Dominant Performance

Well, the 2008 NFL season opened yesterday for the majority of teams. I really didn’t know what to expect from the Cowboys to tell you the truth. I knew what they were capable of but with all the Hark Knocks hype and opening on the road vs. a team that went 10-6 last year, I just wasn’t sure how Dallas would come out yesterday. But Dallas lived up to the hype and turned in a dominant performance beating the Cleveland Browns 28-10…and it could have been worse than that.

First the offense. The offense looked like a well oiled machine most of the day in racking up 487 yards and 30 1st downs. They came out firing and took the fight right to the Browns. Romo was 24-32 for 320 yards. The offensive line was much tougher than the Browns defensive line at the point of attack and most of the time Romo dropped back to pass, he had enough time to make a three course dinner before finding an open target. Jason Witten had 96 yards receiving, TO Owens had 87 yards (and 1 TD) and Crayton had 82 yards and had some real nice catches as well as runs after the catch.

The running game looked about as sharp as the passing game too. Marion Barber showed how tough he was in getting 101 total yards (80 yads rushing, 21 yards receiving). I’m excited to see how he handles the bulk of the rushing load this year. I told a friend of mine yesterday Barber reminds me of a smaller Earl Campbell. Barber isn’t as big or strong as Earl but runs a lot like him looking to dish out punishment to any defender who is coming to make the stop. Felix Jones came in and showed why Dallas took him in the 1st round of the draft this year. He has the acceleration where if he gets just a seam, he will be into the defensive backfield before you can blink. There was a couple of times a Cleveland defensive back had to make a touchdown saving shoestring tackle on Felix. In the limited time he played, he rushed for 62 yards and if one of his runs wasn’t called back for holding, he would have been in the mid 90’s. He is going to be exciting to watch this year, no doubt about it.

Now, the defense. I was pleased with the overall play of the defense. Even though Terrance Newman was inactive yesterday, Dallas’ defense managed to hold Cleveland’s high octane offense to only 205 yards and 11 first downs. The big thing Dallas didn’t do yesterday is give up the big play. They bent, but didn’t break. The one thing I would have liked to see more was the amount of pressure they got on Derek Anderson. I really thought the Cowboys would get to him more than they did. That is going to have to be something they improve on, especially playing McNabb this week, if the defense if going to be successful this year. Also, Pac Man Jones better shake the rust off a bit quicker than he has. He bit on several double moves by the Cleveland receivers and had to drag Braylon Edwards down in the end zone to keep him from scoring a touchdown. I know he hasn’t played in a year but he needs to get back to form quick.

Another issue Dallas needs to address is penalties. Dallas had 11 penalties for 82 yards yesterday. They could afford that yesterday against a bumbling Browns team but won’t be able to get away with that against Filthadelphia next Monday night and win. TO Owens really needs to cut the end zone celebrations, that draw flags, as well. I’m fine with the celebrations but he CAN do that without drawing a flag. And if he does that against Filthadelphia and gives DeSean Jackson another 15 yards of running room, that could be a touchdown for the Eagles, quite easily.

All in all, I was very pleased with the initial game yesterday. I bet that was a nice plane ride back to Dallas…but first thing on Wednesday morning, Dallas needs to put that game in their rear view mirror and press on toward Monday night because the Filthadelphia Foul looks very formidable (they routed St. Louis yesterday 38-3).