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We roll on through mid-May, the veritable dog days of the NFL offseason. But as your hunger for NFL news and notes cannot be satiated, I continue each day to come bearing links.

Dallas Cowboys

Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray called into "SportsCenter" to talk about a few things. He says his ankle is fully healed and ready to go, that it's fair to label the 2011 Cowboys underachievers, and that Tony Romo is a "great leader" and responsible for the success Murray had in his brief time last year as the Cowboys' starting running back.

Phil Costa knows he needs to play better as the Cowboys' starting center in 2012 than he did in 2011, and as part of his effort to do that he's been studying tape of Jets center Nick Mangold, regarded by many as the best in the league. New Cowboys offensive line coach Bill Callahan was Mangold's offensive line coach in New York prior to taking his current position with Dallas.

New York Giants

Terrell Thomas has a lot going on as he continues to work his way back from the knee injury that cost him the entire 2011 season. He says he'll enjoy getting his Super Bowl ring Wednesday, but that he still won't consider it "his own," and he's intent on winning what he sees as a competition with 2011 first-round pick Prince Amukamara for a starting cornerback spot. The progress of Thomas, who looked to be a star in the making this time last year, will be one of the intriguing stories of the Giants' offseason. Though I'm sure st8prop can come up with a reason why that's technically inaccurate.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin, who works actively with U.S. service personnel and takes every opportunity to honor and thank them in public, is receiving the U.S. Army's Outstanding Civilian Service Award in a ceremony next week in Arlington, Va.

Philadelphia Eagles

You may have seen the report Monday evening that Eagles left tackle Jason Peters re-injured his surgically repaired Achilles tendon when the device he was using to help him move around post-surgery fell apart, and he had to have a second surgery. Really rough break for Peters, and if there was any slim chance of his playing in 2012 you'd have to think that's gone now. At this point, you have to wonder about Peters beyond this year. Two surgeries on the same vital tendon for a guy his size who does what he does for a living ... that sounds like a lot from which to come back.

The hot name out of Eagles rookie camp was that of second-round draft pick Mychal Kendricks. And while this is obviously getting ahead of things, the idea that one or both of their new linebackers might be good enough that they could do different things on defense because of them (rather than just bringing in guys to plug gaping holes and do no harm) is an interesting concept for Eagles fans and certainly their defensive coaches.

Washington Redskins

Mike Jones takes a stab at projecting the starters for the 2012 Redskins, and predicts position battles at left guard, right tackle, running back, wide receiver and of course both safety positions. You can see on Jones' chart the spots at which the Redskins are hoping to attack a deficiency with improved depth.

Tim Hightower looked around and would have liked to find something better than the one-year deal he got to return to the Redskins. But since he's coming off a serious knee injury and running backs didn't exactly break the bank this offseason, he understands. He tells Rich Campbell he's grateful for the chance to prove himself, and maybe he can get that nicer deal a year from now.

Thanks for the feedback on the last post. I have been reading through the comments there, and I appreciate the suggestions. Most of them, anyway.

Meantime, Football Outsides has been doing a division-by-division look at the remaining needs for each team, and today they take on the NFC East. It's Insider content (which always makes me chuckle, that the Outsiders are Insider), so you need to pay to read it, but here's a little taste.

Dallas Cowboys: "Interior offensive line." Basically, the FO guys aren't excited about the Cowboys' talent level at guard and center, and seem unimpressed by Jason Garrett's plan to let Nate Livings, Mackenzy Bernadeau, Bill Nagy and Phil Costa compete for the three starting spots in the interior of the line. No mention of David Arkin, oddly, who would seem to be in the mix. And I do have a nitpick with their claim that Nagy was "banished to the bench" for ineffectiveness last season, when it was actually a broken ankle that ended his season. But in general, the idea that the Cowboys need more strength and power at the interior line positions than they probably have on the roster is probably accurate.

New York Giants: "Osi Umenyiora's replacement." This seems to posit that the Giants would trade Umenyiora or that he'd hold out and they wouldn't have any pass-rushers at defensive end behind their two excellent starters. I don't think they're going to trade him, and I don't think he's going to hold out of any regular-season games once push comes to shove. But this does point up the idea that the Giants need to be thinking about who replaces Umenyiora next season, assuming he leaves via free agency.

Philadelphia Eagles: "Secondary depth." The metrics all rate Asante Samuel very highly as a cornerback, so it's little surprise that FO treats his departure as one that creates a hole. I think they're right on this score, but the metrics don't take into account Samuel's salary, or the fact that his playing style doesn't fit what they want to do with the cornerbacks this year, so it's hard to get on them for that dump-trade they made with him. Assuming full health and a big steps forward for Nate Allen and Jaiquawn Jarrett, the Eagles should have a good starting secondary. But I would agree that there is little behind the starters if someone gets hurt. Interested to see whether Brandon Boykin can make an impression early and challenge for that nickel corner spot, and I can't rule out the possibility that they add a veteran to the safety mix. There are still quite a few out there.

Washington Redskins: "Cornerbacks." Yeah, DeAngelo Hall and Josh Wilson project as the starters, but they're not exactly Deion Sanders and Night Train Lane back there, and as FO points out, the Redskins' efforts to upgrade their secondary don't rank among their greatest successes of this offseason. Washington's defense is emerging as a good one, but the weak spot is still in the back, and they would do well to keep on the lookout for ways to make it better. That's part of why they're bringing so many safeties to camp, but they'll need better performance from Hall and Wilson in 2012 if the defense is to take the next step.

