IRVING, Texas - Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips told reporters in his Monday press conference that quarterback Brad Johnson would start again next week when the team travels to New York.
But he certainly took a while to get there.
Phillips danced around the question for a few minutes Monday, leaving the door wide open that a possible change at the quarterback position could occur as the Cowboys play the defending Super Bowl champion Giants next Sunday at the Meadowlands.
With Tony Romo out for at least another game before the team has its bye week, the Cowboys will not only try to knock off the division and conference-leading Giants (6-1), but avenge the gut-wrenching playoff loss to New York in last year's Divisional round.
But they're going to have to do it with the backup quarterback. The question now is which one.
Initially, Phillips was asked if he expected a change at quarterback for this week's game, meaning replacing Johnson with Brooks Bollinger, who joined the Cowboys in Week Two of the regular season.
"Well, we'll talk about that as it comes along," Phillips answered on Monday. "I haven't had all the meetings today yet as far as where we are as far as everything is concerned. But, you know, Brad, winning the game is the key thing with a quarterback. That's the most important thing."
When asked specifically if Johnson would start, Phillips replied.
"Well, we hadn't talked about everything yet. But we'll see. I would expect that. I don't know why it would change."
Why it might change is because Johnson had trouble engineering the Cowboys' offense, which produced just 172 yards- the fewest in a victory in franchise history.
But while Phillips danced around the question to change the starter, he was finally asked by a blunt reporter why he hasn't just announced that Johnson would start.
"Ok, he's going to start," Phillips said.
But that can't be the end of it. Maybe it is. Or just maybe Phillips wants some more time to evaluate the situation with his coaching staff. Phillips sounded like switching to Bollinger wasn't out of the question, but that he was leaning towards sticking with Johnson.
"I don't think it's [something] to consider, no. He won," Phillips said of Johnson, who won his first game as a starter since he led the Vikings to a win over Detroit in 2006. "He's been playing and he's the guy that's had all the work, so I think that's where we are."
And what kind of message would that send to the team if they changed gears and went for Bollinger, who has only started one game since 2005?
Bollinger, 6-1, 205, is certainly smaller than Johnson in size, but is considered to have a livelier arm than the veteran quarterback. He should also be a little more elusive in the pocket.
But as we've seen here in the last few weeks, despite the Cowboys' struggles in all three phases of the game, Phillips isn't a big fan of switching personnel. He would like to change the approach first, like he has done recently by mixing up the practice schedule, which included giving the players the day off Monday and cancelling Saturday's walk-thru before the Bucs game.
"But it's the same thing I said the week before, that we weren't changing any people as far as starters were concerned on the defense or whatever," Phillips said.
"So, I mean, you know we didn't play well. We didn't play up to our standards and so our offense, they had a tough game, but Tampa is good on defense. They're strong on defense. We knew it was going to be that kind of struggle and part of what we had to do was play a controlled offensive game. We would've liked a few more first downs to put the game away earlier, but that's the way it went."
Johnson's forte has always been as a "check-down" quarterback, who often dumps off shorter passes to backs and receivers, rather than getting the ball down the field. While he did have some deeper throws in the game Sunday, his longest completion was just 14 yards, and that was a pass to tailback Marion Barber, who did most of the running after the catch.
Mobility is also a problem with Johnson, who has been sacked six times in two starts - three in each of the last two games. In comparison, Romo was sacked just seven times in the first six games.
This week, the Cowboys face a Giants' defense that ignited them to a win over the Steelers on Sunday. New York sacked Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisburger five times and picked him off another four times as well.
Whether it's Johnson, Bollinger, or even Romo, the Cowboys know they have their hands full this week on the road against the Giants.
We know it won't be Romo. But while Phillips did say Johnson would start, it certainly sounds like it's something to think about.
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Nick Eatman - 
