Thursday, December 22, 2005

Coach Bill Parcells: No O-Line changes expected

Dallas Morning News

TIDBIT: IRVING ? The Cowboys' offensive line has allowed 15 sacks in the last three games and struggled to create running lanes for Julius Jones and Marion Barber.But coach Bill Parcells said he isn't planning any personnel changes this week."We just got beat up physically," he said Monday of their 35-7 loss to Washington. "We only had three mental errors on offense, so you know what the rest is involved with."What he's trying to say is some of the Cowboys' linemen simply aren't good enough to do the job.

Right tackle Rob Petitti has earned Parcells' respect by playing through hip, ankle and knee injuries this season, but he has struggled for more than a month. So has left tackle Torrin Tucker, who yielded four sacks Sunday.So did things snowball for Tucker?"That would be a nice word for it," Parcells said.Their backups are Marc Colombo and Marcus Price, veteran free agents who were added in the last month."We really don't have a lot of options right now," Parcells said. "We could have put in Colombo. But I have been watching Colombo here. Just putting somebody in isn't going to make it better."The poor offensive line play is not just about Tucker and Petitti.

Veteran guards Larry Allen and Marco Rivera combined for four penalties in the first half. A procedure penalty by Allen negated an apparent 12-yard touchdown run by Barber that would've tied the score at 7 in the first quarter."I am hard-pressed on that film to see those," Parcells said of the illegal procedure penalties that were called. "I mean those were not obvious things, but that's the way it is."The Cowboys' offensive linemen totaled seven penalties in the first half.