11/22 — Snow has actually begun to drift lightly down through the hole in the Texas Stadium roof, although it's not reaching the field.

So slippery footing isn't the excuse when Tony Romo finds TE Jason Witten past Matt Chatham, just in the game at OLB, and too far away from Kerry Rhodes. It's a 25-yard scoring pass, Witten's sixth of the season. And while it's too early for the Jets to throw in the towel, they're definitely in a hole.

Cowboys 14, Jets 0

It's a second three-and-out for the Jets offense, and then Ben Graham hits a strong drop punt that bounces straight up at the Dallas 3. Brad Smith saves it from going over the goal line, but then Wallace Wright can't grab the ball and it does sneak into the end zone for a touchback. Another Green & White opportunity missed.

But the defense gets 7 of those yards back on a blitz that collapses on Tony Romo, with Eric Barton sneaking through the bodies to lead the charge.

This leads to third-and-11, another key juncture for the visitors from the Northeast. And here comes the "cloudburst" look, with the Jets milling around before the snap, then Shaun Ellis springing free, forcing Romo to unload to Marion Barber, who's taken down hard by David Harris for a 2-yard loss. Not a sack, but as good as a sack.

And on third down, Kellen Clemens makes a bad decision. Trying to sling the ball hard to Jerricho Cotchery on the outside, he doesn't look off CB Terence Newman, who breaks forcefully on the ball, picks it off in stride and won't be caught as he goes half the field for the 'Pokes' third TD of the game.

Cowboys 21, Jets 0

It's the third INT-return TD by the opponents this season (two off of Chad Pennington), the most in a season since 2000, when foes took four picks to the house, all on Vinny Testaverde passes.

On the ensuing kickoff, Leon Washington makes one of his patented cuts and gets the ball past midfield for the Jets for the first time this game. But the ball doesn't stay there as David Harris protests a flag on him for an illegal block in the back.

Maybe the Jets have turned a corner because on their next third down, Clemens drops back against the blitz and hits Justin McCareins on a deep out for 19 yards and the first. Now the visitors are legitimately in enemy territory. Leon Washington then slips on the wet turf on a third-down catch, coming up short on the next third down.

It's fourth-and-3 with the Jets showing they're going for it. But Clemens lets the game clock run down to the two-minute warning first.

Just before play is about to resume, Eric Mangini throws his red challenge flag, which he can do because the play he's challenging occurred before the two-minute warning. The Jets think Washington didn't step out of bounds where the officials said he did and it should be fourth-and-1, not fourth-and-3.

On replays, Washington's heel doesn't appear to touch the sideline, but ref Bill Carollo still upholds the original call. It wasn't a bad challenge — the Jets still have two timeouts left. But Mangini still falls to 2-8 on replay challenges as head coach, including 0-for-3 this season.

Nevertheless, the Jets pick up the conversion on a nifty throw by Clemens and catch by Jerricho Cotchery over the middle for 12 yards. Three more plays are bottled up, so Mike Nugent comes on for a 40-yard field goal, which he nails. At least the Jets are on the board. And it's ...

Cowboys 21, Jets 3

... as we go into Thanksgiving halftime.