshaw's broken foot was feeling better. Coughlin said that he didn't know if Bradshaw would practice Thursday but that he expected the Giants to be "in pretty good shape" at running back. No idea what that means about Bradshaw for this week. And there's no update on the status of the hamstring injury that kept linebacker Michael Boley out of Sunday's game.

Washington Redskins

Good news, finally, on the injury front for the Redskins. Top wide receiver Santana Moss, who broke his hand in Week 7's loss to Carolina and has missed four games, is expected to play Sunday. The Redskins missed Moss not just as a receiver but also as a blocker as their offense struggled badly for about a month before Sunday's game against Dallas. Quarterback Rex Grossman will be happy to have him back. It also sounds as though safety LaRon Landry expects to play Sunday and left tackle Trent Williams, who injured his knee Sunday, was announced as a "limited" participant in Wednesday's practice.

Dallas Cowboys

Nothing really new or particularly happy to report on the Cowboys' injury front. Receiver Miles Austin, fullback Tony Fiammetta, cornerback Mike Jenkins and backup quarterback Jon Kitna have all been ruled out of Thursday's game against the Dolphins. (The Kitna injury is one reason, certainly, that the Cowboys put in a waiver claim on quarterback Kyle Orton on Wednesday when he was claimed by the Chiefs. The other reason was likely to keep him away from the Bears -- a team with which the Cowboys may end up competing for a playoff spot.) Safety Gerald Sensabaugh and running back Felix Jones are questionable due to their injuries. The Dallas secondary struggled without Jenkins last week, and losing Sensabaugh would make life difficult against Dolphins receiver Brandon Marshall.

Philadelphia Eagles

No practice for quarterback Michael Vick, as Vince Young took all of the first-team reps again and looks likely to make his second straight start Sunday against the Patriots. Andy Reid said in his news conference that Vick had done a little bit of throwing and wouldn't yet rule him out, but that he still feels pain in the area of his broken ribs. Wide receiver DeSean Jackson missed practice with a foot injury, and his status for Sunday is unknown. And wide receiver Jeremy Maclin was a limited practice participant. He's apparently got a Grade 2 shoulder separation and says whether he can play Sunday will come down to how much pain he's in. Not sure on shoulder separations, but I'm betting the pain that comes with them is pretty significant. Maclin also has a hamstring injury that continues to cause him problems. So whoever starts at quarterback for the Eagles on Sunday could be throwing a lot of passes to Riley Cooper and Jason Avant.

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FALLING

1. Giants' offensive line. It hasn't really been any good all year, but now it has begun to cost them games. The Giants were absolutely manhandled up front by the Eagles' defense Sunday night, unable to find anything at all in the run game or give Eli Manning enough time to throw. Brandon Jacobs is getting booed by the home fans, but he can't make the holes himself. The Giants look like a team that will continue to be in every game they play, including the tough ones, but it's going to be difficult for them to put together a winning streak against their schedule if they can't win those physical battles in the trenches.

2. Cowboys' secondary. They hung on to beat Washington, but Rex Grossman had a pretty good day against them. They miss cornerback Mike Jenkins, and if the injury to safety Gerald Sensabaugh is serious enough to linger, they'll have a tough time patching it together in time for Thursday's game. The good news for Dallas is that its offense is good enough to outscore teams, and its next two opponents aren't big-time passing teams. But the Cowboys' defense did show some cracks Sunday, especially on the back end.

3. Redskins' running game clarity. Actually, it seems kind of clear to all involved that rookie Roy Helu is the team's best back. But Mike Shanahan keeps giving Ryan Torain the starts and bringing in Helu later. Shanahan said this week that part of the reason for that is not wanting to give the rookie too much too soon -- a strategy that speaks to where Shanahan and the Redskins are right now as a franchise. They're thinking long-term, and they don't want to overload Helu mentally or beat him up physically if he's part of the long-term plans. So while it may feel frustrating right now, it's all designed to make things better in the long run.

RISING

1. Tony Romo, Cowboys quarterback. This was a game in which a number of things that had been going right for the Cowboys did not. They didn't dominate physically in the run game as they have been lately. They didn't make the stops they needed to make on defense. And yet, rather than forcing things the way he was when he was making so many costly mistakes earlier in the season, Romo was smart and efficient and deliberate and made all of the throws he needed to make to deliver a division win. He's in the middle of an excellent season.

2. Vince Young, Eagles quarterback. Man, did he look shaky for the first three quarters. He even looked shaky at times on that game-winning drive. But he made the plays he needed to make to deliver a win. And even if Michael Vick comes back healthy this week and Young doesn't start another game all year, he showed teams he added a win to his record as an NFL quarterback, which now stands at 31-17. That's Young's biggest selling point -- not the relative prettiness of his passes -- and if he wants to go find a starting job somewhere next year, that win is one more thing he can try to sell.

3. Eagles' and Cowboys' offensive lines. Maligned for much of the season as a weak spot, the Eagles' line has actually consistently ranked among the best run-blocking lines in the league. On Sunday night, it also gave Young the time he needed to make plays. Their playoff chances are, at best, on life support, but their physicality up front on both sides of the ball is going to make them a tough team to play the rest of the way. As for Dallas, it is still shaky at center, and Doug Free isn't having a very good year. But the return of Montrae Holland to play left guard has really helped solidify things for them in the middle, and there's reason to think they'll continue to improve as the year progresses.