First things first. We won. We are 11-1 and now have the inside track on home-field advantage. Oh yeah, we made the playoffs, too. This is definitely far beyond what I imagined before the season and I’m loving it. Get happy Cowboys fans; we rule the roost in the NFC.
Now, to the game, and what an odd game it was. I felt like I went to a concert by a famous classic rock band. To start the concert, they were playing all their hits and everyone is going wild, lighters are being held aloft, people are screaming "Freebird" and everyone is rocking and rolling. I'm thinking this is the best concert ever. Then the lead singer steps to the microphone and utters those words you never want to hear: "Now we’re going to play some stuff from our new album." Crickets are heard and you spend the next 30 or 40 minutes listening to songs you never heard and aren’t that good anyway. Then at the end, they bust out a few more golden oldies and the crowds gets into it, they do another hit for the encore, and the crowd goes home happy. That’s how I felt watching this game.
Oh, you want stuff about the actual game? OK, the Cowboys offense is still running on all cylinders, even though they sure went through a dry spell in the middle of the game. Tony Romo threw for four TD’s and continues to lead this team to wins. Marion Barber closed out the end of the game with hard running. Our receivers were very good, except for a couple of noticeable drops by Terrell Owens. But real credit goes again to the offensive line which gave Romo protection all night long and had zero sacks. The offense didn’t follow up on their sizzling start, but they scored enough points to win again.
The defense? I think we still have some questions. They were getting good pressure on Brett Favre early and eventually knocked him out of the game. But that seemed like the moment the lead singer decides to break out the new album material. Suddenly, the Cowboys weren’t playing well on defense and the offense was stalling. Aaron Rodgers came on in relief and proceeded to bring Green Bay back into the game. He did a great job of completing passes and his receivers did some work after the catch. Another thing Rodgers did was pick up yards with his feet, something Dallas was not expecting because the gameplan was built for Favre. The defense did enough to win the game but I would have liked to see a little better effort out of them against a backup QB.
So the offense continues to roll, the defense needs a little work, but the Cowboys keep on winning and we're the class of the NFC. Enjoy it, we got 10 days off to revel in our victory.