His first starting experience came in the final half of the 1996 season, when ankle problems sidelined Warren Moon. The Vikings went 5-3 down the stretch and lost in the first round of the playoffs. (You folks might recall that game as the last playoff win by the Cowboys.)

The Vikings were in disarray when Daunte Culpepper went down in 2005. Minnesota went 7-2 after Johnson took over to finish 9-7.

"There is a little bit of shock value that kind of goes into it," Johnson said of a starting quarterback going down. "But come Wednesday afternoon, come Thursday, it will be my huddle until Tony gets back...The shock value, that gets over pretty quick."

Well, the only complaining around these parts now is about the way the Cowboys have played the last few weeks.

While Greg Ellis was not-so-subtly criticizing the coaching, he mentioned that he had concerns about the Cowboys' performances while they were winning. He bit his tongue then because he didn't want to be perceived as a guy who's always griping.

"Sometimes you need to look at things after you win, too, to say, 'We won that game, but let's look at it in real time,'" Ellis said. "In real time, we're not there. We're not there. We can do it, but right now it's not happening."

Heck, even Wade Phillips acknowledges that the fact the Cowboys beat the Bengals masked some flaws.

"That's what you worry about when you win, you know, that you're overlooking things that you need to do better," Phillips said.

Actually, Wade, you were worried last week about the Cowboys not getting enough credit.

We'll let you know as soon as we have some info about potential punting replacements.

UPDATE: Agent Jack Bechta said the doctor's recommendation was that McBriar be placed on injured reserve, ending his season.

Bechta also represents Jay Ottovegio, the rookie punter from Stanford who was in the Cowboys' training camp. Bechta said the team had contacted him about Ottovegio, but they were just putting together a list of punting candidates.

Sam Paulescu, who was in the Cowboys' camp last year and the Broncos' camp this year, is a more probable candidate.

Phillips acknowledges that the Cowboys' special teams were atrocious in the Sunday's loss to the Cardinals, which opened with a kickoff return for a TD and closed with a blocked punt for a TD. But he blamed the players, not special teams coach Bruce Read.

Phillips, as usual, didn't call out players by name. But he mentioned that the Cowboys altered their practice schedule last week to focus more on special teams, and the execution was still awful.

His take on the kickoff return: "The week before we had problems because the outside guy didn't crease inside. He creased inside like he was supposed to, but we didn't fill outside like we were supposed to, like we worked on every damn play in practice we worked on that and it didn't happen, so we have to get that done."

His take on the punt block: "The punt block was just inexplicable to me. I mean, you always block the same guy every time, and don't even touch him, so. There is basically no way you can block our punt with the get off time that we have if you just get in the way of anybody. The guy that picked up the ball that scored the touchdown, we jammed him a little bit and he had no chance of blocking the punt. The guy that blocked it went straight to the punter without being touched. That can't happen, but it did, so. It's very disappointing. When you have the same blocking rules every single play and you have that guy every play and he runs in there and blocks it, it's disappointing."

Such a suspension would benefit the Cowboys in the long run, and not just because somebody needs to get across to Pacman that he can't get away with any off-field foolishness.

The Cowboys get two more picks if Pacman is suspended, per the terms of their trade with the Titans. They wouldn't have to give up the sixth-rounder and would receive Tennessee's fifth-rounder.

Plus, the Cowboys ought to be able to win without Pacman this weekend. After all, as he would say, they're playing the Rams, dude.

Of course, the commish would probably be hesitant to take a disciplinary measure that would help the troubled player's team. That might be one reason he took a few extra days to decide Pacman's punishment for the jivin' at the Joule gone wrong.

Stock UP

Marion Barber. He rushed for only 45 yards but he was Tony Romo's favorite passing target. He caught 11 passes for 128 yards including a 70 yard touchdown.

Patrick Crayton. The wideout had three catches for 84 yards and one touchdown.

DeMarcus Ware. The outside linebacker had six solo tackles and four quarterback hurries to go with a fourth quarter sack.

Brad Johnson. He becomes the starter for the next three weeks.

Miles Austin. Averaged 27.3 yards a return on kickoffs. He also made a nice 14 yard touchdown catch.

Nick Folk. Worst day as a Cowboy. Kickoff out of bounds, missed a 37-yarder and had one of his kickoffs returned for a touchdown.

Offensive line. Tony Romo broke his pinky on the first play in overtime when the line failed to protect.

Tony Romo. Ball security is not one of his strengths right now.

Bruce Read. Sometimes its unfair to blame the special teams coach for the failures but he takes it here.

Wade Phillips. Team wasn't ready to play on Sunday. That's his fault.