Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Week 7 Recap - Vs. Minnesota
Time to stop bitching about how bad Dallas is in the 1st quarter. The opening drive led the cowboys to 7 points, which is the first touchdown all season that Dallas scored in the 1st quarter. It's about time that Dallas did something in the first 15 minutes, let's hope this trend continues.
Unfortunately, Minnesota drove the ball for an easy 7 on their first drive too. Adrian Peterson took most of the carries and ended up with the Touchdown to tie up the game early.
A few volleys later, within the last 7 minutes of the first half, a Patrick Crayton fumble led to a run back Touchdown for the Vikings.
Trailing 14-7, Dallas eventually has a nice drive with a little over a minute left in the first half. They failed at reaching the endzone, and Nick Folk, hero in Buffalo, failed to make the field goal, and took them into the half behind by a Touchdown.
Going into the 2nd half, nothing much happened until about 5 minutes in. Dallas had great field position from a punt and penalty, and swiftly took the ball to the 1 yard line. Marion "The Barbarian" Barber, punched it in for a Touchdown, tying up the game at 14. This is the first rushing Touchdown that Minnesota allowed all season.
Minnesota followed with an impressive drive and got within field goal range. Unfortunately for the Vikings, a 49 yard field goal attempt was miraculously blocked by Dallas' Chris Canty. The ball bounced into the hands of Dallas' Patrick Watkins, who ran home for a Touchdown, 21-14 and the lead. It was also the first time since 1983 that The Cowboys ran a blocked field goal in for a Touchdown. History is just repeating all over the place, isn't it?
Not until the 4th quarter with about 12 minutes left, did anything too exciting happen. Minnesota was pinned inside their own 10. The ball was handed off to Peterson, who gets the ball knocked from his hands by Jason Hatcher. Bradie James falls on the fumble, giving Dallas the ball. This turnove only ends up as 3 more points for Dallas, but it's better than nothing.
24-14, Cowboys in the lead and it's now a 2 possession game with just a little over 10 minutes left in the game. Dallas' defense held it's ground beautifully, although Minnesota's did as well, and the game ended at 24-14...Dallas Cowboys on top, and a 6-1 record in the books heading into a Bye Week.
Whew, again...
Unfortunately, Minnesota drove the ball for an easy 7 on their first drive too. Adrian Peterson took most of the carries and ended up with the Touchdown to tie up the game early.
A few volleys later, within the last 7 minutes of the first half, a Patrick Crayton fumble led to a run back Touchdown for the Vikings.
Trailing 14-7, Dallas eventually has a nice drive with a little over a minute left in the first half. They failed at reaching the endzone, and Nick Folk, hero in Buffalo, failed to make the field goal, and took them into the half behind by a Touchdown.
Going into the 2nd half, nothing much happened until about 5 minutes in. Dallas had great field position from a punt and penalty, and swiftly took the ball to the 1 yard line. Marion "The Barbarian" Barber, punched it in for a Touchdown, tying up the game at 14. This is the first rushing Touchdown that Minnesota allowed all season.
Minnesota followed with an impressive drive and got within field goal range. Unfortunately for the Vikings, a 49 yard field goal attempt was miraculously blocked by Dallas' Chris Canty. The ball bounced into the hands of Dallas' Patrick Watkins, who ran home for a Touchdown, 21-14 and the lead. It was also the first time since 1983 that The Cowboys ran a blocked field goal in for a Touchdown. History is just repeating all over the place, isn't it?
Not until the 4th quarter with about 12 minutes left, did anything too exciting happen. Minnesota was pinned inside their own 10. The ball was handed off to Peterson, who gets the ball knocked from his hands by Jason Hatcher. Bradie James falls on the fumble, giving Dallas the ball. This turnove only ends up as 3 more points for Dallas, but it's better than nothing.
24-14, Cowboys in the lead and it's now a 2 possession game with just a little over 10 minutes left in the game. Dallas' defense held it's ground beautifully, although Minnesota's did as well, and the game ended at 24-14...Dallas Cowboys on top, and a 6-1 record in the books heading into a Bye Week.