Every Saturday, we do this mailbag thing, where I go through and take questions -- one for each team, generally. This week, I have to say, the mailbag's a little thin. I know it's been a slow week, but those happen. I still need the questions. Step up your game, mailbaggers! (Just kidding. You guys know I love you no matter what. And reading through some of these mailbag questions, I really mean no matter what.)

James from Blacksburg, Va., is a Virginia Tech student and a fan of cornerback Jayron Hosley, the third-round pick of the New York Giants. He's enjoying the publicity Hosley is getting as a candidate for the nickel cornerback spot with the Super Bowl champs, but he wonders if it's not fairer to assume that second-year cornerback Prince Amukamara (last year's first-round pick) should be expected to take a bigger 2012 leap than Hosley.

Dan Graziano: Yes, James. People tend to be prisoners of the moment, and for that reason this year's picks seem more exciting at this point than maybe last year's do -- especially when last year's is someone like Amukamara, who didn't make the kind of impact fans might have expected him to make as a rookie. But assuming he's over his foot problems, and given a full season and offseason in a Giants organization that likes to stress player development, yes, I would expect Amukamara to make a major leap forward and have a better chance of contributing on defense this year than Hosley should in his first year with the Giants. Just the way things work there. Also, by the way, I was covering the Yankees in March of 2008 when they went to play that game at Virginia Tech. Loved the campus. Beautiful, with all of the "Hokie Stone" buildings. That was a special day.

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Mark from Bossier City, La., is "concerned the Dallas Cowboys did not do enough to address their weaknesses in the interior of both their lines," and says he thinks specifically of the way the Cowboys were dominated on the interior of the offensive and defensive lines in the two late-season games against the Giants that effectively cost Dallas the division title.

DG: Yeah, I think your concern is legitimate, Mark. On the defensive side, they remain committed to Jay Ratliff at nose tackle (as opposed to moving him to defensive end), and the big problem with Ratliff is the way he wears down late in the season. If someone like Josh Brent can take a step forward and give Ratliff more of a breather earlier in the year, they might get to December with Ratliff still playing his best. Part of the problem in those two Giants games was that Ratliff was banged up. As for the offense, they like the two guards they drafted last year -- David Arkin and Bill Nagy -- and they specifically targeted free agents Nate Livings and Mackenzy Bernadeau this year. So while, as you point out, Livings and Bernadeau don't come with the most stellar resumes, there's something about both guys they think can work for them. They believe that something will emerge in training camp from the deep mix of guards they've brought in over the past two offseasons, and they might be right. My issue is that I think center was their biggest problem last season, and I don't know yet whether Nagy or Bernadeau can be an upgrade over Phil Costa if they decide Costa's still not good enough.

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Jeff from Gainesville, Va., wrote in with a number of questions, but the one I'm going to address is about the Washington Redskins' running back situation. Jeff thinks that, with Tim Hightower still unsigned and Roy Helu and Evan Royster each entering just his second season, that it looks as though two or three backs will share the load and perhaps rookie Alfred Morris will move to fullback.

DG: Not sure what the plans are for Morris, but I agree that you can expect to see a couple of different backs rotate in and out of the "starting" role for the Redskins in 2012. Mike Shanahan's record on this front makes that an easy prediction. I know that they consider Hightower the most complete back of the bunch and the preferred starter if he re-signs and proves healthy. But there's plenty they like about both Helu and Royster, and at various times this year I'd expect to see either or both of them as a major factor. As any fantasy football player will tell you, there's no way to know from week to week which Shanahan back to expect.

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Alex from Iowa wants to know if Philadelphia Eagles rookie wide receiver Marvin McNutt could be "Jason Avant 2.0," since "he's slightly bigger and faster with the possibility that he can develop even better hands."

DG: Sure, Alex. While Avant's been a valuable contributor at times over the past couple of years, he has yet to seize an opportunity to jump up to the next level when injuries/suspensions/whatever have thrust those upon him. They obviously see something they like in McNutt, and I believe that the Eagles' wide receiver picture behind DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin is wide open. I would not be surprised if a rookie got and took advantage of an opportunity to earn significant playing time, especially considering that tight end Brent Celek might be needed more as a blocker due to the injury to left tackle Jason Peters.

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That's this week's mailbag, but we can do better. By Wednesday of next week, I want to be looking through this mailbag and seeing so many questions that I have to do a midweek mailbag as well as a weekend one. Maybe a video one, too. Remember those? Let's go, folks. Keep the questions coming!

The inimitable Calvin Watkins, who spends his summer nights at baseball games but still writes about the Dallas Cowboys by day, has a piece on ESPNDallas.com about five Cowboys players whose roster spots could be negatively affected by the draft. One of those players is running back Felix Jones, who lost the starter's job to rookie DeMarco Murray last year and, Calvin thinks, could lose his spot on the team to another rookie depending on how the draft goes:

The Cowboys were interested in Boise State running back Doug Martin, but the storms of last week prevented him from visiting Valley Ranch for a predraft visit. Jones isn't an elite running back, or that matter a No. 1 back. His coach, Jason Garrett, continues to call him a complementary running back, and the team had internal discussions about trading him. If the Cowboys find a younger version, it wouldn't surprise anyone if he's let go. DeMarco Murray, Phillip Tanner and quite possibly a draft doesn't make the Cowboys younger, but gives them some fresh legs.

