EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.—For the sake of nothing more than idle chatter and worthless curiosity, what exactly did Wade or Jason, or even Jerry up in the owner's box, have in mind here Sunday?

Enough was enough. Too much of Brad Johnson happened early. Very early.

Shouldn't somebody in charge have said something? Done something? Ordered something done? Why the heck was Brad allowed to quarterback the entire first half?

OK, a disclaimer:

Before somebody interprets the above as an endorsement of Brooks Bollinger, reality says the Cowboys' chances to win this game with either Brad or Brooks hovered between none and none. Giants by a decisive count of 35-14 figured to happen, give or take a few points on the final margin.

Long-term survival without injured Tony Romo was based on winning two of the three games he was expected to miss, if we can be certain Romo will be back after next week's bye. Instead, this was the second loss of the three.

It was that embarrassment in St. Louis that destroyed the percentages. This one just added to the deep ditch the Cowboys will have to climb starting in mid-November. Does this team even make the playoffs? It's a very legitimate question for a team now three games down in the loss column to the division-leading Giants, plus with four L's, the new NFC East cellar team.

Another troubling question. Is Romo a sure thing to start on the road against the Redskins in two weeks?

"Don't know," he said after the game. "Haven't tested anything yet."

As the recovery process from the broken pinkie continues, it is presumed Romo will be a go in Washington. But he didn't sound overly confident, mainly because in the healing process, there hasn't been even a practice snap from center.

"That begins this week," Tony said. "We will know more then."

His uncertainty was surprising. Then again, Romo will play the next time the Cowboys play. I'm sure of it. Well, I think I'm sure of it.

But we already knew Brad Johnson couldn't handle the job. So what else was there to know here Sunday. Wade Phillips, or Jason Garrett—or somebody in charge on the sidelines—hinted at pulling the plug on Johnson in the second quarter. Bollinger warmed up, then he warmed up some more, and some more again.

But it wasn't until the start of the second half that Bollinger finally entered the game. His first pass was a wounded duck. It was picked, setting up another Giants TD for a 28-7 lead.

Yet, the more we saw of Bollinger, the more he was obviously better than Johnson, which meant he should have started this game.

Wade: "We thought Brad wouldn't make a mistake." That was two bad first-half interceptions after the fact. "Yeah, I thought about it, but I didn't make the decision until later," Phillips noted, when asked why a first-half hook didn't happen.

On Brooks, Wade termed him "just another quarterback." Probably accurate, but Bollinger showed Sunday he can do more than the Cowboys' starter in the last three games.

Overall, Wade seemed to agree the team had not prepared well enough, long-range, when it came to identifying a backup for Romo: "When you only win one of three, that's not good enough."

Jerry Jones, meanwhile, said he knew "Wade was going to be slow on the trigger" in removing Johnson in this game. "I'm not second-guessing that timing or the preparation with Brad Johnson in any way," he added.

Only using hindsight, said Jerry, would he now "have done anything different in the off-season" when it comes to upgrading at backup QB.

"But we all felt comfortable with Brad, and there wasn't anybody out there that seriously interested me."

The St. Louis loss suggests the Cowboys may eventually pay dearly for not upgrading, but repeat after me, and repeat after everyone else who has witnessed the details behind a 5-4 record: "This team was not playing well in an October stretch when Romo was healthy".

Losses to the Redskins at home and the Cardinals on the road were as unexpected as getting blown out by the dog-butted Rams.

But this latest mess in the Meadowlands made it consecutive games where the Cowboys offense was far short of 200 total yards, which is like something out of the NFL in the 1940s.

Patrick Crayton is a receiver usually good for a timely rant, and he didn't disappoint after this game.

"I'm tired of using the Romo injury as an excuse," he said. "It's not an excuse in the NFL. To me, this is about the rest of us not holding up our end of the bargain.

"Right now, we stink across the board. When you go against a team like this and you don't bring your A game, you're going to get your asses whupped ... like we did today."

Amen on what was whupped.

The math for Mr. Crayton and all other Cowboys is pretty simple. Seven games to go, and five wins are needed to make the playoffs. Three divisional games remain, two on the road. There's also a trip to Pittsburgh to open December. That's four big-time challenges, plus the Ravens in Irving could present a worry.

What's been observed lately could be described as "Tony Romo Appreciation Time." Without him, the Cowboys are a joke. But will they be good enough when he's back?