The Cowboys are currently 1-1 in the Brad Johnson era and Game 3 (possibly) is against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants at the Meadowlands Sunday afternoon.

The offense has looked somewhere between awful and pathetic under Johnson’s guidance, which is understandable given a variety of factors working against him.

• He’s 40
• Saw rare mop-up duty as a Cowboy before the Rams game
• Playing in just his second game this season, his second start since joining the team last year
• Is nowhere near as mobile as Tony Romo, which disrupts the flow of the offense

I’m sure I missed a few factors, but what remains (mostly) constant is the supporting cast, one of the supposed more talented groups of backs and receivers in the NFL. One would think that, no matter who is quarterbacking this team, an offense with the likes of Terrell Owens, Roy Williams, Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Jason Witten at its disposal, shouldn’t have as hard of a time as it is putting points on the board. But that is the reality, as the last two games have shown us.

Given all of that, and with the Cowboys entering the lion’s den of the Meadowlands to face the blitz-happy Giants defense, what can the Cowboys do offensively to take some of the pressure off of Brad Johnson?

Truth be told, outside of lining up Patrick Crayton or Isaiah Stanback for a direct snap out of the single wing or “Wildcat” formation, there isn’t a whole lot this offense could do with Brad Johnson at quarterback. He has the weapons, but as has been shown the 1st two games, he lacks the overall physical ability to to get the ball to them accurately on a consistent basis.

One thing that would help would be some creativity from offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. This offense, which was so dynamic last year, as looked rather pedestrian this season. What happened to putting TO in motion so he can avoid getting jammed at the line of scrimmage? When Felix was healthy, how come we rarely saw him and Barber on the field at the same time? How much will we see TO and Roy on the field at the same time?

Since Brad is so quick to check down to his nearest receiver, why not just employ a short passing game? Run more designed slants, screens and seam routes. This is a team that is still looking for the big play down field when it is obvious that Brad doesn’t have that ability anymore. Adjust the offense to Johnson’s strengths, and I think the unit’s production will increase until Romo is able to return.

We all know the talent is there for this offense to make noise against the Giants. Its up to the coordinator and quarterback to make sure that happens.

For at least the next two games, the Cowboys offense will be guided by 40-year-old Brad Johnson while regular starter Tony Romo recovers from a broken pinky.

Johnson, now in his 17th NFL season, won a Super Bowl with this week’s opponent, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which is one of the reasons Johnson was brought in,, as Johnson is the only player on the Cowboys roster with a ring.

But, is he the Cowboys best option at backup quarterback? I say no.

Romo is one of the new breed of “mobile” quarterbacks that is coveted in football these days. When I say mobile, I don’t mean the guy who is capable of taking it to the house when the pocket breaks down but rather his ability to avoid sacks and keep the play going by using his feet. In a short time, Romo has shown he is one of the better “mobile” quarterbacks in the NFL.

Johnson, on the other hand, is your classic drop back passer at this point in his career. When he is in the game, the onus is on the offensive line to hold their blocks as long as they can so Johnson can deliver the ball. This is one of the factors that hamstrings the offense without Romo. His injury means there is less margin for error with the offensive line and that fact showed itself against the Rams last week. The line was unable to give Johnson adequate time to look down field for receivers and he was forced to check down too often. The running game also suffered and the offense went nowhere.

Johnson didn’t help himself when he did have time, as he would either under throw receivers or have bad timing with receivers. Sometimes the receiver would run a bad route or Johnson would just miss the throw.

I think the Cowboys should have a backup quarterback that has a playing style similar to Romo’s. The difference in Romo’s and Johnson’s playing styles is night and day and that creates a lot of problems for the offense and forces a bit of a change in philosophy. The Cowboys live and die with the big play, but those big plays will be few and far between if the offensive line can’t protect Johnson or if he can’t deliver the ball down field.

When the season is over, I hope the Cowboys reevaluate what they have at the backup quarterback position and make the decision to obtain someone who is closer to Romo’s ability so there won’t be as much of a change in the offense. With the amount of unpredictability in the NFL, one thing that should stay as consistent as possible is the offensive gameplan.