Would be quite a fall for Jones, from starter in September 2011 to looking for a job in the summer of 2012. But it gives you some idea what the Cowboys think about him. He did an okay job filling in for Murray after Murray got hurt last year, but the offense tailed off considerably with Jones as the lead back. It may be that they believe they need someone or something different in that role -- or that they'd like to give Tanner more carries. Certainly, if you see them draft a running back in the top half of the draft, you have to think Jones is at least in trouble.

The other four players Calvin lists are defensive ends Kenyon Coleman and Marcus Spears, center Phil Costa and receiver Kevin Ogletree, though I don't think it comes as any kind of surprise to think their spots could be in danger. The Cowboys still have a number of areas they can reasonably address in the draft, and veterans do tend to hold their breath until all seven rounds are complete.

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett is aware that his team didn't sign the biggest-name, highest-pedigreed offensive linemen available on this year's free-agent market. That wasn't the goal.

"None of these guys were brought in and told, 'You are the anointed starter,'" Garrett said Wednesday morning at the NFL owners meetings. "They're here to create competition on our team, and we feel like they're the right kinds of guys, individually as people but also with their talent. They can come in and compete for those spots and make us a better football team."

The newcomers are guards. The Cowboys like both of their starting tackles, though they are switching their roles, with Tyron Smith slated to move to left tackle and Doug Free back to right tackle in 2012. But where they really struggled last year was on the interior of the line. So they signed Mackenzy Bernadeau from Carolina and Nate Livings from Cincinnati, and they're throwing them into the mix with the two guards -- David Arkin and Bill Nagy -- they drafted last year along with centers Phil Costa and Kevin Kowalski, and they're going to see what happens.

On Bernadeau, Garrett had this to say:

"He's a guy that we liked coming out. He's a young guy from a small school who we feel has the physical traits to be a really good player in this league. He has not been a consistent starter for [Carolina]. He has been a starter, but he's had some injuries and some different things that he's dealt with. We're just excited about the kind of kid he is and the upside that he has. So we feel like putting him into the mix will help our team."

And on Livings, this:

"Nate had been a starter the last couple of years in Cincinnati. He's a big guy. He played at LSU. And he's one of those guys who was a college free agent and who had to really earn his way in the NFL. When we put the tape on, we just liked how he played. And we feel like, if you bring a guy like that in as well, he can get infused into our roster and hopefully create some competition up there."

Neither of the new guys is looked at as a potential solution at center, so that position is likely to come down to Costa and Kowalski and possibly Nagy if they don't add anyone else. But Garrett's point is that the Cowboys have enough bodies at those interior positions that it's fair to expect a strong offensive line to emerge. The players are young enough that, assuming they do find the right five-man mix, the line can grow together over the coming season and seasons and become a strength of the team. There are no guarantees, of course, but that's the hope and the plan, and the Cowboy have hand-picked some guys they believe can help produce those kinds of results.

Garrett also echoed the sentiment that owner Jerry Jones articulated the day before in a session with Dallas-area reporters here -- namely, that the work they've done on the offensive line through last year's draft and this year's free agency makes it more likely that they'd take a defensive player in next month's first round than an offensive lineman such as Stanford guard David DeCastro.

"We'd have to take into consideration that we've done pretty well in free agency relative to our offensive line," Garrett said. "We'd have to take that into consideration if we had the alternative of taking defense. So you're not off-base if you ask whether it's likely that we would take a defensive player."

Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com (who's been an absolute animal this week, by the way) is reporting that the Dallas Cowboys plan to cut ties with veteran guard Kyle Kosier:

The move has not been made officially yet. Kosier had started 80 straight games in which he was active since joining the Cowboys as a free agent in 2006. He signed a three-year deal last summer after the lockout ended and started every game.

The move would save the Cowboys $1.55 million in salary cap space and continue the overhaul of the offensive line. Right tackle Doug Free is now the longest-tenured offensive linemen having joined the team in 2007. The second-longest tenured is center Phil Costa, who joined the team as an undrafted free agent in 2010.

Kosier earned a $1 million escalator that would have jumped his base salary in 2012 to $2.25 million.

I'm surprised. I know he's 33 years old and had some injury issues in 2011. And I know they drafted two guards last year and signed two guards this week. And yeah, I know the NFL is a tough, cold business. But whenever I was around the Cowboys the past couple of years, I heard someone tell me how important Kosier was as a leader among the offensive linemen. He got a lot of credit for Free's big year at left tackle when he played next to him at left guard in 2010, and he got a lot of credit for Tyron Smith's very quick transition to the pros at right tackle when he played right guard next to him in 2011.

So while they have a new offensive line coach in Dallas, and they have every right to believe they can find two starting interior linemen from the group that now includes Costa, Bill Nagy, David Arkin, Nate Livings, Mackenzy Bernadeau and Kevin Kowalski, this can't have been an easy decision for the Cowboys. Whoever else was on the line as they slid guys in and out over the past two seasons benefited from the fact that Kosier was there. And while the move seems to make sense from a business and numbers standpoint, Kosier brought something to the table that they can't be sure anyone in the remaining group does. It's something they could, theoretically, end up missing at some point this season.

