Suddenly, the Dallas Cowboys are in trouble. Their 34-14 loss to the Rams was an unmitigated disaster.

Even with quarterback Tony Romo atop the injury list and cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones banished, America’s Team can’t let this happen.

Here is some reaction from some of our favorite scribes:

Randy Galloway, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “Despite the in-house denials, and the yelping of the usual apologists, it was apparent the Cowboys were trending soft, were void of critical coaching and locker room leadership, were finally being forced to deal with injury issues, and, in general, had morphed into a dreaded chemistry disaster. But this? This was flat gutless. A disgrace to football mankind. So pathetic, it would actually have been unfair to fire Wade on the spot, so why not wait until today and show him and the general manager the exit, along with about half the team, if not all the team. Quitting on Jerry Jones is one thing. Quitting on the head coach, well, see what happens, coach Phillips, when you are a nice, mushy guy?”

Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas Morning News: “What has been gathering steam for a month reached something of a crescendo as the Cowboys played by far their worst game of the Wade Phillips era. And frankly, it should be the last game of the Phillips era, but Jones made it clear afterward that there will be no coaching changes made.”

Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com:  “The Cowboys could miss the playoffs. Think about that for a moment. A team built for a Super Bowl is on the brink of self-destruction, of self-implosion. And when you dust the crime scene for fingerprints, Jones’ are on every piece of Cowboys furniture. There’s no confusion on what happened here Sunday. Jones’ pride and non-joy were out-owned, out-coached, out-thrown, outrun, out-fought, out-thought, out-physicaled and, most of all, outscored 34-14. By the St. Louis Rams. Try covering that up.”

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while wondering if Scott Linehan has been keeping an eye on his old team:

• Does anybody else have any questions about the Donnie Avery pick?
• No offense to the Phillies, but doesn’t Our National Pastime need the Tampa Bay Rays to win the whole thing? How cool would that be?
• Will the Mizzou Tigers make the Big 12 North pay for their last two losses? Or has their bubble burst?

CANSECO CRASHES, BURNS

Finally, steroids huckster Jose Canseco is having second thoughts about his abuse and promotion of steroids. Also, he regrets ratting out former teammates to make a buck in his tell-all books.

The New York Daily News alerted us to an A&E special on Canseco, which begins tonight. The show details his emotional, financial and physical decline.

It is not a happy story.

“The biggest mistake I made was, I should have not written (‘Juiced’),” Canseco said in the TV special. “The more I think about it, the more I regret mentioning these players in my book.”

You think?

WHY OFFICIALS SHOULDN’T BET

On the games they work. Tipsheet is certain this hit in the LSU-South Carolina game was accidental, but it sure looked odd.

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits are writing:

Mike Lupica, New York Daily News: “I’m starting to think that Adam Jones’ nickname shouldn’t be ‘Pacman,’ it should be ‘Pack, Man.’”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “Boxer Bernard Hopkins, trying to still be relevant at age 43, fought Kelly Pavlik on Saturday night in Atlantic City. Cannot confirm, but I heard the undercard featured Carl Edwards vs. Kevin Harvick.”

Dan Daly, Washington Times: “Roger Goodell sure has been handing out fines lately. I can’t make up my mind whether he’s trying to clean up the game or build a strike fund for 2011.”

Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel: “Tommy Bowden was fired by Clemson this week but still will get paid $3.5 million. Jeff Bowden was fired by Florida State two years ago but is getting paid by the Seminoles through 2012. Then, of course, there’s Bobby Bowden making $2.5 million a year at FSU. Wow, that makes three Bowdens getting paid, but none of them actually is coaching.”

Bob Molinaro, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot: “On the strength of recent performances by Dallas’ Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones and Jerry Jones, not to mention Dow Jones, keeping up with the Joneses isn’t what it used to be.”

MEGAPHONE

“We not only lost our starters and our backups, we also lost the guys we signed who worked at the Chevron station, you know?”

Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, on all his receiver injuries.