Gerry Fraley

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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Assistant head coach Jason Garrett and quarterback Tony Romo have combined to run the Cowboys offense from start to finish in 38 games. Their performance during Sunday's loss to Green Bay will be ranked as No. 37.

The Cowboys produced only one score and a season-low 278 total yards, with 147 of the yards coming after Green Bay had gone ahead 17-0 in the fourth quarter. In their time together, Garrett-Romo has had fewer yards and points only once: six points and 240 yards in a 10-6 loss to Philadelphia on Dec. 16, 2007.

The common theme to the fizzles?

Garrett-Romo was outmaneuvered each time by a savvy and blitz-happy defensive coordinator.

The late Jim Johnson ran the Philadelphia defense that stymied the Cowboys for years. The equally seasoned and accomplished Dom Capers put together the Packer defense that trapped the Cowboys.

Romo took five sacks, matching a career-high. The Cowboys ran for a season-low 61 yards. The wide receivers had only three catches for 31 yards in the first three quarters, when the game remained in doubt.

Those were the mistakes visible to the civilian eye. Garrett could not be located for comment afterward, but Romo indicated there many more errors. This game was the Breakdown Special, with Capers throwing his special monkey wrench into the works.

"They have a good scheme," Romo said. "They put a lot of guys around, and they have good players that know how to blitz. It made for confusion, I guess you could say, from time to time. We handled it well at times, but at other times we didn't."

Johnson did his black magic with a traditional four-man front. Capers operated within the 3-4 defense, which continued to fluster Garrett-Romo.

Garrett-Romo is 4-5 lifetime against teams that feature the 3-4 defense. In those games, Romo has 14 touchdown throws and 10 interceptions.

He took five sacks once before, in the Oct. 4 loss at Denver. The Broncos also play a 3-4.

Green Bay's sacks came off blitzes from every angle. Middle linebacker Nick Barnett came up the middle to drop Romo twice. Free safety Nick Collins got him once from the backside. Outside linebacker Clay Matthews and cornerback Charles Woodson also had sacks.

"It's uncharacteristic, but things happen," guard Leonard Davis said. "People want to blame it all on the offensive line. 'They gave up five sacks.' That isn't always true."

Correct. Romo was at fault on the back-breaking sack.

With Green Bay up 10-0 early in the fourth quarter, the Cowboys still clung to a sliver of a chance. On second down from the Cowboys' 32, Capers sent the blitzers after Romo again. Woodson broke through untouched because the Packers had more rushers on that side than the Cowboys had blockers.

Woodson jarred the ball from Romo, and the Packers recovered in a disputed play that could not be appealed. Three plays later, the Packers led 17-0.

Romo's mistake was not recognizing the pressure and getting rid of the ball as quickly as possible to a "hot" receiver, the security blanket against a blitz.

"We shot ourselves in the foot with mental mistakes," Romo said. "We had everything. We all had things we wanted back."

There were no second chances this time, not against a Dom Capers defense.