Texas NFL Capsules: Manning looks to again leave mark on Cowboys' home

ARLINGTON (AP) — Eli Manning is looking forward to going back to the visitors’ locker room at Cowboys Stadium on Monday night, especially the little attendant’s room behind the main section.

The last time Manning was there, he’d just led the New York Giants to a comeback victory in the first regular-season game ever played at Jerry Jones’ $1.2 billion playpen. He celebrated with a bit of graffiti — tagging a wall as he’d done in other visiting locker rooms in the NFL. None of the other walls he scribbled on, however, were so pristine and he never left a message with such bluster.

He wrote:

Eli 10 Manning

9-20-09

"33-31"

First Win in the New Stadium

"So," Manning said this week, "it will be interesting to see if anybody else has signed the wall, or if I’m the only one, or if they erased it."

Well, Eli, at the risk of ruining the surprise ...

It’s gone. Painted over. Forgotten, the Cowboys hope, just like the start of this season.

At 1-4, Dallas is off to its poorest start since 2001, although the situation is really much worse than that. See, the ‘01 team was supposed to struggle, while this club was supposed to be a Super Bowl contender after winning the division and reaching the conference semifinals last season.

The Cowboys have been in every game they’ve played — only to find a way to lose through a combination of penalties, turnovers (too many on offense, not enough on defense) and kickoff coverage. Another loss would drop them to 0-3 at home for the first time since 1989, when they went 1-15 in the first year under Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson.

That’s not the only history Dallas needs to be mindful of this weekend.

The Cowboys are at a make-or-break point for playoff hopes. From 1990 (when the playoffs expanded to the current six-team-per-conference system) through last season, just five of the 97 clubs that started 1-4 recovered enough to reach the postseason. No team has gone 1-5 and still made it.

The most direct route into the playoffs is winning the division, and Dallas still has five games left against NFC East foes. The Cowboys are already 2½ games behind, so they have little margin for error.

Jones personally tried to rally the troops this week, speaking to them at their Monday meeting. Instead of a win-or-else speech, he gave them a verbal hug, basically saying to keep up the good fight and everything will work out.

"Jerry is great," quarterback Tony Romo said. "He’s so positive and optimistic and it just trickles down to the rest of the organization."

Romo would love to forget last year’s game against the Giants because he was a big reason for New York winning. He threw three interceptions, all leading to touchdowns. New York still needed a field goal as time expired to pull out the victory in front of 105,121 fans, the largest crowd ever to see an NFL regular-season game.

The Giants (4-2) are coming in on a roll, having won three straight since enduring back-to-back blowout losses. They are tied with Philadelphia for the division lead. This will be their first game against an NFC East club.

New York’s identity starts with a swarming pass rush (NFC-best 21 sacks) and an offense that’s cranking on the hands of Hakeem Nicks (NFC-best six touchdown catches) and the legs of Ahmad Bradshaw (second-best in NFC at 110.6 yards per game).

Bradshaw has been part of the Giants going 4-1 against Dallas starting with the 2007 playoffs, but only a small part. He’s never had more than nine carries against the Cowboys as the backup to Brandon Jacobs. Now their roles are reversed.

Bradshaw’s specialty is the big play. He’s had the team’s longest run each of the last three years, and he leads the NFL with eight rushes of at least 20 yards this season.

"He’s an outstanding runner," New York coach Tom Coughlin said. "He gives you everything he’s got. He’s difficult to tackle. He’s powerful. He can break tackles. He has the speed to go. He’s another one of those very highly competitive, highly compassionate guys who has demonstrated this over the years."

Dallas went more than a season’s worth of games without allowing a 100-yard rusher until Houston’s Arian Foster and Tennessee’s Chris Johnson did so in consecutive games. The Cowboys held Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson under 100 last week, and have the scheduling misfortune of facing yet another stat leader.

"We’ve got to go out there and play no matter what," Cowboys linebacker Bradie James said. "It’s always a good challenge. You want to play against the best players as a competitor. You want to go out there and see what you can do. Our job is to stop them."

The Giants are hoping they don’t have to wait until next fall to return to Cowboys Stadium. They’d love to be working there on Super Bowl Sunday in February.

Under those circumstances, might Manning be tempted to bring a pen, some paint or a carving knife to leave a real tribute?

"I don’t think so," he said. "I’d like to be there, but I wouldn’t want to disrespect the Cowboys or their new stadium."

Byes

Time to heal: Texans get a break

HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Texans are tied for first place in the AFC South and off to the best 6-game start in franchise history.

Let the healing begin.

The Texans (4-2) are so withered by injuries heading into their bye that coach Gary Kubiak called off practices for the rest of the week after a light workout on Tuesday morning.

