‘Next man up’ has become familiar refrain for hobbled Cowboys

IRVING, Texas _ The Dallas Cowboys miss Tony Romo. They miss Dez Bryant. They miss Randy Gregory. They missed Sean Lee. They will miss Lance Dunbar.tmpplchld “Next man up” has become a broken record at Valley Ranch. tmpplchld The Cowboys lost their second consecutive game since losing Romo to a fractured left collarbone, dropping a 26-20 overtime game to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday night. Several other key players have missed playing time due to injuries or suspensions.tmpplchld It has hurt.tmpplchld Dallas, which fell into a three-way tie for first place in the NFC East, seeks to find a way to keep its playoff hopes alive until the reinforcements return.tmpplchld For now, it’s up to Brandon Weeden, Terrance Williams, DeMarcus Lawrence, Jeremy Mincey, Darren McFadden, Christine Michael, etc....tmpplchld “You definitely don’t want to think about the injury bug being in your neighborhood, but we really can’t blink when guys go down like coach says,” Cowboys cornerback Brandon Carr said Monday. “That’s kind of the name of the game. Playing this sport, it happens each and every week with guys getting dinged up, getting taking out of games.tmpplchld “So it just comes down to that ‘next man up’ mentality, making sure every guy in the locker room is ready to go on Sunday and ready to go at the highest level there is. Those types of things happen throughout a course of a season, throughout the course of a ball game, and we have to be able to adjust and not miss a beat when the next man comes in.”tmpplchld Still, it’s obvious the Cowboys can’t always count on their backups.tmpplchld They had only 10 players on the field for the Atlanta Falcons’ 2-point conversion last week. They had 12 players on the field for a Saints’ punt Sunday, which drew a 5-yard penalty, and allowed New Orleans to kick a 51-yard field goal.tmpplchld “Sean Lee was out 1/8with a concussion3/8,” Garrett said when explaining why the Cowboys had too many players on field. “So we had two Mike 1/8middle3/8 linebackers out there, and we needed to communicate that better beforehand, really all throughout our staff. And that was a play that hurt us in the ball game.”tmpplchld The Saints needed only 13 seconds into overtime to get their first win of the season. On New Orleans’ first play from scrimmage, an incompletion, backup linebacker Andrew Gachkar injured a foot.tmpplchld Gachkar limped off as New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees attempted to push the pace.tmpplchld “In that instance, more likely than not we should’ve just had Gachkar stay down, and often times you’re looking for help there 1/8from the officials3/8,” Garrett said. “We did think we got the guys out there quickly enough and got aligned to defend the play. So one of the things they do a good job of is they play with a fast tempo on offense, and we felt like we got the guys out there and ultimately when the ball was snapped, we didn’t execute the play the way we needed to.”tmpplchld The Cowboys’ linebackers on the Saints’ game-winning play were Keith Smith, Anthony Hitchens and rookie Damien Wilson. Starting middle linebacker Rolando McClain finished his four-game suspension Sunday, and weakside starter Lee was diagnosed with a concussion in the first half.tmpplchld That was Smith’s only play on defense, and the Cowboys released him Monday to make room for McClain.tmpplchld It appeared the Cowboys failed to line up properly before the quick snap, and Brees found running back C.J. Spiller matched up against Wilson. Wilson seemed uncertain he was covering Spiller until too late, with Spiller sprinting past him, catching the ball, avoiding safety Barry Church at midfield and racing to the end zone.tmpplchld “I don’t think there was confusion,” Garrett said. “I think everyone knew what the coverage was and what we wanted to do on that and the key is getting lined up and handling it the right way once the ball is snapped. Obviously, we didn’t get that done.”tmpplchld Weeden, Brice Butler, Michael, Smith, Wilson and Jack Crawford are not the players Jerry Jones had in mind when he began the season with Super Bowl dreams dancing in his head.tmpplchld But for the moment, that’s who the Cowboys are.tmpplchld “You can’t live in that world 1/8of missing your starters3/8,” Garrett said. “We live in the world of the players we have, and we have to do our best job as coaches understanding that and then putting our players in the best position possible to have success. When Dez comes back, or anybody else comes back, now you’re in a different world, and you focus on having success in that world.”tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (Staff writer Drew Davison contributed to this report.)tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 Fort Worth Star-Telegramtmpplchld Visit the Fort Worth Star-Telegram at www.star-telegram.comtmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld