text: By Week 8, the Cowboys found themselves at 1–6 after losing at home to the Jacksonville Jaguars after four Jon Kitna interceptions. After a disastrous 45–7 loss to the Green Bay Packers, Wade Phillips was fired (thus breaking Jerry Jones's policy of not changing head coaches during the season) and replaced by offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. The Cowboys headed to New York for a rematch with the Giants. This time things were different as Jon Kitna passed for 327 yards and three touchdowns. An all-around better performance by the team allowed them to win 33–20. After beating the Detroit Lions at home, the Cowboys lost a close Thanksgiving Day game to the New Orleans Saints. The Cowboys next defeated the Indianapolis Colts on the road 38–35 on an overtime field goal to retain faint playoff hopes. However, a home loss to the Philadelphia Eagles mathematically eliminated the Cowboys from playoff contention. Week 15 saw the Cowboys beat the hapless Redskins 33–30. The Cowboys then lost a meaningless game to the Arizona Cardinals and followed that with a meaningless win over the Eagles to end their season at 6–10.
  Jason Garrett era (2011–2019)
  2011
  After going 5–3 as interim head coach during the last eight games of the previous season, Jason Garrett took the head coaching position full-time. With Tony Romo back in action, the Cowboys took on the New York Jets for a Sunday Night game commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. An early lead soon led to a 24–24 tie, but Romo threw an interception in the 4th quarter that allowed the Jets to get into the red zone and score a field goal, resulting in the Cowboys losing 27–24. The next week, the Cowboys defeated the San Francisco 49ers 27–24 in overtime after Romo made a valiant overtime comeback effort despite playing through a painful rib injury. Despite this and a punctured lung, Romo started in Week 3 as the Cowboys hosted the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football. They won 18–16 in a game with six field goals from rookie kicker Dan Bailey. Dallas's offense struggled the entire night with Romo handicapped by pain, multiple dropped passes, and several botched snaps from rookie center Kevin Kowalski.