The 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.