BARBER'S SLUMP BECOMES A CONCERN

Marion Barber is a prototypical power back except for one detail – he's struggling in short-yardage situations.

In the last three games, Barber is 2-for-7 on third and fourth downs with 1 or 2 yards to go. He was 10 of 11 in those situations in the previous 12 games. In Sunday's win over Washington, Barber failed to convert four of those short-yardage situations. He was stopped at the 1 three straight times against San Diego.

"We're addressing that," Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said Monday. "We had been doing well on third-and-1s. We had about 75 percent going into this last game. We had some trouble on the goal line against San Diego, but that was goal-line offense and goal-line defense for them. They slanted everybody inside, and the plays that we'd run previously that were successful weren't successful."

Phillips said the coaches are looking at the short-yardage package to correct what has gone wrong, but he doesn't think doubt will creep in.

Barber appeared to hesitate after two of those handoffs. Phillips said Washington's Albert Haynesworth had much to do with the stops. He disagreed with a notion that the Cowboys ran finesse plays.

"We've been successful," Phillips said. "We were one of the most successful and Marion was one of the most successful guys and has been through his career, so I think we can get back to that. ... We're addressing that to make sure it doesn't happen again, or the chance of it happening will be less. We need to make those kinds of plays."

Putting future aside: Owner/GM Jerry Jones said after Sunday's game that he does not want to make a coaching change. He praised the togetherness that Phillips has developed with the players and coaching staff, and said he believes Phillips is the right man to run the defense.

That's as close as Jones has come to saying Phillips will be back in 2010. The Cowboys hold an option year on Phillips' contract, but so far there have not been discussions with the team and the coach's agent.

"We've talked about that before, all that," Phillips said. "All I'm thinking about is Philadelphia and trying to do a good job coaching this team, getting ready for that game and getting ready for the playoffs. It's not really a factor to me."

Staying grounded:The Cowboys have bought into the "seven-days-to-humility" philosophy, hoping to avoid big ups and downs over the long season. Former Cowboys fullback Daryl Johnston told the players last week how important that attitude was for the dominant Cowboys of the 1990s.

"This is kind of a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league," linebacker Keith Brooking said. "You have a big win, obviously you enjoy it for 24 hours or so, and then you put it behind you and you've got another team staring you in the face. It's kind of the motto we've had all year. I think we've done a good job of kind of staying humble when we've had success, and then there was one situation where we lost two games in a row, but we've bounced back from losses in a very positive way for the majority of the year."

Briefly: NT Jay Ratliff got high praise from Phillips for his two-sack performance against the Redskins. "Jay Ratliff had a monster game," Phillips said. ... RT Marc Colombo probably won't be ready for Sunday's game. Colombo, out for six games because of ligament damage in his ankle and a fractured fibula, has been doing individual drills. ... S Pat Watkins, who has missed two games with a sprained PCL in his knee, said he might need another week of recovery

Story courtesy of www.dallasnews.com