Whew, again...
Friday, October 19, 2007
Week 6 Recap - Vs. New England
Due to the harsh reality of last Sunday's game against the New England Patriots, I refuse to provide a recap this week. Dallas lost and it wasn't pretty. 48-27 was the final score, with the Patriots far ahead at the end.
This game is pretty much blocked from my memory at this point. I have, however, had a few nightmares which involve flashes of Wes Welker and Donte Stallworth murdering Dallas' secondary with their cleats, while a devilish Tom Brady (complete with horns) cackles and shoots footballs at players with a full mechanical arm cannon. Nonetheless, it's just one loss, it's a regular season game, and you can't stay undefeated forever (unless you're the Patriots, that is,) so let's just forget this tragedy and move forward to week 7.
This game is pretty much blocked from my memory at this point. I have, however, had a few nightmares which involve flashes of Wes Welker and Donte Stallworth murdering Dallas' secondary with their cleats, while a devilish Tom Brady (complete with horns) cackles and shoots footballs at players with a full mechanical arm cannon. Nonetheless, it's just one loss, it's a regular season game, and you can't stay undefeated forever (unless you're the Patriots, that is,) so let's just forget this tragedy and move forward to week 7.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Week 5 Recap - @ Buffalo - Monday Night Football
Dallas had no major problems handing St. Louis a loss of 35-7 last week, and Buffalo was statistically ranked just as low, in fact, a little lower than the injured Rams. If sportscasters and analysists are any indication, Dallas had already won this game.
A few things stood in the way, however, as Buffalo was hosting their first Monday Night game in 13 years, and with that came a loud enough crowd to rival that at Arrowhead. The 12th man was in full effect, and it may have been the catalyst for 4 Tomo Romo interceptions in the first half, which had the 'Boys in a 17-10 hole heading into the half.
Back from the half and the Cowboys receive the kickoff. They drive down the field and end up with a field goal, bringing the score to 17-13.
The following kickoff would end up being devastating. A Nick Folk 73 yard kick to Terrance McGee was run back for 103 yards and a Touchdown for Buffalo. Now behind at 24-13, Dallas drove down the field and starting the 4th quarter with another field goal kick, bringing the game within reach at 24-16.
A Cowboys' fumble leads to a Buffalo drive which leads to an interception, which leads to a Cowboys' drive that leads to an interception. Luckily Buffalo couldn't make anything of it and punts away with a little under 4 minutes left in the game.
Romo finally rebounds from his horrific day by driving the ball to the Buffalo 4 yard line and completing the drive with a short pass to Patrick Crayton for a Touchdown. Dallas would need a 2 point conversion to tie up the game and take them into overtime, yet alas, a high toss to Terrell Owens resulted incomplete when it was stripped out of his hands before he even hit the ground.
There were :20 seconds left in the game, and judging by the eruption of the crowd, this game was over, and Buffalo finally got revenge for all those Super Bowls that Dallas dominated in. But even though the clock said :20, this game was far from over.
Rookie Kicker, Nick Folk, headed into the onside kick and executed perfectly. WR Sam Hurd deflected the ball just barely within 10 yards, and TE Tony Curtis ran like the wind and dropped on the ball, recovering the kick and giving the Cowboys one last shot.
Romo took the field again and shot a pass to T.O. at the Buffalo 25. He miraculously assembled his men and spiked the ball to stop the clock at :01 second, yet the T.O. catch had to be reviewed and it ended up being an incomplete pass. Back to the drawing board.
Romo again drops back into the shotgun and takes 2 shots to Barber and Crayton who both drop out of bounds to stop the clock with :02 seconds remaining and bringing the 'Boys to the Buffalo 35. It would be up to Rookie Kicker Nick Folk to complete the 53 yard field goal, and take the 'Boys to 5-0.
