IRVING, Texas - And the Cowboys have officially joined the fight.
They've been in it the last two weeks. Been taking countless jabs and even a haymaker or two.
Definitely staggered and wounded this week, the Cowboys flipped the script.
Yes, the Cowboys won a much-needed game here Sunday to stave off a .500 record and get to 5-3.
Is the defense back? Who knows for sure, but it seemed like it took a positive step.
Does the offense have some problems? Sure, especially without the starting quarterback. And even the special teams doesn't look completely cured.
Undoubtedly, the Cowboys have plenty of questions to answer, and a full second half of the season to do it. But if out-slugging the Bucs 13-9 here at Texas Stadium told us anything, it showed us this Cowboys' team definitely has some fight.
Last week, they didn't. Last week, they got attacked by the Rams and didn't fight back.
This week, obviously, was a different story.
A full-blown crisis had been declared with the Cowboys losing two straight road games - to Arizona and St. Louis. Those were supposed to be the easy games on this first-half schedule.
Instead, the Cowboys dropped them both in contrasting fashions - an overtime heartbreaker and then a first-half blowout that was never a game. Do that against two teams not expected to compete in this conference, and you can only imagine how low the sky has plummeted in the last two weeks.
"Sometimes when your backs are against the wall, you have to come out fighting," center Andre Gurode said. "I thought we did that today."
And they did fight, literally at times.
Say what you want about the game balls on this day. Roy Williams scored the only touchdown, that counts. Brad Johnson wasn't too impressive, but didn't turn the ball over once, and that was huge against this defense.
What about the cornerbacks - Mike Jenkins, Orlando Scandrick and Alan Ball - the three guys trying to keep the Bucs out of the end zone on the final drive? They all get game balls.
But if I'm tossing out game balls, it starts with right tackle Marc Colombo.
The guy doesn't get any stats. I'm not exactly sure just how well he played on Sunday. Who knows? He might not grade out so well once the coaching staff reviews the film.
But on this day, with this situation the way it was, the Cowboys needed to fight. And Colombo was a fighter.
Sure, he blocked. He did his job. Didn't see him getting whipped up front. But the Bucs came in here Sunday and started pushing the Cowboys around. And Colombo pushed back.
There were a couple of times, especially in the first half when it appeared the Bucs were trying to bully the Cowboys around. Colombo wasn't having it.
We all saw the play right before the half when linebacker Cato June and Colombo got tangled up after a pass to Patrick Crayton. June tried to get a cheap hit on Colombo late and that didn't work out so well. Colombo is a Boston Brawler. He delivered a shot of his own, causing June to retaliate with a semi-punch, resulting in a personal foul that pushed the ball from the four to the two. The Cowboys scored on the next play on a fade pass to Roy Williams.
"He didn't take anything from anyone," said right guard Leonard Davis, who lines up next to Colombo. "I guess you could say he's a fighter. He likes to mix it up. Sometimes you have to turn it into a fight."
And Colombo was mixing it up all day. There was a play at the end of the first quarter in which the Cowboys picked up a first down on a three-yard run by Marion Barber. The play occurred right in the middle of the field, but if you noticed, Colombo, and remember he's the right tackle, finished the play on the Cowboys' sideline after he drove a Bucs middle linebacker Derrick Brokes some 20 yards off the ball and into the bench. Later in the second quarter, but the same drive, Colombo came flying in late after another pass play, mixing it up with just about anyone who wanted a piece.
Ok, so this is nothing earth-shattering. The offensive line has some scrappers and they fought back. You're right, they get paid to do that.
But sometimes, that's how you have to win games.
We all could see what a struggle it was offensively. Sure Brad Johnson protects the football, or he did at least in this game, but you always give up something with that.
Every time I'm asked about Tony Romo and throwing interceptions, I always add that you have to play the game if you want to win. Translation, if you like your quarterback having the ability to make plays with his arm, well, you're going to give up a few, too.
And the same goes the opposite way. If you make sure your quarterback plays ultraconservative and close to the vest, then you're not going to make any big plays for either team.
The troubling thing in this game for Johnson though, was the inaccuracy, even with some of the shorter underneath routes.
His 19-of-33 performance for 122 yards and a touchdown is not going to force fantasy team owners to jump on the waiver wire. But he was solid. While he didn't have a flashy plays, he made sure the Bucs got nothing cheap.
And that's coming against a team that was tied for sixth in the NFL with a +4 turnover margin.
But the Cowboys fought back.
And it was never clearer than the end of the game, just scanning the Cowboys' secondary. It looked almost like the second-team defense during a training camp practice.
Safety Ken Hamlin might have had to take roll out there in the fourth quarter. Here are the Bucs, trying to drive down for the winning score, and who do the Cowboys have to stop them?
Well, that would be rookie Mike Jenkins. Another rookie Orlando Scandrick, and then Alan Ball, who actually has less game experience than those two rookies, although he was a seventh-round pick last year.
Yep, the Cowboys had all this depth in the secondary to start the season. But the eighth game of the season, and probably the most critical game to this point, the Cowboys see Terence Newman in street clothes, Adam Jones suspended and now Anthony Henry has a quad contusion that might just keep him out longer than the last two quarters of play.
But the Cowboys figured out a way.
"You look back there and see a bunch of young guys in the secondary, you might get worried a little bit," linebacker Bradie James said. "But they stepped it up. That's what we had to have. They didn't give up anything. We had to have it and they made the plays."
And to them, it didn't seem like there was any doubt.
Standing just a few yards from the action there at the end, I took a look across the line of scrimmage to see where Joey Galloway was lining up. On this play, Galloway split out to the left and that's where I noticed Ball, nodding his head profusely, almost as if he was saying "No problem . . . I got this."
And guess what? He did. The Cowboys played a soft coverage, allowing everything to stay underneath. And when Jeff Garcia checked down, the Cowboys made the tackle.
We all knew this team was banged up. They've got an all-star cast on the sidelines with guys like Romo, Newman, Felix Jones and even Kyle Kosier. And before Sunday was over, the Cowboys added Henry and Jason Witten to that lineup as well.
But it didn't matter. The Cowboys found a way. Is that progress? Yeah, it is.
It doesn't mean the team has turned the corner and has miraculously solved all of its problems. But as they prepare for this fight called the second half of the season, the Cowboys at least showed a little of fight of their own.
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Nick Eatman - 
