The week's top HSOs about the Cowboys: One rant tops 'em all

Whether they're 12-4 or 2-7, the Dallas Cowboys inspire a lot of people to offer a lot of opinions. True to form, last Sunday's 10-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers kept the hot sports opinions flowing.

Here are 10 HSOs about America's Team that appeared on dallasnews.com this week.

10. Sturm: Cowboys a mess; season appears to be lost cause; Dez disappointing

The swagger the team walked the earth with, as late as in mid-September, is completely gone. Whether you want to blame one person or a group of people, this team can't play it's way out of a paper bag right now. It's a real mess. Have I seen Dez play better football than today? No question about it. He had a chance to make plays today and he didn't. He is better than that. -- Special contributor Bob Sturm, sports talk show host on KTCK-AM 1310 The Ticket

9. Gosselin: Here's whom to blame as Cowboys hit rock bottom

The Dallas offense didn't deserve to win this game, and the defense didn't deserve to lose it. When you hold a team to 10 points on a given Sunday, you're supposed to win in the NFL. But a lack of offense for the first 59 minutes and a lack of defense in the final minute has become an all-too-familiar formula for failure by these Cowboys. Romo's back this Sunday. But the Cowboys are going to need more than Romo to salvage anything from this season. Sunday they officially hit rock bottom. -- DMN columnist Rick Gosselin

8. Moore: Playoffs? Cowboys must accept dismal truth about 2015 season

No matter how this season turns out -- and right now it looks about as promising as a Bobby Jindal presidential run -- the Cowboys must accept the dismal truth. This team did the absolute least it could before turning the keys of the offense back to Tony Romo. -- DMN Cowboys beat writer David Moore

7. Sherrington: Circus that is the Romo-less Cowboys is getting exposed

Bad enough to watch the Cowboys lose seven games in a row, but do they have to be so noisy about it, too? Every time you turn around with the Cowboys, it's one public relations fiasco after another. If this were a presidential campaign, Donald Trump wouldn't need Ben Carson to kick around. But how much of this circus has contributed to the losing streak, how much is a byproduct, and can the return of Tony Romo really fix all that ails them? Answers: a little, a lot and not quite. -- DMN columnist Kevin Sherrington

6. Gosselin: Cowboys need to move on from Greg Hardy next year

I wouldn't have signed him in the first place. That said, I think the pictures in Deadspin and the subsequent furor over his playing for the Cowboys will reduce his number of options and the money he can command this offseason. Whoever signs him is going to be in for a firestorm. The Cowboys are winless with him in five games and he's not exactly sacking quarterbacks at a Pro Bowl pace. I'd move on. -- DMN columnist Rick Gosselin

5. Gosselin: Cowboys were right to let Murray go, wrong to pin hopes on Randle and pass on RB in draft

I had no problem with the decision by the Jones family to let Murray walk in free agency rather than pay him the $42 million the Eagles gave him over five years. But if the Cowboys were to say goodbye to Murray, I believed they needed to replace him on the roster with a draft pick. The running back class of 2015 was the best crop of ball carriers I've seen in about a decade.  Instead, the Cowboys went all in on Joseph Randle. I didn't trust him on or off the field, and I was surprised the Cowboys did. -- DMN columnist Rick Gosselin

4. Skip Bayless: Cowboys would be 'running away' with NFC East had team drafted Johnny Manziel

If Johnny Manziel had been a Dallas Cowboy this year after Tony Romo got hurt, I believe he would have won four of the seven games that they lost, might could make a case for five out of the seven. Four would have gotten them to 6-3 with [Tony] Romo returning this week, they would be running away with the NFC East. He was born to be a Dallas Cowboy. Johnny is flat out Hollywood, he is not a Cleveland Brown. He's been stuck with the worst group of skill players in the NFL starting for the Cleveland Browns. You put him with Dez Bryant and all the other weapons that Dallas has behind that offensive line and say 'go Johnny go'. -- dallasnews.com post by Brandon Wheeland

3. Gosselin: Route to Hall of Fame for Jason Witten could see interference

There are only eight tight ends in the Hall, and Charlie Sanders, an all-decade pick from the 1970s, had to wait 25 years to get in as a senior. So slow down on the Hall of Fame talk for Witten -- and slam the brakes on the first-ballot talk. There has never been a first-ballot Hall of Fame tight end. The shortest wait has been three years. Sure, Witten's statistics will be impressive. He needs eight catches Sunday against the Dolphins to become just the 11th player in NFL history -- and just the second tight end -- with 1,000 career catches. He's also one of four tight ends in the 10,000-yard club. But he's lacking in other areas that could close the deal for him. -- DMN columnist Rick Gosselin

2. Machota: Why, at this point, I think Greg Hardy will be with Cowboys in 2016

I think he's rubbed enough people the wrong way nationally that his stock won't be too high. (Well, unless he averages two sacks a game for the rest of the season.) The Cowboys have demonstrated that they're willing to put up with the off and on the field distractions Hardy can bring. The other part is that I think Hardy really enjoys playing in Dallas and playing for Rod Marinelli and Jason Garrett. If everything is relatively close in terms of contract numbers, I think he'd give the Cowboys the edge. -- SportsDay's Jon Machota.

1. Longtime Dallas broadcaster Norm Hitzges goes off on Jerry Jones, Cowboys in rant: 'Look at a coach you've castrated'

"If you enjoy being laughed at Jerry, then revel in it. Climb right into the spotlight and revel in it. Your team is now the most ridiculous team in the National Football League. The pregame shows, the postgame shows, all over network TV, all the commentators, they're laughing at you. They're watching you unravel in public. It's a like a circus, 'Step right up ladies and gentleman and watch the Dallas Cowboys unravel right before your eyes! Look at them in the locker room, fighting and screaming! Look at them on social media! Look at how they look like they don't give a damn on the field! Look at a coach that you have castrated!' " -- Norm Hitzges, sports talk show host on KTCK-AM 1310 The Ticket.