Folk steps up to the plate and nails a homerun, right down the middle, and right through the goal posts. The Cowboys win it!! The Cowboys w... wha..wha... what happened?! Ah... sneaky Bills' Head Coach Dick Jaraun used the infamous 'secret timeout' right before the snap, meaning the kick doesn't count and Folk's gotta do it again.
Have no fear, Folk is here. As calm and collective as a surgeon, Nick Folk does it again. And once again, with almost the same sureshot accuracy as the first kick, the ball clears the goal posts and the Cowboys do, in fact, win the game at 25-24.
Whew...
A few things stood in the way, however, as Buffalo was hosting their first Monday Night game in 13 years, and with that came a loud enough crowd to rival that at Arrowhead. The 12th man was in full effect, and it may have been the catalyst for 4 Tomo Romo interceptions in the first half, which had the 'Boys in a 17-10 hole heading into the half.
Back from the half and the Cowboys receive the kickoff. They drive down the field and end up with a field goal, bringing the score to 17-13.
The following kickoff would end up being devastating. A Nick Folk 73 yard kick to Terrance McGee was run back for 103 yards and a Touchdown for Buffalo. Now behind at 24-13, Dallas drove down the field and starting the 4th quarter with another field goal kick, bringing the game within reach at 24-16.
A Cowboys' fumble leads to a Buffalo drive which leads to an interception, which leads to a Cowboys' drive that leads to an interception. Luckily Buffalo couldn't make anything of it and punts away with a little under 4 minutes left in the game.
Romo finally rebounds from his horrific day by driving the ball to the Buffalo 4 yard line and completing the drive with a short pass to Patrick Crayton for a Touchdown. Dallas would need a 2 point conversion to tie up the game and take them into overtime, yet alas, a high toss to Terrell Owens resulted incomplete when it was stripped out of his hands before he even hit the ground.
There were :20 seconds left in the game, and judging by the eruption of the crowd, this game was over, and Buffalo finally got revenge for all those Super Bowls that Dallas dominated in. But even though the clock said :20, this game was far from over.
Rookie Kicker, Nick Folk, headed into the onside kick and executed perfectly. WR Sam Hurd deflected the ball just barely within 10 yards, and TE Tony Curtis ran like the wind and dropped on the ball, recovering the kick and giving the Cowboys one last shot.
Romo took the field again and shot a pass to T.O. at the Buffalo 25. He miraculously assembled his men and spiked the ball to stop the clock at :01 second, yet the T.O. catch had to be reviewed and it ended up being an incomplete pass. Back to the drawing board.
Romo again drops back into the shotgun and takes 2 shots to Barber and Crayton who both drop out of bounds to stop the clock with :02 seconds remaining and bringing the 'Boys to the Buffalo 35. It would be up to Rookie Kicker Nick Folk to complete the 53 yard field goal, and take the 'Boys to 5-0.
Folk steps up to the plate and nails a homerun, right down the middle, and right through the goal posts. The Cowboys win it!! The Cowboys w... wha..wha... what happened?! Ah... sneaky Bills' Head Coach Dick Jaraun used the infamous 'secret timeout' right before the snap, meaning the kick doesn't count and Folk's gotta do it again.
Have no fear, Folk is here. As calm and collective as a surgeon, Nick Folk does it again. And once again, with almost the same sureshot accuracy as the first kick, the ball clears the goal posts and the Cowboys do, in fact, win the game at 25-24.
Whew...
Monday, October 1, 2007
Week 4 Recap - St. Louis at Dallas
Dallas started this game as shakey and slow as they did their previous 3 games. It was nerve-rackingly hard to watch, and made you think that maybe the last few games the Cowboys won were a fluke. They seemed unable to connect at all, having no touchdowns or field goals and being forced to punt 3 times in the first quarter. Add on a Romo interception and things seemed increasingly bleak.
The second quarter started to look just as frightening as the Rams drove the ball close enough for a field goal. However, the Stars must have been aligned just right, and Jeff Wilkins missed the easy 28 yard Field Goal attempt.