The news not coming out of Irving the past few days is brilliant. Speculation on whether or not Romo will start because of a broken pinkie on his throwing hand has served it’s intended purpose: create a news frenzy that the local talking heads are filling the airwaves with and creating lead stories on all the major sports news networks.

While the Rams organization may be impervious to all this hype, it at least forces Jim Haslett and Rick Venturi to at least plan for QB both options: a mobile scrambling play maker, or a pocket passer care taker. That should give the Cowboys some edge early in the game.

I doubt that Romo plays, even though he may take a few snaps. As former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer detailed on ESPN, Romo has a circular motion that places torque on the ball, with a lot of control being imposed by the pinkie, as opposed to a raised motion which pulls the ball and relies very little on the pinkie.

Also worthy of consideration are how will the injury impact such fundamental activities such as hand offs and snaps? Romo developed a penchant for fumbling this season when he had both hands healthy. And what if a snap is errant or hand off gets botched and it compounds the injury to the pinkie. Instead of four weeks are we looking at IR?

This we know: right now Tony is out four weeks. The season is not a complete wash even if they lose three games and have a record of 4-5. Realistically Dallas could be 5-4 when Tony returns and the Cowboys travel to Washington. We need to win the divisional games more than we need to win against the West and South. But the spin on ‘whose your starter’ is off the chain.

When it was announced that Romo broke his pinky finger in OT last week in Phoenix, and would be out probably four weeks, the first thing that came to mind was “who is our backup?” I had to look at the roster to find out Brad Johnson was still under contract and was a bit surprised he was #2 on the depth chart.

Brad Johnson? What is he all about? Is he the same Old Man Johnson that guided the Vikings until Dante Culpepper came of age, and eventually resurfaced in Washington? Is this the same Old Man Johnson that guided Tampa Bay to complete and utter dominance over the formidable Raiders in Super Bowl 37? It is, in fact, the same Johnson.

I make light of the term “old man”, but Brad is old. In fact he is very old when it comes to the QB position. He is the oldest active NFL QB. Consider a couple of the league’s venerable starters today. He is three years older than two time MVP Kurt Warner, who seemed rejuvenated last week after years of dehydration and playing back up in Arizona. He is one month older than Brett Favre, who some folks swear took over for Bart Starr. Heck he is older than some stars who have recently retired.

But what does age mean? It really comes down to health and longevity. On the positive, when compared again to Warner and Favre, Brad has been major injury free, like Favre and unlike Warner. He also hasn’t been taking many game snaps over the last couple of years either, so that is in his favor.

So how will he do in Dallas over the next four weeks? When we factor in the adjusted age quotient as described, I don’t think age is a factor. We can dismiss the Old Man label. The next thing to consider is his body of work, primarily through career statistics. It’s easy enough to see he is a career 62 % passer. We can also see that he has upwards of 29k yards, a respectable 164/117 TD to INT ratio, and a lifetime QB rating of 83%. That’s the good stuff. The bad stuff is he is known to be a true pocket passer with a weak arm. He is also prone to the sack, collecting a whopping 52 the last two years he was a starter, albeit he played for a pretty dismal Minnesota offense. So the stats help shape who Brad is as well. But what about the other intangibles?

Reputation and Street Cred: Brad has experience. He has been a solid starter and backup throughout his career. He has guided a team to the Lombardi trophy. He should be able to leverage his resume in the locker room and in the huddle.

Weapons of choice: He has plenty of options in Dallas and a ‘one time considered genius in the making’ coordinator Jason Garret to craft a formula on how to get the ball to those weapons. Look for him to dink and dunk early to Austin Miles, especially in 3 wide-out sets, who he teamed up with often in the preseason.

Game Plan: I also wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of double tight end sets with Barber the lone back. This should help to off set the struggles observed with the line against the Cardinals where Romo was often times scrambling right after the snap. Short passes and a pounding ground game should be in the works.

Of course this in no way addresses the concerns on special teams and the secondary. But if Garret can get the ball out of Johnson’s hands quickly, the Cowboys should be able to control the clock and put points on the board. At least this week that ought to be enough to beat St Louis, who hopefully are still glowing in the after-light of this season’s lone victory over the Giants.