Dallas Cowboys toy with Rams before winning 35-7
by Dave Halprin on Sep 30, 2007 3:13 PM CDT
in Dallas Cowboys News
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PrintThe Dallas Cowboys must be getting paid to carry their opponents for a few rounds before delivering a quick combination of power punches and flooring the opposition. Once again, Dallas teased a team with thoughts of victory after a slow start to the game, this time going into halftime with only a 14-7 lead. Tony Romo and Patrick Crayton soon got rid of any suspense with a couple of straight right hands to the chin of the Rams defense. The Cowboys blew out St. Louis in the second half and won 35-7. The Cowboys were so dominating that even after starting slow they put up over 500 yards on offense.
Tony Romo pulled some more magic out of his hat with a brilliant play just before halftime when Andre Gurode snapped a ball over his head and Romo chased it backwards at least 30 yards. Romo kicked it once, scooped it up, spun around two Rams defenders, juked another and ran all the way back past the line of scrimmage and picking up the three yards needed for a first down. The Cowboys paid off the drive with a Romo rushing TD. In the second half, he was money in the passing game and the Dallas offense just punished the Rams. He finished 21 of 33 for 339 yards and 3 TD’s with one interception.
But the player of the game on offense was Patrick Crayton who scored a 59-yard TD and a 37-yard TD and ended up with 7 catches for 184 yards. Crayton wasn’t happy about dropping a sure touchdown last week, so he made up for it this week. The normally sure-handed Crayton was just that again, plus he added playmaker to his collection of labels. He also had a nice day returning punts.
The Cowboys defense is starting to look more like what the fans imagined going into the season. The Rams only scored one touchdown and that was courtesy of the special teams when Dante Hall returned a punt for a TD. DeMarcus Ware continued his strong play by getting another sack and hitting QB Marc Bulger multiple times as well as playing strong against the run. Greg Ellis returned to the lineup and immediately paid dividends by getting 1.5 sacks. The one downer on defense was the ankle injury to Anthony Henry, his status is unknown but the x-rays came back negative.
The Cowboys offensive line continues to pass block better than it run blocks early in games, and the Cowboys struggled again to develop a consistent rushing attack. But with Tony Romo’s arm (and occasionally his legs) leading the way, later in the game their bulk tends to wear down the defense and the Cowboys can start running the ball to grind out the clock.
The Dallas Cowboys and Wade Phillips are off to a 4-0 start and have looked dominating. With the defense coming around while getting Terrence Newman and Greg Ellis back means that the Cowboys are becoming a complete team. They probably need to start games with a little more urgency because there are teams that will take advantage of a slow start but up until this point, the Cowboys have covered that with crushing second half play. Jerry Jones should take his own advice though, and give his team some Pepsi Max before the start of the game. Because once the Cowboys wake up in a game, the other team starts having nightmares.
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with our defense playing well
and continuing to get better and improve, the slow starts don't bother me at all.
No team is going to play really well for all 4 qtrs, every game, so I'd much rather start out slow, have Tony get a feel for what the defense is trying to do, and then get better as the game goes on.
This foolish notion of starting out games like the '90s dynasty teams won't happen because this team is obviously not as good, I mean that was the greatest team in the history of the league for crying out loud.
Finishing games strong is much better than starting fast and then fading and allowing teams to win it at the end. We started out fast a lot last season and you saw how that turned out.
The word that strikes me is balance
The defense keeps the offense in the game and the offense keeps the defense fresh. The offense passes to set up the run and had 4 runners (including Romo) over 20 yards and the three running backs all got about 50 each. The pass defense by St Louis was apparently designed to stop Owens and Witten and Crayton proved he can step into the void.
Although I did not see the game I could 'see' the Romo factor as masterful. This player will only get better.
Great job by the O-line
Kept Romo clean all game, and most important almost no penalties that I can remember.
Anybody still want to trade Crayton??? I didn't think so.
Great to see Ellis get a sack the first game back, and it looked like Newman wasn't hampered by his injuries.
Special shout out to Reeves. He's really playing well, I was wrong about his potential. If he can stay with the Rams WR's, he can stay with anyone.
I want to see a consistent running
game. Julius Jones didn't do much until the 4th quarter when we were up by couple of TD's.
Good to see we only has 2 penalties for 10 yards.
Oline wasn't all that great today
Our running game was almost non existant in the first half, they continue to have problems making holes for the running game and getting a push in the middle, they didn't have a boat load of penalties today, thats a good sign, but our pass blocking was average, Romo isn't getting a nice pocket to stand in, has to shuffle and move outside to get time to pass too much.
Special teams weren't great today.
What game were you watching??????
Romo had great protection all game long. The false start and holding penalties were eliminated. One horrible shotgun snap was the only problem.
When Grizz breaks down the film, I bet you'll find the Rams were run blitzing a lot in the first half. Just a hunch.
The punt and kickoff coverage was messed up without 50 cent Davis in there.
by APerfectStar on Sep 30, 2007 10:36 PM CDT up reply actions
I Am Thrilled
This was a trap game for us, but we showed a lot of maturity in not getting frustrated when the Rams shut us down early, and coming back before the half after Hall scored on the punt return.
