Sleepy, Sloppy, Spectacular. Dallas Shades Detroit 28-27
Posted: December 9, 2007 @ 3:34 pm
Shall we say they’re slow Witten?
The Dallas defense stumbled through four quarters today, looking slow, soft and spaced out. They let a league worst running attack rip their interior defense. They conceded comebacks on the left and right flanks over and over, allowing the Lions to convert third and longs repeatedly.
They got a little lucky, when the normally automatic Jason Hanson missed a short field goal early in the fourth quarter. Then, they applied their best pressure of the day on a key third and long after conceding two first downs after Jason Witten had fumbled the ball on the Detroit one with just over four minutes to go.
The sequence required that the offense drive 83 yards with 2:22 and no time outs left. Tony Romo succeeded, working short to Marion Barber, Sam Hurd and Witten, who redeemed his fumble with a 16 yard TD reception with 18 seconds left, completing a comeback from a 27-14 deficit. The final catch capped a fifteen catch, 138 yard day; with the Lions doubling and tripling Terrell Owens and daring Romo to beat them in other ways, Witten became the weapon of choice.
Longer game report later.
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64 Responses to “Sleepy, Sloppy, Spectacular. Dallas Shades Detroit 28-27”
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First.
O.K., we didn’t score 50.
Hey, Kitna! Are you winning 10 this year?
1-800-SEEYA
1st
Damn
It’s December. I’ll just take the win and move on.
Our D played bad but they only gave up 7 second half points and none in the fourth. They stopped them when it counted the most. Good teams will also correct their mistakes week to week. I look for our D to bounce back next week.
Screw their missed FG. We had one too.
Least enjoyable victory I’ve ever watched.
At the end of the day, a win is a win is a win. However, i was surprised that the D-Line was that terrible. Bad tackling and no pressure. Never head anyone’s name but Ratliff.
Squidlo,
I agree with you. The Lions came out and surprised our front today by running the football. That was definately a mental let down by the front 7. Stuff happens. The Lions suck. They have looked terrible on film the last four games. It is human nature. Dallas still won. That is the bottom line.
Kitna didn’t have a touchdown pass today, and they lost, because they kicked too many field goals.
Oh no, the sky is falling. Our defense sucks. The Vikings are coming. RUN! I am already hearing it.
First, the Vikings might not make the playoffs. Second, I’m not running from Tavaris Jackson. I’m sorry.
12-1 NFC East Champs
Memo to the NFC:
We have Tony Romo, and you don’t.
Larry, but a victory nonetheless. I’m almost glad I had to listen to it on the radio. Now, knowing the outcome, I can sit back and relax duing the NFL Replay.
Larry, a bad victory is like bad sex, its still pretty good!
I have the Seahawks here and the are playing very well.
After hearing about how the D worked on pressure all week, there was little, though they got it the two plays they really needed it.
Question: who are they saving it for?
watching Fox 4 KDFW here in Ft. Worth, i just saw them show an interview with Kitna…that dude was DEMOLISHED emotionally…and since i can’t stand him, all i can say is - “how sweet it is”
Pittsburgh just made it a closer game 13-14 NE
look, i’m joking here. basically, i just couldnt resist, so, being (or at least was back in the day) a big simpsons fan, here goes …
WORST. WIN-BY-A-11-AND-1-TEAM. EVER.
Figheter15,
Trap Game.
Ha ha…”bad sex”….there won’t be any sex in the Elwood household with too many more games like this. My rants aren’t very romantic.
Not much of a trap.
Dallas won.
Just back from the bar. I think this close game had more to do with a very quick reliese on the part of Kitna, and our offence giving Detriot a short field several times, than a bad defencive play. Also, thier unexpected run game threw us off. But they did what great teams do, and rallied to win. i’ll take it. Go Cowboys!!
Elwood, LOL!!
what makes me sick to my Stomach, is the So Called Cowboys fans who expects this team to be perfect every dayum game. Our defense didnt play that well in the first half. we gave up some chunks in the running game..But we only allowed 7 points the Entire second half and a missed field goal, and we missed one our selves..so its a wash!!
The patriots made Boller and feely look like all pro’s and let Mgahee run wild on them..but they found a way to win..and I did not hear their fans bashing their Defense after a win. Especially a road win..
the lions averaged 6.4 yds per reception!!! and Zero passing td’s
it’s obvious we did not expect them to run the ball like they did. But the sign of a good defense is to stop them when it really matters like they did against Green Bay!!
we’re not 12-1 by accident we play hard until the final whistle blows, last yr we do not close out Green bay, Buffalo or the Lions today..
