All season long it's been this guy or that guy with something going on that is holding this team back from reaching it's full potential, read here.

So here the Cowboys were, feeling pretty good about themselves for a change after beating the Washington Redskins on the road, 14-10. Not an overwhelming victory, but when you have lost two of the past three and you go on the road against a 6-3 team you're trying to chase down and win a grind-it-out game, well, you have a right to do a little singing on the early-morning charter flight back home.

Plus, you just got Tony Romo back, and Terence Newman, too. You got Kyle Kosier back a second time, and maybe back for good. Jason Witten continues playing through a fractured rib, and here you are with Isaiah Stanback and Bobby Carpenter getting back into practice this week.

Full speed ahead for San Francisco, this Sunday at Texas Stadium.

Then this:

Felix Jones is out for the season, evidently while successfully rehabbing his slightly torn left hamstring he suffered ligament damage under his left big toe the Friday before the bye week. After consulting a specialist, surgery is going to take place this Saturday, determined to be, as the team's release states, "the best option for Felix' long-term future."

Great. Just great.

That news hit me like a ton of bricks earlier today. This offense is going to miss the versatility Felix brings to the table because he's the only home run threat on the team that plays RB. MBIII and Tashard Choice are very good at pounding the rock, but neither guy is taking one off the edge for a long TD. They just don't have that kind of straight line speed.

And this: Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says the NFL will reinstate Adam "Pacman" Jones in time for the suspended cornerback to be active for the Pittsburgh game on Dec. 7.

Great. Really great.

So you lose your offensive "wow" factor and you eventually become saddled with your team-wide lightning rod, although look, as distractions go, the announced return of Pacman was no more a distraction in this team's locker room on Thursday than if a cricket had hopped through one end to the other.

First of all, there were as few players as ever in the locker room on Thursday available for interviews, and the two or three who were sure seemed indifferent to the news. So it wasn't like their thoughts were being pulled away from San Francisco preparation.

For as veteran Leonard Davis said, "Things happen, what are you going to do, sit there and worry about it or play football?"

Or as Capt. Witten said, while pointing out most of the guys will give Pacman "the benefit of the doubt," he "hopes (Pacman) accepts his role, too."

So to me, that Pacman is coming back or that players are asked about his return should be no excuse for playing poorly against San Francisco or Seattle or Pittsburgh, or whoever else you want to name. They have a job to do, just like the rest of us do in our small worlds, no matter what knuckleheads walk through the office. You do what you gotta do.

Anyone out there who thinks that every single one of the comments from the players saying they want Pacman back are true needs a check up from the neck up.

These players are taking the safe route. That route means that you are supportive of the team's decision to let him back into the fold.

The last thing any of them want to do is become a distraction themselves by coming out and saying that Pacman needs to stay away from the team.

And look, we know injuries are part of this game, but if you look at the big picture, what's taken place this season is almost frightening.

Let's start here: No matter what you think of safety Roy Williams, the Cowboys already have two Pro Bowl players on injured reserve, Williams and punter Mat McBriar. They've also lost backup receiver/special teamer Sam Hurd. Their absences, along with that of Felix Jones, who already had missed four games, will total 42 games by season's end. Breaking it down, that will eventually be 10 for Felix, 10 for McBriar, nine for Williams and 13 for Hurd.

Also consider this: Of the 80 players designated inactive in the 10 games so far this season - seven players, and an inactive third quarterback a game - 38 of those players (nearly half) were put down because of injury.

Let's continue with the rest: Kosier missed eight games, Newman six, Stanback four (if he plays Sunday), Anthony Spencer four, Romo three, Pat Watkins three and Austin three but certainly at least four since no way he gets back in time from his sprained knee for the Thanksgiving Day game.

And to top all this off, before Pacman Jones is supposedly eligible to play again, he will have missed six games during his "indefinite" suspension that had to last at least four.

Starting to catch my drift?

Add it all up - OK, get out the calculator for this - and throw in two games for Deon Anderson and a game each for Carpenter and Stephen Bowen, and the Cowboys will at least - at least - have injured or suspended players missing from a total of 83 games by my count, one certainly to swell over the final six-game stretch.

That's a slew.

That makes a difference no matter what you want to think.

Now this is not an excuse for the Cowboys being only 6-4, but face it, wouldn't you rather have taken your chances against St. Louis with Romo, Newman, Kosier, Felix, Spencer, Watkins, Williams, McBriar, Hurd and Pacman?

How about against the Giants with Romo, Newman, Kosier, Felix, Williams, McBriar, Hurd and Pacman?

Is that an excuse for the 6-4 record? The answer is a big fat yes and a big fat no.

You can't expect the backups to be as good as the starters, but then again you would expect the other starters to step their game up to make sure you keep winning games.

And I can't wait to play THAT game against the Giants at Texas Stadium!