I just hope Henry isn't seriously injured. We need him, and it seems like he's only able to stay healthy for five or six games before suffering another injury that slows him down.
This is a very good team. It's even more impressive when you consider until today we were missing three of our top four defenders, and our second-best offensive player. If we stay healthy, I think this team could be one to remember for a long time.
this wasn't a trap game
If there is a trap game, that would be next week against the Bills with the Patriot game ooming up after a short week.
Sure It Was
Any time a team has an emotional road victory over what was thought to be a conference contender, then plays a winless, banged up team, it's a trap.
And they passed the test with flying colors, unlike in years past.
No it isn't
trap games dont come after a big win, they come before you play a bigtime team that everyone is talking about playing the week after a team they should beat, thats the bills game next week, not this one we just played, that would be a let down game, not a trap game.
I agree with Deke
Next week is the trap game. You have a team in Buffalo playing in Prime Time on Monday against a team nobody thinks they can beat. Meanwhile everyone is talking about the potential big time match up between the two most dominating teams this year next week: Cowboys vs Pats.
It would be so easy for the Cowboys to overlook the Bills and get caught in trap. Plus you know the fans will remember both Super Bowl games and will be jacked up early to give their team a lift. If the Cowboys aren't careful Buffalo will surprise them.
Derek
by DerekSTheRed on Sep 30, 2007 7:32 PM CDT up reply actions
Monday Night Football
Won't be a trap game. We just better shore up the ST coverages before Roscoe Parrish does his Dante Hall impersonation.
by APerfectStar on Sep 30, 2007 10:38 PM CDT up reply actions
Their punter was better than ours.
The St. Louis punter was brilliant all game. We saw 60+ yard punts and punts downed at the one-yard line. Matt McBriar's punt was returned for a TD--the only St. Louis score. They beat us there.
How often is that gonna happen?
Punt on TD Return
Was way too low, and with Davis and Brown not playing on coverage, it hung the coverage guys out to dry. He should have just hung it up and forced the fair catch. Their offense hadn't done much to that point anyway.
Game balls
I wonder what the chances are of Greg Ellis getting a game ball tomorrow, I'd say its pretty good, with one and half sacks today, its a good return, hopefully there wont be anymore setbacks for Ellis and he'll have a little less worry and have more of a roll every week from here on out.
Average Margins of Victory
of previous 4-0 Dallas teams, through their first four games, since the NFL merger in 1970:
2007 19.75
1995 16.25 won Super Bowl
1976 14.00 lost in first round
1981 12.75 lost Conf Championship
1975 12.25 lost Super Bowl
1977 12.00 won Super Bowl
1983 8.50 lost wild card game
Pretty good company, huh?
Jerheme Urban scored a TD
by Burt D @ Blogging The Boys on Sep 30, 2007 5:13 PM CDT reply actions
I saw that
he had a good game.
by Dave Halprin on Sep 30, 2007 6:49 PM CDT up reply actions
I had this conversation with my dad.....
We are having to look pretty hard to find issues with the team - especially after a 35-7 win.
Heres another one: At some point this year, I would like Folk to have to make a big FG late in the 4th quarter. We need him to deal with that pressure before we get into the post-season.
See what I mean - splitting hairs.
What about the FG in Miami?
He hit in the dirt to pretty much clinch the victory. I would say that's a pretty impressive kick.
ibleed blue
That is so true, there is little not to like about the Cowboys at this moment.
My list:
- Slow starts.
- Inconsistent running game except late in the game.
- Uhhh...uhhh...I got nothing.
I will say the teams we've played have been below-average to bad. Even the Bears are looking bad, but beating that defense is still an accomplishment when they are healthy.
You can't look ahead as a team, but as a fan, I can look ahead to the Pats. That will be very telling.
by Dave Halprin on Sep 30, 2007 6:58 PM CDT up reply actions
Practically speaking that's true
but it really ticks me off to watch. It's the whole team, too - line, WRs, RBs. Romo seems to be a little better this yearm, but when you watch Witten drop two passes in the first half, there's some bad mojo there...
well, I can tell you, the Pats didn't start great
against the Bills last week either, so its not really just a Cowboy trend.
I'm not saying they always start slow, but I've seen plenty of times when high powered offesnes like the Pats and Colts don't always come out on fire.
As long as you pick it up as the game moves along, thats the key.
Think the Bills will be making any guarantees?
Week 1: Brandon Jacobs - Lost and injured
Week 2: Joey Porter - Lost, run over by the Barbarian and left dejected on the bench (Joey also made a guarantee this week against the Raiders and lost...the Dolphins are 0-4, he's 0-2)
Week 3: Devon Hester - Lost and made to look sub-ordinary (but at least they got a new QB out of the deal)
Week 4: Issac Bruce - Lost and a hammy
Week 5: ???
It's safe to say that in addition to our regular weapons we have another one...our opponents big mouths. Who's got next?
Sometimes They
Can force a player onto injured reserve. And he got injured stretching for an interception. The guy just can't stay healthy.
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