Remember, the Dallas Cowboys have a new offensive line coach. They have entrusted the well-regarded Bill Callahan with the job of overhauling one of their biggest and most costly 2011 weaknesses. It's probably safe to assume Callahan is picking out guys he likes, guys he thinks can work in the blocking schemes he plans to run, and that the Cowboys are considering his opinion when drawing up their list of targets.

So before anyone overreacts to the signing of former Bengals guard Nate Livings to a five-year deal that includes $6.2 million in guaranteed money, think about what the Cowboys are trying to do here.

Pro Football Focus doesn't like Livings one bit. Here's their review of the signing:

Livings has the size that Dallas covets on the O-line, but little else positive to bring to the table. -24.0 since he took over as starter for the Bengals in 2009.

I also asked my old friend and colleague LeCharles Bentley, the former NFL player who runs his own offensive line academy in Ohio, about Livings. LeCharles said he's a big, physical guy who can help in the run game and is a good locker room presence. Not a perfect player, but one who can help. And if he clicks with the new line coach, maybe he outplays his résumé.

So here's my thinking on the Cowboys and the guards:

They drafted two guards -- David Arkin and Bill Nagy -- last year. They felt good enough about Nagy to open the season with him as a starter, and who's to say whether things wouldn't have been different if he'd stayed healthy, developed and gained some strength? Those guys are still on the team, and this time they'll have full offseasons and training camps.

Bringing in Livings and fellow free-agent guard Mackenzy Bernadeau, who signed earlier this week, gives the Cowboys depth and coverage at a position that was a real struggle for them in 2011. If Arkin and Nagy take big jumps forward, they have quality utility linemen with experience behind them. If not, they have guys they feel can start right away.

This doesn't mean veteran Kyle Kosier is gone. The Cowboys worry about his health, but they value him as a leader. If he proves himself healthy, he's likely still a starter at one of the guard spots, and there's even been some talk about him maybe moving to center, which was their real problem area last year.

-Speaking of center, they still have Phil Costa, who struggled at the position last year, and Kevin Kowalski, who was an undrafted rookie last year but got good reviews from the coaching staff and could be in the center mix. Arkin and/or Nagy also could be in the center mix, as each got snaps there in practice last training camp. And who knows? Maybe they see one of the new guys as someone who could play center.

What we have here is basically seven players for three interior offensive line spots. And given the difficulties the Cowboys had at those spots last year, that's a good thing. Competition makes people better and creates options for the coaching staff. The problem last year was that, when a guard or center struggled, the Cowboys had nowhere they could turn for a replacement. Now, with a new line coach and a bunch of fresh faces mixed in with the players who were already there, they have given themselves more of a safety net.

So look at the big picture here on the Cowboys' offensive line, not the individual signings. They've added depth and experience, and assuming Callahan knows what he's doing, there's reason to believe they have a better chance to make a successful line out of the current mix than they did out of last year's.

The latest in ESPNDallas.com's position-by-position look at the Cowboys is the one for which I've been waiting -- the one about the interior offensive line. Calvin Watkins breaks down who they've got, what they need and what things could look like at guard and center for the Cowboys in 2012. Coupled with Tim MacMahon's installment on the offensive tackles from last week, this addresses one of the most important aspects of the roster:

Jerry Jones said the evaluation process of these two positions needs to get better. The Cowboys overestimated the talent level of the guards after training camp, going with younger players who proved to be inconsistent. The health of three veteran guards raised more questions.

This is the key, as it is with every team this time of year: self-evaluation. The Cowboys need to make an honest assessment of what they have at guard and center, and whether it's what they need going forward. We seem to have just witnessed a season's worth of evidence that Phil Costa isn't the answer at center, so the question then becomes whether Kevin Kowalski or Bill Nagy or David Arkin can be, and if so, how soon? It seems likely they'll bring back Kyle Kosier, since he's a leader on the line and has, in recent years, been a big part of the development of Tyron Smith and Doug Free, but what of the other guard spot? Can someone from last year's group of rookies slide in and play right away in 2012? Or do they need to find answers on the free-agent market or in the draft.

Personally, if I were the Cowboys, I wouldn't take an interior lineman in the first round. I just feel like there's value to be had at those spots in later rounds (the Eagles, for example, found their starting center in last year's sixth) and Dallas' needs at cornerback and pass-rusher are pressing enough to warrant first-round action.

Once they're done restructuring contracts, the Cowboys could have about $20 million in cap space, and if I were them I'd try and bring in a veteran guard like Carl Nicks or Ben Grubbs -- or a center if they feel that's a more pressing need -- and then mix and match with that Arkin/Nagy/Kowalski/Costa group in the offseason to figure out exactly what they have there. It's not unrealistic to believe they have a starting center and potential Kosier replacement in that group, and adding someone like Nicks or Grubbs would reduce the pressure on all of the youngsters to perform right away.

I agree with Tim that they're fine at starting tackle. Smith is a stud, and I think Free is a good player who had a bad season. Whether they keep Free at left tackle and Smith at right or whether they switch them up, they should be okay at those spots. But they need to lock some things down in the middle of that line, where they struggled in 2011. And I think free agency might be the best place to start.