Things were starting to look good for the 'Boys as Tony Romo drove from their 20 yard line to St. Louis' 2 yard line, with Julius Jones punching home the Touchdown to finally put some points on the board. Ah, a little breathing room.
Nothing lasts forever though, as the pendulum of momentum swung the other way. Nearing the end of the half, a Mat McBriar punt ended in catastrophe when Dante Hall ran the ball the whole way back for an 85 yard Touchdown. Tied at 7-7, It was beginning to look as though the Rams had a fighting chance. St. Louis' Issac Bruce did guarantee a victory, after all.
The next drive started with some potential for the 'Boys. They managed to get the ball from their 24 yard line to the 50 in just 4 plays, and the end of the half was less than a minute away.
It was 3rd down with 3 to go, and only :56 seconds left in the half when, Andre Gurode, snaps the ball well over Romo's head and it flips and flops about 33 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Romo was chasing after the ball like a farmer trying to russle up a greased pig. At this point, it was the worst possible thing to happen... well, it might have been for most teams, but luckily the Dallas Cowboys have a true playmaker in Tony Romo.
Impossible as it seems, Romo was able to snatch up the ball at about the 17 yard line, follow a few lead blockers, juke out St. Louis' Raonall Smith, get back to the 50 yard line and sure enough, add on 4 more yards for the first down to really make a statement. This will undoubtely be the 'Play of the Week' on many sports shows tomorrow morning. And the magic wasn't over yet. 5 plays later, when Dallas was 15 yards from the goal line, Romo couldn't find an open receiver so he ran it the Touchdown himself. Dallas would take the lead 14-7 going into the half. This should pretty much be the proof to sceptics that Romo has what it takes to contend with any defense out there (Rams defense was rated #7 overall going into this week.)
That drive seemed to be all the momentum that Dallas needed. On their first possession after the half, Romo lauched a short pass to Patrick Crayton, who managed to avoid a tackle and run the ball in for a 56 yard Touchdown. Now leading 21-7, it started to become a little easier to breathe at this point.
The next Dallas possession ended with a deep pass and another catch for Crayton who ran it in for a 37 yard Touchdown. 28-7.
The Rams had a nice drive after the second Crayton Touchdown, and drove all the way to the Dallas 10. Unfortunately for the Rams, the Stars were once again lined up perfectly as Ken Hamlin intercepted a horribly thrown ball in the End Zone. This led to another successful Cowboys drive that ended with a 17 yard pass to Jason Witten for the Touchdown. Now 35-7 and 2 minutes until the 4th quarter, it would be near impossible for these Rams to rally a victory.
And sure enough, the Rams were just too battered to do anything more. They were forced to punt 2 more times, and Dallas slowly ran out the clock, even bringing in Brad Johnson as Quarterback and Tyson Thompson as Halfback to run the clock down to 00:00. The Cowboys go 4-0, the Rams go 0-4. I say, Bring on the Bills!
P.S.
Just because I forgot to mention a few things.
-Greg Ellis was back in the game for the first time since tearing his ACL last November, and had 2 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks.
-Terence Newman was in and getting more playing time ending with 4 tackles. Newman had to pick up the slack due to the fact that Anthony Henry sprained his right ankle in the first quarter and was out for the game.
-Dallas is currently leading the league in total points for the season with 151 and is 4th all-time for total points scored in 4 consecutive games.
-Although Dallas was leading the league in penalties coming into this game (30 total), they only commited 2 penalties for 10 yards this time around.
-Neither Terrell Owens or Marion Barber had a Touchdown in this game, while Patrick Crayton had the best game of his career with 7 Receptions for 184 yards and 2 Touchdowns.
-And, I gotta point out, for the 4th straight week in a row, the Cowboys are absoultely dominating in the second half of these games. It almost seems as though the first half is more about studying the oppononents' weaknesses and trying to get them in a comfort zone, while the second half is all about exploiting them. I smell a genius strategy from Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett, and I love it.
The second quarter started to look just as frightening as the Rams drove the ball close enough for a field goal. However, the Stars must have been aligned just right, and Jeff Wilkins missed the easy 28 yard Field Goal attempt.