Look at the big Picture here, we have young guys on D and winning these tough games will serve us well in the PLayoffs. WE can not be perfect every Game PPl..LOOK at the Patriots they shoulda lost 3 games this Yr!!! Colts, Eagles & Ravens..3 less then perfect games, throw in the COWBOYS shooting themselves int he Foot..so Back Off the Defense we won a Rd game in the NFL against a formidal team!!
Glad for the win. Like SDCOWBOYFAN said, Kitna was obviously watching film on us. The way to beat our pressure is to get rid of the ball quick. Our D played horrible today too. Newman had his worst game this year. This game just had us off. To me, the difference between us right now and a team like Green Bay, who I know we beat, is that they pretty much sustain their level of play game to game, and we play to the level of our competition. I know that’s not entirely accurate but it feels right. We just play down to some teams for some reason.
On another note, is it just me or was anyone else not really worried when Romo gets the ball back with over 2 minutes left on the clock needing a TD to win?? I mean, if we had lost it wouldn’t have been the end of the world, but we’re so used to Romo just stepping up and winning the game for us that if we’d have lost I would have been really devastated. He’s just got us all believing that the game’s never over as long as he’s still got the rock in his hand. That’s what makes a franchise QB, IMO.
Hey remember guys, good teams sometimes have problems with bad teams.
Was Baltimore better then New England, or even on the same level?
No.
The Jets beat Pitt a few weeks ago, anyone really think that they are in the same league?
The bottom line is Dallas came off of a huge emotional game against Green Bay, they played flat but still came up with a win. I’ll take it.
Crap, Cleeveland won.
The Cowboys team was built to beat Washington, New York, and Philadelphia. Secondarily, they had to be able to beat the teams seen as threats–Chicago, Seattle, maybe New Orleans. Nobody saw Detroit as a threat.
The Lions blog guy earlier this week had it right–James and Newman had to disrespect Detroit pretty hard to say all they did this week instead of showing up to play. I hope this is a lesson to both of them.
Crayton, on the other hand, seems to back up his smack. He can talk all he wants.
Good point AIRFORCEBAT. I’ll sure take the win. This is the type of game we’d have lost last year or in years past. You know, even the great Cowboy teams of the 90’s didn’t go undefeated. They lost to teams that you could easily say weren’t anywhere near as good as they were. It happens. I think part of my problem, don’t want to speak for anyone else, is that because of the play of Romo, TO, Witten, and all the others that’s it’s just so hard to actually imagine losing a game anymore. When we do see a tight game we have this huge WTF?? type moment. It’s really all Romo’s fault. He’s conditioned us to expect dominance by the Boys and by God we better get it!!!
Right on Kameleon.
I remember in the 90’s horrible Arizona teams would beat Dallas.
You know expectations are high when fans are mad about a one point win on the road.
Squid,
I saw that. Unfrigginbelievable. The way this is starting to turn out the Cowboys are going to have the 30th and 31’s picks in the draft. Chrimany…
Yeah Bert. I stood up for Crayton when he was talking and similarly I stood up for Newman and James when they talked their smack. After watching James and Newman get toasted and prove everything Kitna said last year by having their worst game of the season, I say STFU!!! Their mouth wrote checks that the Lions ended up cashing.
Man, some of you guys are fragile emotionally right? LOL. I just read the comments from the last two threads about the game and they just get funnier and funnier each week. People cussing out every bad (or even average play), lamenting every yard gained by an opponent, constant belittling comments about our own players if they fail to achieve complete perfection on every down every game, and constant giving-up (e.g. we’re screwed, it’s over, we suck, I’m not watching anymore etc, etc). How did you guys make it through the Dave Campo years? Actually how do you make it day to day?
This was a very good win. The Lions weren’t 0-11, they were 6-6. They’ve played some good football this year. It’s not easy to go into other teams home grounds and win all the time but we’ve done it this year so far. That’s a super achievement. The Lions team has an opportunity to make the playoffs, they’re not the Dolphins. This was a very big game for the Lions and they put in a great performance and we still beat them in their stadium.
To read some of the comments you’d think that a winless high school team spanked us. Someone was even commenting that Tony Romo was having a terrible game, another said it was Romo’s worst game of the year, and others begged that he just start chucking it downfield to the WR’s, coverage be damned! The very reason we won is because Romo did NOT do this! This was Romo’s best game ever I’d say. 35 of 44, that’s 79.5% completion, but most importantly he was soooo patient. He showed the maturity of a 10 year vet today. If Romo got antsy and started forcing things downfield, which is his weakness (seen at it’s extreme in Buffalo when he simply refused to check down), we absolutely would have lost this game.