All right. You want a break from Giants' stuff -- here you go. Let's talk about the Dallas Cowboys' plans for their offensive line. Let's use this well-detailed post from Blogging the Boys as our jumping-off point. I agree completely with their premise that the biggest problem area for the Cowboys on the line this year was center. I think they'll fix the Doug Free problem by moving him back to right tackle and Tyron Smith to the left side, and they were able to fix guard once they brought back Montrae Holland after Kyle Kosier got a bit more healthy.

But Phil Costa was a consistent problem at center, and it cost the Cowboys dearly. They need to fix it. BTB looks at the list of potential free-agent centers and concludes, correctly, that there isn't a long-term solution among that aged group. My feeling is that the Cowboys, if you go back four or five months, were hoping they had that long-term solution on their roster already. And I wonder if they still do hold out that hope.

The Cowboys drafted David Arkin and Bill Nagy last year. Nagy got hurt, and Arkin obviously didn't develop in time to be a help this year. They both play guard, but I remember a training camp conversation I had with then-offensive line coach Hudson Houck, who told me both were getting practice snaps at center and that both would have to be able to play it in a pinch if they were to stick around. Houck believed both players -- Nagy in particular -- had what it took to be an NFL center, and I wonder if the Cowboys will continue to think along those lines and try to find their solution internally from the Arkin/Nagy/Costa group. Costa is also still young, remember, and he does have a year's worth of experience, even if it was a disappointing one.

The Cowboys also have brought in a new offensive line coach, replacing Houck with Bill Callahan. Does Callahan have a guy, or a type of guy, in mind for center? Will he have some say in who the team brings in for the position? Will he be able to coach something out of Costa or Arkin or Nagy that we haven't yet seen? Will the Cowboys pursue someone from BTB's list to hold down the position for a year or two until one of the younger solutions develops? Will they really draft an interior offensive lineman in the middle of the first round?

I think they're likely to find better offensive line value at that No. 15 pick than they are to find value at one of their other need positions -- say, defensive back or pass-rusher. So unless they move up or down to position themselves to take someone at one of those positions, I do think it's reasonable to speculate about a guy like David DeCastro, the Stanford guard who's got a first-round grade. If you believe a talented guard can turn into a solid NFL center, that would add a guy to the mix they already have and produce a great deal of young depth at these interior line positions that clearly need upgrading.

My guess is that the Cowboys continue to think young at these spots, especially with the well respected Callahan in to help develop them now. Does that mean they won't pursue someone from that deep list of veteran free-agent centers? Not necessarily. But I believe their free-agent priorities will lie elsewhere, and that they're more likely to use the draft to address the line.

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.

A lovely, if a bit chilly, Saturday out here in the East. Let's take a dip in the mailbag and see what's happening.

Tom from Vegas wants to know about the job first-round pick Danny Watkins is doing with the Philadelphia Eagles since they made him the starting right guard in Week 5. Tom says he hasn't heard much about Watkins and figures, since he's an offensive lineman, that that's a good thing.

Dan Graziano: I'm sure there are other factors, but ESPN's Stats & Information Group sent some numbers the other day about the difference in the Eagles' offense since Watkins took over as the starter. They're averaging 6.3 yards per carry and 8.3 yards per pass attempt in three games with Watkins at right guard. They were picking up 5.4 yards per carry and 7.8 yards per pass while Kyle DeVan was playing the position. They're also 2-1 in those three games, which is of course the stat that matters most. Watkins grades out fairly well according to Pro Football Focus, which ranks him as the 14th-best right guard in the league so far this year in its analysis of individual performances by linemen. Watkins obviously wasn't ready to start right away after the shortened offseason, but sitting him down for those first four games appears to have helped.

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Gene from DC wants to know when I'll start grading the Washington Redskins' Will Montgomery as a left guard instead of a center on the NFC East All-Division team, since he's been playing left guard ever since the season-ending injury to Kory Lichtensteiger.

DG: Well, Gene, the answer is that I already have. He just hasn't played well enough to take that left guard spot away from Philadelphia's Evan Mathis, who's been lights-out. And Montgomery's five-game body of work at center is still better than the full-season performance of anyone else in the division at that position so far. David Baas and Phil Costa have been disappointing, and while Jason Kelce is a major factor in that Philadelphia run game, his pass-blocking deficiencies have so far kept him from overtaking Montgomery for the spot. But you're right -- if Montgomery doesn't go back to center this year, eventually someone else will have to get the spot just because of his relative lack of snaps played there. Hasn't happened yet.

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Joseph from Florida wonders if adding rookie Prince Amukamara to the cornerback mix Sunday (assuming he's healthy enough to play) would benefit the Giants, because the Patriots struggled against man coverage last week and Amukamara was a man-cover guy in college.

DG: Joseph, even if Amukamara is ready to play Sunday, my guess would be that the Giants would ease him into action a little bit more than that. I'm not sure they bring their rookie off foot surgery and just say, "Go ahead and cover Deion Branch." They're doing fine in the secondary with Corey Webster covering the other team's No. 1 wideout and Aaron Ross more than holding his own in coverage. Amukamara would add depth and allow Antrel Rolle to play safety instead of corner in nickel situations. And that would benefit them in a number of ways, not the least of which is that might allow them to bring Deon Grant back up toward the line and help with the run.

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Finally, Vince DeBlasis from Philadelphia and several others wrote in with questions about this Thursday's post on Tony Romo and whether the Cowboys were reining him in and limiting his downfield throws. The chief criticism of the post is that it originally said Romo was averaging 6.9 yards per pass attempt this year when in fact the number is 7.8.

