Cowboys move to 2-1

Under any circumstances, a win is a win. But here it was in the fourth quarter, with a little more than five minutes left, and the game still hung in the balance 13-7 for Dallas. The Cowboys had dominated much of the game, missing a couple of chances in the first half, and trailed 7-0 at halftime. Then Dallas had to kick off to start the second half, and the defense forced four consecutive three and outs. The Offense finally got untracked but had to settle for two FGs on drives that absolutely should have resulted in touchdowns. Marion Barber, who pulled his quad in the previous game, was held out of this one(he should be back next wk) And Felix Jones, had nearly 100 yards tonight on EIGHT carries, took the last quarter or so off with a tweaked Knee(hopefully doesn't miss time, or maybe just one game) And the third string back Tashard Choice had run for over 80 yards and scored the go-ahead TD in the third quarter. But now, after getting the ball back with the 13-7 lead, the Cowboys had been on the march yet again, and were chewing up the clock in the process when Romo was called for a somewhat questionable intentional grounding penalty to throw a monkey wrench in the drive that even a FG this time would put the game at 16-7 , at least making it a two score game. So the Panthers forced us to kick for (I believe) the only time in the second half and had the ball at the 10 still within a TD. They'd hardly even had the ball in the second half. Dallas had amassed over 200 yards on the ground for the 2nd straight week. Our offense hadn't turned it over. And it was STILL only 13-7 Dallas with 5:07 to go when safety Terrence Newman made the play of the evening, stepping inside of WR Steve Smith, intercepting it, and outrunning him to the end zone to slam the door on Carolina's final attempt. WHEW! OKay, we have a tough one next week at Denver. Denver is off to a 3-0 start. We SHOULD be 3-0 too but we're not. The Broncos were supposed to be not very good this year. But their defense has improved after being awful the past few years. Their offense has been mistake free and efficient. So it's a good thing for our team so that we don't over look them. Tonight, the Cowboys were plus THREE in turnovers. And we recorded THREE sacks. I hope that's an indication and not an abberation. We do that some more, we're right there with anyone in the National Football League. But although our offense didn't turn it over tonight and Romo was great, we DID leave 11 points on the field. Translation, this game tonight should have wound up being a blowout. Nick Folk missed one that he normally would make in his sleep in the first quarter but maybe if Romo doesn't get sacked on the initial drive of the game, Folk isn't even attempting that one because it's a TD instead. And then the two that Folk hit later, were extra points. Two pass plays at the One yard line failed. Should have ran it in on that third down one. That's the one that put us only up 13-7. Before that, the intial drive of the second half, actually had Choice intially being called in for the TD on the sideline with a Romo swing pass but it was overturned, down at the one. Then after failing to get in in on the next down, it brought up a fourth down at the one foot line. And a backup TE on us was called for a false start, forcing us to kick a FG and still trail 7-3. But after our defense stopped the Panthers cold again, our offense finally put in in the end zone with Choice. That put Dallas ahead to stay at 10-7. Good win, a step in the right direction. It doesn't make up for last week but it's a building block anyways. But going to Denver is never easy. It will be all about having composure. Especially if we fall behind in the early going. It's probably a good thing that Denver IS 3-0, as I've stated earlier, the better to take them seriously.