What a Difference a Week Makes

I wasn’t sure what kind of game, or effort, to expect from Dallas yesterday when they kicked off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The previous 4 games, where the Cowboys’ record was 1-3, were marked by inconsistent, uninspired play on both sides of the ball. I was hoping the Cowboys had some pride left and would come out and give a good Tampa Bay team all it could handle. I was hoping the defense would step up and play like they can instead of like zombies simply collecting a check. I was hoping the team would shake off the fog they have played in for the past month. I was hoping for all that but still didn’t know what to expect.

Well, much to my surprise, the Cowboys’ defense played to their potential yesterday and was the driving force behind their 13-9 win over Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay was held without a touchdown for the first time since the 2007 opener and Dallas gave up its fewest point all season. The defense played with an obvious sense of urgency and allowed only three field goals all afternoon to Tampa Bay, two coming in the first quarter after drives that reached the Dallas 18 and 14. This is no small feat considering the fire power that the Bucs have on offense: WR Antonio Bryant (former Cowboy, by the way) who has more receiving yards that TO Owens, WR Joey Galloway who despite being a little long in the tooth is still lightening fast, WR Ike Hillard, WR Mark Clayton and RB Earnest Graham. Oh, and QB Jeff Garcia is still solid and playing at a high level.

What really made the defensive effort look even more impressive is that the defensive secondary lost another starter to injury in the 3rd quarter when Anthony Henry left with a bruised thigh. So, from that point on, the Cowboys’ pass defense consisted of 2 rookies, in Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick, a 2nd year player in Alan Ball, a 3rd year player in Courtney Brown and pro bowler Ken Hamlin. I would have thought that was easy pickings for Garcia but the young players above stepped up, held their ground and didn’t allow any big plays down field.

The offense was pretty pedestrian and gained only 172 yards of total offense, their fewest ever in a victory. Jason Garrett constructed a game plan consisting of a lot of 2 tight end sets, short passes and a grind it out running game. Brad Johnson’s longest pass went for just 14 yards and it was on a dump-off to running back Marion Barber. However, even though Johnson had several more horrendous throws, he didn’t have a turnover and neither did the Cowboys, which was the first time in 9 games Dallas didn’t give the ball back to the opposition. Dallas led 10-6 at halftime, which was the most against Tampa Bay, this season, in the first half. It also was the first time this season the Bucs trailed at halftime.

The offensive line played a lot better as well yesterday in the win. While they allowed 3 sacks on Johnson, they blocked pretty well for Marion Barber who rushed for a tough 71 yards. This also was no small feat considering Tampa Bay was consistently playing 8 and 9 man defensive fronts to stop the run. How Barber got even 50 yards rushing is amazing to me. Add to that the fact that tight end Jason Witten left with a rib injury, tried to return after X-rays showed no break, then left again. So the bulk of the tight end duties were picked up by rookie Martellus Bennett and he held up pretty well.

Ugly as it was, this was a huge win for the Cowboys…probably their biggest of the season to this point if you take into consideration all the injuries, how the team has played recently and how the rest of the division is playing. Make no mistake…Dallas had to win yesterday especially since every other team in the NFC (B)East won, much to my dismay. The win buys the Cowboys some much-needed breathing room. But they need to forget this win and focus on how they will be able to at least keep up with the Giants next Sunday. And to tell you the truth, I have no idea how they will do it. If this is truly God’s team, I think divine intervention will need to take place in order for Dallas to even be competitive. But we’ll focus on that a little later in the week. For now, let’s just enjoy a hard fought Dallas win.