DG: This one's on me, folks. Those numbers came from the ESPN Stats & Information Group and I mis-translated them. The stat was not "yards per pass attempt" but rather "air yards per pass attempt," which I take to mean the average distance Romo's passes travel in the air before they are caught or fall incomplete. I have since gone back and edited the post so that the chart is correctly labeled, and I regret the error and any confusion that resulted from it.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- In the raw, emotional aftermath of an 18-16 meat-grinder of a win, Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant spoke about his quarterback, Tony Romo, in awed, reverent tones.

"He motivated me to go out there tonight when I obviously wasn't 100 percent," said Bryant, who was slowed by a thigh injury but still managed to make the critical third-and-21 catch that kept the Cowboys' final scoring drive alive. "I mean, broken rib, punctured lung, and he's out there. You've got to be willing to put yourself out there for a guy like that."

This was the prevailing thought in the Cowboys' locker room -- that in spite of the tower of circumstances that were stacked against him, Romo was the reason the Cowboys beat the Washington Redskins on Monday night. He was without top receiver Miles Austin, and Bryant wasn't himself. His offensive line played a miserable game, especially center Phil Costa, who was so confused by Redskins defenders barking fake snap counts that he kept snapping the ball before Romo was ready for it. The running game didn't get going until the second half. Oh, and his rib is still broken, and that hurts.

And yet, without much help from any of his offensive friends, and without so much as a single touchdown, Romo managed to deliver a fourth-quarter comeback win for the second week in a row.

"Pure will," tight end Jason Witten said. "And nobody in this locker room is surprised. We knew he had that kind of makeup, and when you have a quarterback with that kind of mentality, it's easy to want to go out there and play for him."

The watchword for the NFC East so far in this young season is "tough." Sunday in Philadelphia, the undermanned, injury-ravaged New York Giants came back on the division-favorite Eagles and won a game they seemingly had no business winning. Giants quarterback Eli Manning wasn't playing with broken ribs, but his passing-game options are as shredded as Romo's right now, and that says nothing of the injury issues the Giants are enduring on defense. But Manning remained cool and calm Sunday, picked his spots and threw four touchdown passes to lift the Giants to 2-1 in spite of all they're going through.

Monday night, Romo did basically the same thing. No, he didn't throw any touchdowns. The scoring hero of this game was rookie kicker Dan Bailey, whose six field goals accounted for every point Dallas scored. But with everything seeming to crumble around him and his center flipping the ball over his head, Romo kept making plays. He kept getting in his teammates' faces and urging them to be better. His very presence on the field did as much. It may well have been Romo's shining moment as a leader.

"He won the game for them," Redskins nose tackle Barry Cofield said. "Quarterbacks are measured by wins and losses, and he did enough to win the game. He made enough plays."

The Redskins, by the way, would like to be included in the toughness discussion. They know everybody picked them to finish last, but they came into Monday night's game 2-0, and when it was over they felt they'd let one slip away. They're not into moral victories in Washington. They believe themselves to be a good team, and they took a tough loss just the way you'd expect from a team that expects itself to win. They took it hard.

"We feel like we have everything we need to be a winning team," left tackle Trent Williams said. "We've just got to find a way to bring these tough games home."

Williams was flat-out exhausted from working all night to try to contain Cowboys pass-rushing monster DeMarcus Ware. Williams had Ware frustrated to the point that the Cowboys moved him over to the other side to send him against right tackle Jammal Brown for much of the second half. Ware got past Williams a couple of times in the fourth quarter, when the Redskins were unable to sustain the clock-eating drive that would have salted away their victory, but overall Williams had reason to feel good about his performance. He said he did, but he looked spent.

"It's almost impossible to go out there and dominate him to where he doesn't make any plays," Williams said. "I felt like I recovered well, but there's some stuff he did that he didn't even show on film, a lot of inside moves and stuff. He's a great, great player."

But Williams hung tough, and the Redskins' defense hung tough for most of the night. And the offense ran the ball tough, though without much success against an extremely tough-looking Cowboys defense. These two teams traded punches as if they were fighting at the end of a "Rocky" movie, and in the end the Cowboys were one or two plays tougher.

"I don't feel like we took a step back," Redskins linebacker London Fletcher said. "We held them to six field goals and we needed to make one more play than we made defensively."

Coming out of this week of head-to-head matchups in the NFC East, the Cowboys, Giants and Redskins are all 2-1. The favored Eagles are 1-2, mainly because their own quarterback hasn't been able to finish the past two games. While Michael Vick is complaining about not getting calls, Manning and Romo have been finding ways to overcome their challenges and win games anyway. Their teams may not have as much talent on the field right now as the Eagles do, but they're taking a back seat to no one in the toughness department, and the records reflect that.

"It's going to be tough and hard-fought every single week, right to the end, and I think with all four teams," Cofield said. "That's the way it always is in the NFC East. That's the way we like it."

ARLINGTON, Texas -- A couple of thoughts on the Dallas Cowboys' 18-16 victory over the Washington Redskins on "Monday Night Football."

