Romo: Can he save Dallas' season on Sunda?

"The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all...Yet hope remains while the company is true."

All eyes (well, large numbers of them anyway) will be on FedEx Field in Landover on Sunday night to see The Great Texas High Wire Act.

In layman's terms, that means Dallas at Washington, and it is fitting the NFL's largest stadium will play host to this particular encounter as it is one that demands a big audience (live on Sky Sports 2 at 1.30am on Monday).

Of course, most of us will be watching on TV, and it is that medium which best lends itself to what can only be described as the ongoing Cowboys' soap opera - a three-ringed circus with multiple acts, which is teetering on the finest of edges in Week 11.

Earlier this year, billionaire owner Jerry Jones described his controversial signing Adam 'Pacman' Jones as being "literally on a high wire without a net," a description which had large numbers of the media ready to pay to watch that particular performance.

Even when it became clear the Dallas boss was speaking only figuratively (and, sadly, there was no chance of seeing the cornerback tantalise his critics with the possibility of a high-level nose-dive), there was still a rush to apply the 'high wire' tag-line to the team as a whole.

Critical

And the pundits over here have cranked up the comparisons again this week in advance of what has to be an absolutely critical few hours in the life of this Cowboys team.

Coming off a bye week in which the foul odour of their 35-14 Week 9 whipping at New York still hangs in the air, Dallas simply cannot afford to mis-fire again if their high pre-season hopes aren't to be left scraping the bottom of the NFC East barrel.

The imminent return of quarterback Tony Romo and his damaged "pinkie finger" is seen as the Cowboys' potential salvation after three weeks with Brad Johnson and Brooks Bollinger pulling the trigger in increasingly eccentric style.

But the rumbles of discontent from Mount Owen are growing ever louder (the shy, retiring T.O. has already insisted in the build-up that Dallas must "get back to 2007" when he was catching touchdowns at a record rate) and the increasingly reduced output from power-back Marion Barber - 128, 100, 71 and 54 yards respectively during their October slump - are threatening to make it a distinctly problematic comeback for the Cowboys' top QB.

There's also the little matter of Romo's last game being less than distinguished, a three-fumble outing in Arizona that ended in a shock 30-24 defeat by the Cardinals and that imperfect pinkie.

When you then add in the fact Washington are a team with a lot to prove themselves after being summarily dealt with by Pittsburgh the last time we saw them, you have a shuddering scenario of the 'someone's about to take a fall' variety.

At 6-3 (and 2-1 in the division), the Redskins still have some wiggle room should they fail to make it 7-3. But, for the Cowboys, there is no such flexibility.

Which brings me back to the main quote in question at the start of this column (a special prize for anyone who identified the speech of Galadriel during the film 'Fellowship Of The Ring').

The season for Dallas truly does stand on a knife-edge of dizzying proportions on Sunday night; it's practically impossible to see them coming back from 5-5 and the kind of internal implosions that a fourth loss in five games would generate.

But a resounding win would certainly put them right back in the mix at 6-4, with games against the feeble duo of Seattle and San Francisco to follow.

If the "company remains true," there is most definitely hope for the Cowboys, and their Super Bowl quest will be back on the rails. But there simply is no safety net if their four-game wobble extends to the realm of FedEx Field.

And, while it may not be to the ruin of all, it would certainly spell a trip to Mount Doom for head coach Wade Phillips and several of his lieutenants - plus another year of misery for fans who had genuine hopes of a trip to Tampa.

Appetisers

Of course, Sunday isn't all about the big Dallas-Washington match-up, and Sky viewers can build up to that late-night confrontation with two other games of deadly serious intent.

First, Chicago travel to Green Bay (live from 6pm), where both teams will be anxious to shake off fairly dismal results from last week and re-establish their playoff credentials.

With the top three in the NFC North separated by just one game, there are not quite such far-reaching implications for the loser, but the winner will certainly be handily placed in what looks destined to be a real dogfight for top spot (with precious little in the way of wild card consolation for the next two).

Then there is San Diego at Pittsburgh in another heavyweight encounter between two teams who could find themselves in a quagmire of their own making if they don't end up in the 'W' column by around midnight UK time.

The Chargers (one of my pre-season picks) have looked increasingly erratic in the last three weeks and it was only a failed two-point conversion bid from frisky Kansas City last week which prevented what would have been a tjhree-game losing skid. But, even at 4-5, their post-season hopes are far from solid.

Equally, Pittsburgh's AFC North domination has been challenged by two defeats in their last three and a suddenly resurgent Baltimore, for whom Joe Flacco is quickly emerging as a contender for Rookie of the Year.

The pundits' questioning finger is being pointed at the redoubtable Ben Roethlisberger as a possible source of the Steelers troubles, and the status of Big Ben's injured shoulder will be one of the main topics of discussion.

All in all, it adds up to a three-course TV 'meal' of enormous delectation - with the Cowboys' high-wire act providing the main course.