11/19/12: D-FW sports chat with columnist Rick Gosselin

Woodward & Bernstein? You obviously are a long-time newspaper subscriber... Explode? Not with this blocking. Romo got sacked seven times last week. It's hard to explode on anyone when your quarterback is running for his life every snap. Can't run, can't block -- I don't forsee an extended run in January.

Romo has a year left on his contract. The Cowboys will negotiate an extension with him this summer. Bank on Tony Romo quarterbacking this team for at least another five seasons. In the meantime, if I were the Cowboys, I'd be selecting a QB every draft for the next five years and hoping that I hit on one as an heir apparent.

I think 8-8 can win the division. I can see the Cowboys getting to 8-8. That will entail two victories over the Redskins, however. That's going to be tougher than it may look on paper. How many of you thought the Cowboys would have to go into overtime to beat a 2-8 Cleveland team at home?

I thought Southern Cal had a terrific chance of beating Notre Dame -- but not if Matt Barkley doesn't play. There's too much of a voting bloc for the SEC at this point to keep an SEC team out of the title game. So I'd say Notre Dame-Alabama. If I had a vote in the AP poll, I'd have stacked them Notre Dame, Georgia and Kansas State in that order at the top. Of all the elite one-loss teams, only Georgia and Kansas State lost their only game on the road. Alabama, Florida and Oregon all lost at home.

Yes. Griffin can do more damage with his arm than Brandon Weeden (2 TD passes) and much, much more damage with his legs. This should be an entertaining Thanksgiving Day.

Obviously not soon enough. This, it turns out, is an average team that will contest for a sixth, seventh or eighth seed. I doubt the late arrival of Dirk will thrust them into the elite.

I despise the term "future Hall of Famer" that's used by broadcasters on a weekly basis during NFL games. That's a tremendous disservice to all those who have already earned a Hall of Fame bust. Same with Johnny Manziel. His future is very bright -- but let's wait to see what the other three years hold before we start building any statues or awarding any Heismans. You earn your respect with deeds, not words. But I certainly like his deeds so far.

Bruce Carter is better quicker than I thought he'd be. I liked what I saw from Barry Church before he got hurt. And I'm anxious to see more from Lance Dunbar. He is what the Cowboys believed they drafted in Derrick Lassic out of Alabama way back in the 1990s. He has a burst we haven't seen around here in quite some time.

Way too many penalties and Stafford is throwing way too many interceptions. The Lions are one of the most disappointing teams of this NFL season.