What it means: Something very similar for the Cowboys to what the Giants' victory meant to them Sunday in Philadelphia. The Cowboys are shredded on offense right now, with a jumpy, mistake-prone offensive line and very limited options at receiver. And yet, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo found a way to move the offense down the field and into field goal range six times -- enough to deliver a win the Cowboys had no business picking up. Banking a division win like this at a time when their team is not whole is pure gold for a team like the Cowboys or the Giants, each of whom find themselves a gritty, gutsy 2-1. For the Redskins, this game is a missed opportunity. They had the Cowboys where they wanted them but were unable to generate enough offense in the fourth quarter to put it away. Credit the Cowboys' defense, but Washington's offense doesn't have big-time playmakers, and it cost them a win they should have had.

Romo needs help: I don't know whether Romo played a bad game or whether he was up against impossible circumstances. He didn't have top receiver Miles Austin, out with a hamstring injury. He really didn't have much of his other star receiver, Dez Bryant, who's clearly far less than 100 percent due to his thigh injury and was in and out all night before catching a big third-down pass in the final minutes. The Redskins knew Romo wanted to throw to tight end Jason Witten, so they covered up Witten all night. Left tackle Doug Free had a bad game. Center Phil Costa had an awful game, botching several quarterback/center exchanges and getting an earful from a clearly frustrated Romo. If the Cowboys can't support Romo better than they did Monday night, he's going to have to keep pulling miracles out of his bag, as he basically has done the past two weeks.

Washington's offense is boring, but basically works: The Redskins' offensive game plan for this season appears to be simple: Run the ball, run out the clock and stay away from mistakes. It's not a lot of fun, but it doesn't have to be. They rely on running back Tim Hightower, who's an asset as a runner, a receiver and a pass-blocker. When he needs to come off the field, they bring in spry rookie Roy Helu. Rex Grossman throws downfield some, but it's clear they want to limit his ability to hurt them with a bad decision and/or throw. They protected him well for most of the night, with second-year left tackle Trent Williams holding his own against DeMarcus Ware until Ware broke through for a couple of big plays in the fourth quarter. The Redskins built up the defense this offseason and likely will target some offensive pieces next year. But for now, this ball-control plan is what they're comfortable with, and it's doing what they need it to do, even if it did come up just short Monday night.

Run on the Redskins?: The Cowboys couldn't do anything in the run game in the first half, but in the second, holes started opening up and Felix Jones started hitting them and doing major damage. It felt similar to last week's Redskins game, in which the Arizona Cardinals couldn't run the ball against them in the first half but then got Beanie Wells going in the second. The Redskins are thin on the defensive line with rookie Jarvis Jenkins out for the year with a knee injury, and I wonder if their linemen are playing more snaps than the coaching staff would like them to play and maybe wearing down in the second half. Just a theory, and something to watch.

Sound in the kicking game: Other than the field goal the Redskins had blocked as a result of a bad snap, the kickers and punters put on an absolute show. Redskins punter Sav Rocca and Cowboys punter Mat McBriar are both having stellar years, and their skills were on display all night as they helped determine field position. And Washington's Graham Gano and Dallas' Dan Bailey combined for nine field goals as neither offense was able to muster much of anything in the red zone.

What's next: The Cowboys are likely going to need to generate more offense Sunday when they host Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson and the high-flying, 3-0 Detroit Lions. That's a tougher team to outscore than the Redskins are. Washington heads to St. Louis, where the Rams have yet to get their season off the ground and are 0-3 including losses to the Eagles and the Giants during their early-season tour of the NFC East. The Redskins should be able to get to 3-1 and put this tough loss behind them.

I had to check this a few times after I saw it, but it turns out Sunday's overtime victory was the 10th fourth-quarter comeback of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo's career. Based on everything I heard and read about Romo a week ago after he gave away that Jets game, I was pretty sure he'd never completed a fourth-quarter pass.

Oh, but the tune is different now that Romo came out of the locker room with a broken rib and went an unbelievable 12-for-15 for 201 yards in the fourth quarter and overtime to lead the Cowboys to victory over the 49ers. Now, it's about Tony the tough guy, and about the burnishing of a legacy that needed some serious shining up after last week.

For some reason, when it comes to perceptions of Romo, everything has to be an extreme. He's either incredibly good or incredibly useless, sometimes within the course of the same game. The fact, which is backed up by the numbers, is that he's an outstanding quarterback who hasn't yet delivered a championship and whose biggest flops have come under some very bright spotlights. A supremely accurate passer who's thrown a couple of dumb interceptions at bad times and once fumbled a critical field goal snap in a playoff game.

Romo is unduly harangued for his mistakes, so it probably makes sense that those who do that haranguing would also gush over his triumphs. He was incredible Sunday. He was also incredible for the first three quarters of last Sunday's game. The difference here is that they won this one. If they lose to the Redskins next Monday night at home, I'm guessing the grittiness of this performance will fade from memory amid renewed cries that the guy's a bum. It'd be nice if everybody could relax, but that's not the time in which we live. Romo plays under intense scrutiny, and he will until he delivers that championship. Meantime, life's a roller coaster for Romo and the Cowboys, and Sunday was one of the highs.

You know what never gets too high or too low? What always keeps things in the proper perspective? Yeah, that's right. The links.

More Cowboys

I'm going to say this game was a lot bigger for Dan Bailey than it was for Tony Romo, who already knew he could play in the NFL. After missing that 21-yarder early in the game, Bailey drilled the game-tying kick from 48 and the winning chip-shot in overtime. Anything that helps the Cowboys' confidence in their kicking game has to be a welcome relief at Valley Ranch.