Things were starting to look good for the 'Boys as Tony Romo drove from their 20 yard line to St. Louis' 2 yard line, with Julius Jones punching home the Touchdown to finally put some points on the board. Ah, a little breathing room.
Nothing lasts forever though, as the pendulum of momentum swung the other way. Nearing the end of the half, a Mat McBriar punt ended in catastrophe when Dante Hall ran the ball the whole way back for an 85 yard Touchdown. Tied at 7-7, It was beginning to look as though the Rams had a fighting chance. St. Louis' Issac Bruce did guarantee a victory, after all.
The next drive started with some potential for the 'Boys. They managed to get the ball from their 24 yard line to the 50 in just 4 plays, and the end of the half was less than a minute away.
It was 3rd down with 3 to go, and only :56 seconds left in the half when, Andre Gurode, snaps the ball well over Romo's head and it flips and flops about 33 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Romo was chasing after the ball like a farmer trying to russle up a greased pig. At this point, it was the worst possible thing to happen... well, it might have been for most teams, but luckily the Dallas Cowboys have a true playmaker in Tony Romo.
Impossible as it seems, Romo was able to snatch up the ball at about the 17 yard line, follow a few lead blockers, juke out St. Louis' Raonall Smith, get back to the 50 yard line and sure enough, add on 4 more yards for the first down to really make a statement. This will undoubtely be the 'Play of the Week' on many sports shows tomorrow morning. And the magic wasn't over yet. 5 plays later, when Dallas was 15 yards from the goal line, Romo couldn't find an open receiver so he ran it the Touchdown himself. Dallas would take the lead 14-7 going into the half. This should pretty much be the proof to sceptics that Romo has what it takes to contend with any defense out there (Rams defense was rated #7 overall going into this week.)
That drive seemed to be all the momentum that Dallas needed. On their first possession after the half, Romo lauched a short pass to Patrick Crayton, who managed to avoid a tackle and run the ball in for a 56 yard Touchdown. Now leading 21-7, it started to become a little easier to breathe at this point.
The next Dallas possession ended with a deep pass and another catch for Crayton who ran it in for a 37 yard Touchdown. 28-7.
The Rams had a nice drive after the second Crayton Touchdown, and drove all the way to the Dallas 10. Unfortunately for the Rams, the Stars were once again lined up perfectly as Ken Hamlin intercepted a horribly thrown ball in the End Zone. This led to another successful Cowboys drive that ended with a 17 yard pass to Jason Witten for the Touchdown. Now 35-7 and 2 minutes until the 4th quarter, it would be near impossible for these Rams to rally a victory.
And sure enough, the Rams were just too battered to do anything more. They were forced to punt 2 more times, and Dallas slowly ran out the clock, even bringing in Brad Johnson as Quarterback and Tyson Thompson as Halfback to run the clock down to 00:00. The Cowboys go 4-0, the Rams go 0-4. I say, Bring on the Bills!
P.S.
Just because I forgot to mention a few things.
-Greg Ellis was back in the game for the first time since tearing his ACL last November, and had 2 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks.
-Terence Newman was in and getting more playing time ending with 4 tackles. Newman had to pick up the slack due to the fact that Anthony Henry sprained his right ankle in the first quarter and was out for the game.
-Dallas is currently leading the league in total points for the season with 151 and is 4th all-time for total points scored in 4 consecutive games.
-Although Dallas was leading the league in penalties coming into this game (30 total), they only commited 2 penalties for 10 yards this time around.
-Neither Terrell Owens or Marion Barber had a Touchdown in this game, while Patrick Crayton had the best game of his career with 7 Receptions for 184 yards and 2 Touchdowns.
-And, I gotta point out, for the 4th straight week in a row, the Cowboys are absoultely dominating in the second half of these games. It almost seems as though the first half is more about studying the oppononents' weaknesses and trying to get them in a comfort zone, while the second half is all about exploiting them. I smell a genius strategy from Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett, and I love it.
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