"I’m going to use this whole week to try and get this team healthy," Kubiak said.

Pro Bowl linebacker DeMeco Ryans limped into the locker room on crutches Tuesday, a stark reminder of one of the biggest challenges Kubiak faces when the team resumes practices next Monday. Houston’s next game is Nov. 1, at Indianapolis.

Ryans is out for the season after rupturing his left Achilles’ tendon in Sunday’s 35-31 win over Kansas City. Three other linebackers — Kevin Bentley, Xavier Adibi and Darryl Sharpton — were inactive for the Chiefs’ game with injuries, and Kubiak is hoping all three can heal during the time off. Bentley and Sharpton are two options to replace Ryans.

"It’s still the big topic of debate right now, the three guys that have been out and where they’re at," Kubiak said. "All indications are pointing toward them being back next week."

The bye is arriving just in time for several other starters who’ve been nursing nagging injuries for weeks. Kick returner Jacoby Jones (calf) and defensive end Mario Williams (shoulder) sat out practices last week and Pro Bowl receiver Andre Johnson has been playing through a sprained right ankle since Week 2.

"It’ll help me out a whole lot," Johnson said. "I get a chance to stay off it, I don’t really have to bang it up. I’ll just be doing my rehab and icing it up, and just see how it feels when I get back out there on Monday."

The Texans will use the break to mentally recuperate, too, after an up-and-down start.

They beat the Colts in an emotional opener, twice rallied from fourth-quarter deficits for victories and lost to Dallas in a game regarded as one of the most important in team history. The Texans also worked around four-game drug suspensions to two key players, linebacker Brian Cushing and left tackle Duane Brown, and have faced daily questions about their NFL-worst pass defense.

"I just want to get away, I honestly do," safety Bernard Pollard said. "I don’t think a lot of people understand, this thing, it can take you. My mind is just bogged down with bad plays, with good things, with our record, it’s just so much right now. Just to get away is big."

But those defensive issues will still be waiting when the Texans get back.

Houston ranks 31st in total defense (410.5 yards per game) and gave up 228 yards rushing to the Chiefs last week. The secondary has given up seven receptions of 40 yards or more and intercepted only four passes, and the defensive front has generated only 10 sacks — none in Houston’s two losses.

"The beatings that we’ve taken, just all the things that have been going on, it really seems like we have a losing record," Pollard said. "It’s time for us to kind of evaluate ourselves and look in the mirror and change the things that need to be fixed."

The Texans did not make a trade at the deadline, and Kubiak reiterated this week that he’s sticking with the defensive players he has, including cornerbacks Glover Quin and Kareem Jackson. Jackson, the Texans’ first-round draft pick, has taken the brunt of the criticism for the gaps in pass coverage.

"When you’re having mistakes, that usually brings you back to simplifying," Kubiak said. "That’s something we’re checking ourselves, from a coaching standpoint, to see what kind of changes that can possibly be made that can make us better."

Kubiak said the high number of missed tackles in last week’s win over the Chiefs was "puzzling." Quin thinks the defense can improve by simply focusing on fundamentals when they return from the break.

"We have no other choice but to get better," Quin said. "The talent is there. We just have to continue to work hard as a group and bring it out on Sundays."

The offense was shut down by Dallas and the Giants, but it’s scored at least 30 points in four victories to mask many of the problems on defense. The Texans rank fifth in total offense (379.7 yards per game) and Arian Foster leads the league in yards rushing (635).

Kubiak wants more consistency from both sides of the ball as the Texans head into their demanding final 10 games. Of Houston’s remaining opponents, only San Diego and Denver currently have losing records.

"Obviously, we’ve got some issues that we got to face here coming up," right tackle Eric Winston said. "There’s no way to sugar-coat it and it’s probably best that we don’t. We’ve got to face those issues head-on and the whole team has got to overcome it, and just not one side or the other."

-- Chris Duncan

Elsewhere

Former Cowboys QB arrested on battery charge

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — Former Dallas Cowboys and University of Georgia quarterback Quincy Carter has been arrested on a battery charge.

Gwinnett County Police say a woman who identified herself as Carter’s girlfriend told officers Oct. 6 that the 33-year-old Decatur native was drunk when he choked and hit her because she wanted to end their relationship. Officers said 35-year-old Egan Jacobs had bumps and bruises.

Carter was stopped nine days later for driving with an expired tag and a suspended license. He was arrested on the outstanding warrant for battery. Police said he was freed from jail the same day.

Carter was released by the Cowboys in 2004 after failing a drug test. He was cut by the Abilene Ruff Riders of the Indoor Football League in 2009 after being charged with drunken driving.