The Cowboys' defense locked things down in the second half, writes Carlos Mendez, whose notebook also includes injury updates on Miles Austin, Felix Jones and Phil Costa. Yikes, the Cowboys have a lot of injuries.

New York Giants

As former Giants receiver Steve Smith becomes more and more a part of the offensive game plan for the Eagles, the Giants continue to search for his replacement as their reliable slot receiver, Ian Begley writes. It looks as though Brandon Stokley, signed just last week, will get a chance to show what he can do in that role tonight against the Rams.

Mike Garafolo has a look at Giants defensive end Dave Tollefson, who's been getting more playing time lately thanks to injuries to Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora and whose nickname, teammate Chris Canty says, is "White Chocolate." These guys spend a lot of time together, is all I have to say.

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles are deep at quarterback, as they believe it's wise to be in today's NFL, and so they may have a choice of qualified replacements next week if Michael Vick is out with a concussion. Mike Kafka filled in Sunday night, and Vince Young, the nominal backup, continues to work his way back from a hamstring injury.

Philadelphia is still continuing to build and work on its new defense, which was outstanding for much of the game but gave up too many costly big plays when it counted. The Eagles believe things will get smoother and better on defense as the season goes along. Atlanta was a very tough test, and in a couple of crucial spots, they flunked it.

And last but certainly not least, your first-place ...

Washington Redskins

More important than the two early interceptions he threw was Rex Grossman's ability to recover from them and still lead the Redskins to victory in the clutch, writes Rich Campbell. And he's right, of course. Everybody throws interceptions, and Grossman is one of those guys with whom you seem to sit around waiting for bad things to happen. But he's playing with confidence in this Redskins offense, and the way he played after the interceptions was proof of that. Sure, the Redskins turned to the running game more, but they should have done that anyway. And when Grossman needed to find Fred Davis or Santana Moss or Jabar Gaffney and make a big throw, he made it. More good than bad so far in this young season from Grossman, to be sure.

When Tim Hightower got tired after 15 first-half carries, Roy Helu proved more than capable of filling in and picking up critical yards for the Redskins. Washington's depth at running back is impressive, especially when you consider that they didn't even use Ryan Torain, who at one point last year was their starter.

One more game remains in the NFC East, of course, and I'll be there tonight to check out the Giants. Next week, I see all four teams!

So when I put together the first All-NFC East team this week and saw that there were New York Giants in four of the five first-team offensive line spots, I smiled, knowing my Giants fans would gleefully point this out to me, and you guys didn't disappoint. But facts are facts, and at those four spots the Giants either have (in the case of right guard and right tackle) the best player or (in the case of left guard and center) the best of a mediocre lot. (To be fair, it could be a lot about which we just don't know much. Evan Mathis could well turn out to be the best left guard in the division -- I just haven't see him there enough to know.)

But while the Giants should feel good about their line relative to the rest of their division, that says a lot about the serious concerns the other teams have on their lines with only four days left until the start of the season.

In Dallas Wednesday, right tackle and first-round pick Tyron Smith injured his knee and will be out of action 2-to-4 weeks. Smith was one of two rookies slated to start on the offensive line in Sunday night's opener and now will be replaced by the team's only backup tackle, Jermey Parnell. Rookie Bill Nagy is still expected to start at left guard with second-year man (and first-year starter) Phil Costa at center.

And in Philadelphia Wednesday, the Eagles apparently demoted their first-round pick, Danny Watkins, and elevated the newly signed Kyle DeVan to the position of starting right guard. Watkins struggled in August and was a big reason why Eagles quarterback Michael Vick was insufficiently protected in the team's second and third preseason games. In the past couple of weeks, the Eagles moved Todd Herremans from left guard to right tackle because of their injuries on the right side, made Mathis the starting left guard and elected to go with rookie Jason Kelce as the starting center over veteran Jamaal Jackson. "Upheaval" isn't an unfair word to apply here.

The Redskins feel good about their line, but it's loaded with guys who have to prove they can perform consistently as week-to-week starters. And even the Giants have a question mark at left tackle, where Will Beatty enters his first year as a full-time starter.

But the O-line situations in Philadelphia and Dallas, where hopes are high for playoff contention with high-scoring offenses, are worrisome and illustrate a key point about what to expect for the early part of this NFL season. Had 2011 been a normal year with no lockout and regular spring minicamps and OTAs, these teams could have sorted out many of their offensive line issues in May and June.

By now, the Cowboys and Eagles could have convinced themselves and their fans that the rookies were reliable players. They might have performed better in preseason games, inspiring more confidence, since they'd have been better trained before those games began. Players like Watkins and Kelce and Nagy and Smith will be better in a few months than they are now, but they're not as good now as they would have been if they'd been practicing since May.

Instead, we're entering an NFL season whose first month or so will be a continuation of the offseason in terms of teaching and learning and developing and putting lineups together. There are many teams -- the Eagles and Cowboys included -- who have new coordinators or new coaches or tons of new faces in new places and haven't had enough time to put everything together yet. The key for teams like this, who are likely to be better in November than they are in September, is how well they weather the early challenges. Do they squeak out a couple of tougher-than-they-should-be wins? Do they bounce back well from tough losses to teams they think they should have beaten? There are very few teams, if any, that are as prepared as they'd like to be for this season. The story of the early part of 2011 will be about that, in large part. The offensive line issues in the NFC East are but one example.