The Govenor's Cup Is In It's Rightful Place...In Dallas

Well, Dallas retained the Governor's Cup tonight beating Houston 23-22. And even though the game got interesting late with Houston failing on a 2 point conversion that would have put them in front 24-23, the offensive starters for the Cowboys really put on a show in the 1st half. Romo and company played for the entire 1st half and other than a bad decision by Romo, which turned into an interception in the end zone, the offense looked like a well oiled machine. Romo completed 15 of 19 passes for 166 yards and a TD on the night, TO Owens had 4 receptions for 43 yards and Marion Barber rushed 13 times for 75 yards and a TD. I love watching Barber run. Every time he runs it looks like he's looking to dish punishment on some unsuspecting defensive back. It was good to see the starting offense get back to the form they displayed mid season last year.

The defense wasn't smothering tonight but they did what they had to do to win. Dallas was turnover prone (1 interception and 2 fumbles; the Texans had no turnovers) but the defense held Houston to 2 field goals after the Texans recovered the fumbles. The backups however have a lot of work to do as they seemed to let Shaub/Rosenfels move the ball pretty easily up and down the field. I thought Dallas was pretty deep, especially on defense, but that depth may be questionable at best right now.

The special teams, again, looked bad...especially on kickoff coverage. I don't know what they're going to do to get that fixed but they better address it in short order because the season opener is just around the corner. I think they should go get Joe Avazanno out of retirement and bring him back to coach the special teams again like he did in the mid 90's...Bruce Read doesn't look like he's doing much to fix the special teams miscues.

All in all, Dallas pounded Houston when their starters were in which is what I (and probably ever other Cowboys fan) wanted to see. They still have a little ways to go before the season starts but tonight was probably the last time we will see Romo/Owens before the season starts. Next Thursday, Dallas wraps up the preseason against Minnesota and I would imagine we will get to see a pretty heavy dose of Brad Johnson and Richard Bartel at QB as the final preseason NFL game is about the most useless game in all of professional sports. But maybe one of these "bubble" players will stand out and make enough of an impression to make the team. I'm rooting for Amendola and Keon Lattimore to make the team but we'll see what kind of needs the Cowboys have on cut down day.