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Cowboys thoughts: Dez Bryant overcomes blunders to help Dallas rally to its biggest win of the season
By Jon Machota
6:54 pm on November 24, 2013
The Dallas Cowboys blew a 21-6 lead only to put together their best drive of the game when it mattered most. Dan Bailey booted a 35-yard field goal as time expired and the Cowboys improved to 4-0 against NFC East opponents.
Here are my five thoughts on the Cowboys’ 24-21 win over the New York Giants.
1. You thought they were going to blow it in the fourth quarter didn’t you? After taking a 21-6 lead midway through the third it appeared the Cowboys would pull away. They didn’t. But they impressively overcame 15 consecutive points by the Giants to earn their biggest win of the year. Maybe a week of trash talk worked against a New York team that came in on a four-game winning streak. Sweeping the Giants is something I never saw coming from this Dallas team. The Cowboys certainly have their share of warts, but they somehow have the formula for winning division games. If that continues, they’ll win the NFC East and get into that tournament that Jerry Jones is always talking about.
2. The Dallas defense came to play Sunday. Jason Hatcher continued to look like the team’s best defender, recording two sacks. Orlando Scandrick also made a few nice plays, which included a forced fumble that led to a Jeff Heath first-quarter touchdown. Maybe the biggest impact the Cowboys’ defense had is it turned the home crowd against their own team. Several defensive stops by the Cowboys led to boos from the New York faithful. Outside linebacker Bruce Carter played well at times, but he also had the defense’s worst play of the game, not touching Brandon Myers when the Giants tight end was on the ground. Myers got up and easily walked in for a touchdown that made the score 21-13 late in the third. Erase that blunder and the defense played about as good as anyone could have expected.
3. Dez Bryant looked like he was about to have one of his worst games in recent memory, dropping a couple passes and fumbling another. But Bryant came up big late in the fourth quarter when the game was tied. Bryant was moved all over the field and it obviously paid off on a pair of critical third-down catches to set up Bailey’s game-winner. Bryant was targeted 16 times. He caught nine for 102 yards. “Good things usually happen when you get the ball in his hands,” Troy Aikman said during the broadcast, ”and that’s what happened this afternoon.”
4. Speaking of third down, the Cowboys continued to struggle in that situation for most of the day. After going 0-for-9 on third down in New Orleans, the Cowboys went 1-8 before converting their final three in a row. Entering Sunday, the Cowboys were 28th in the league, converting only 32 percent of the time. Only Jacksonville, Arizona, Cleveland and Oakland were worse. Yeah, not exactly the teams you plan on seeing in the Super Bowl in February. The Cowboys coaches have to be hoping that the game-winning drive will get them back on track to where they were last year. Last season, Dallas finished fifth in the NFL, converting 43 percent of the time on third down.
5. Hey, look at that, a running game. The Cowboys have struggled to do anything on the ground for the majority of the season but they were pretty good against the Giants. DeMarco Murray wasn’t looking to deliver punishing blows at the end of runs but he did a good job of finding some nice holes. Murray had 86 yards on 14 carries and Lance Dunbar added 20 yards on three carries. The Cowboys keep saying they want to have balance. It’ll obviously be easier to accomplish that if they continue running like they did Sunday.
By Jon Machota
6:54 pm on November 24, 2013
The Dallas Cowboys blew a 21-6 lead only to put together their best drive of the game when it mattered most. Dan Bailey booted a 35-yard field goal as time expired and the Cowboys improved to 4-0 against NFC East opponents.
Here are my five thoughts on the Cowboys’ 24-21 win over the New York Giants.
1. You thought they were going to blow it in the fourth quarter didn’t you? After taking a 21-6 lead midway through the third it appeared the Cowboys would pull away. They didn’t. But they impressively overcame 15 consecutive points by the Giants to earn their biggest win of the year. Maybe a week of trash talk worked against a New York team that came in on a four-game winning streak. Sweeping the Giants is something I never saw coming from this Dallas team. The Cowboys certainly have their share of warts, but they somehow have the formula for winning division games. If that continues, they’ll win the NFC East and get into that tournament that Jerry Jones is always talking about.
2. The Dallas defense came to play Sunday. Jason Hatcher continued to look like the team’s best defender, recording two sacks. Orlando Scandrick also made a few nice plays, which included a forced fumble that led to a Jeff Heath first-quarter touchdown. Maybe the biggest impact the Cowboys’ defense had is it turned the home crowd against their own team. Several defensive stops by the Cowboys led to boos from the New York faithful. Outside linebacker Bruce Carter played well at times, but he also had the defense’s worst play of the game, not touching Brandon Myers when the Giants tight end was on the ground. Myers got up and easily walked in for a touchdown that made the score 21-13 late in the third. Erase that blunder and the defense played about as good as anyone could have expected.
3. Dez Bryant looked like he was about to have one of his worst games in recent memory, dropping a couple passes and fumbling another. But Bryant came up big late in the fourth quarter when the game was tied. Bryant was moved all over the field and it obviously paid off on a pair of critical third-down catches to set up Bailey’s game-winner. Bryant was targeted 16 times. He caught nine for 102 yards. “Good things usually happen when you get the ball in his hands,” Troy Aikman said during the broadcast, ”and that’s what happened this afternoon.”
4. Speaking of third down, the Cowboys continued to struggle in that situation for most of the day. After going 0-for-9 on third down in New Orleans, the Cowboys went 1-8 before converting their final three in a row. Entering Sunday, the Cowboys were 28th in the league, converting only 32 percent of the time. Only Jacksonville, Arizona, Cleveland and Oakland were worse. Yeah, not exactly the teams you plan on seeing in the Super Bowl in February. The Cowboys coaches have to be hoping that the game-winning drive will get them back on track to where they were last year. Last season, Dallas finished fifth in the NFL, converting 43 percent of the time on third down.
5. Hey, look at that, a running game. The Cowboys have struggled to do anything on the ground for the majority of the season but they were pretty good against the Giants. DeMarco Murray wasn’t looking to deliver punishing blows at the end of runs but he did a good job of finding some nice holes. Murray had 86 yards on 14 carries and Lance Dunbar added 20 yards on three carries. The Cowboys keep saying they want to have balance. It’ll obviously be easier to accomplish that if they continue running like they did Sunday.