Congrats Dallas on another good win, on being 12-1, and to Tony Romo who raised his game to yet another level today. I mean he got us in for a TD with 29 seconds remaining in the Half to close the gap, and then executed one of the best Final Two Minute Drills I’ve ever seen to throw the game winning TD with 18 seconds left. Romo’s final drive; 8 of 10 for 78 yards and 1 game winning TD. The throw to Hurd was amazing. How great is it to have a QB that when we get the ball with 2 minutes to go and 80 yards to travel for the TD needed to win the game, you can get out the pen and put a tick in the win column.
Haha Airforce. Yeah, how many times in years past would we have given up a lung or something for a 1 point win on the road?? Or a 1 point win at home?? Or hell, a 1 point win in the pre-season?? Like I said, it’s all Romo’s fault!! He’s made us real greedy!!!LOL
Oh yeah and just a side not guys, Romo has all of ONE game where he didn’t throw multiple TDs.
He ripped off another 300 yard day, another QB rating over 100 (I think.), and now he has 35 TDs and is on pace to break 40 which is pretty select group of people.
I don’t care if he goes through every country,pop,rock, celebrity on the face of the earth as long as he’s having games like that.
Oh and pace for 4000 yards
Yeah Luke. I saw that throw to Hurd. Just perfect. I still remember when we had QB’s going through here where if they had made that throw I’d have fell off the couch. Now I take it as a matter of course. We now know that if there’s only a TD or less difference in the score that we’re probably going to win at the end. I think Brady’s having an AMAZING year, but I personally think Romo’s playing the best QB in the league this year. And yes, I’m a Cowboys fan and probably biased, but I wouldn’t trade him for anything.
Why are people bagging out Newman? What did he do that was so terrible? I didn’t see any TD throws on him, I didn’t see any deep balls completed on him, he gave up a couple of outs and a crossing route or two, Newman was not the problem on D by any stretch. No corner never gets a pass completed on him (watch Yancy Thigpen cut inside Deion Sanders and catch a pass from Neil O’Donnell for the TD in the Superbowl).
Yeah Luke I somewhat agree with you.
Alot of curl routes were being completed. And you gotta give the Lions credit, they had some passes that were caught on 3rd and medium that were horrible passes that they slid down to get.
I think the Lions played a little above their heads.
Everyone here knows Romo can deliver in the clutch but this is the first game that I saw him frustrated enough to cause us a penalty. 27 of his 35 completions were Witten, Barber and Jones. Like Kam said, his excellence has set the bar high. Your right though he took what they gave him and played within himself and executed. We just didnt look sharp the first half.
Sorry I can’t be as happy and proud as some of you guys. Our deffense stinks!!! The idea to bring Wade Philips to Dallas was to see if all those overpaid idiots could do a better job…we got 1 sack today playing against the worst O-Line in the NFL. No prressure, no coverage and now wven the Run D that was supposed to so good also sucked.
Yes, our Offense is great and they deserve a lot of credit. Specially Romo. Best QB in the league!
Kameleon,
Yeah, It’d be tough to pick anyone over Romo right now, even Brady. Romo is still developing as a player, and today took another step forward, he’s only going to get better. He’s becoming as astute and patient as Brady but he has something that Brady doesn’t, that uncanny ability to escape trouble, to save a play that looks absolutely doomed (think Gurode’s crazy snaps). And like Brady he’s money in crunch time. Romo and the Cowboys are better than when the Patriots beat us early in the year, the Superbowl rematch between those two is going to be epic.
I got though the Campo years by setting the bar very low. Any game we didnt embarrass ourselves was considered a win.LOL
Holly Cow!
I knew that Romo was good, I knew that Romo was accurate, but dang, I didn’t knew that I would see an 80 completion pct…
35/44 = 79.54%
WOW.
Having said all that about Romo, Brady just completed a game (against a good team) that will keep his stats on pace for the greatest single season ever for a QB. Very impressive.
that’s what happens when the opponent puts 3 or 2 guys on T.O. Running backs and Tight Ends get open and those are normally easy completions. Specially when its Barber and Witten catching the ball.
Luke,
I pray for them to get to the SB undefeated and we ruin their perfect season…all I can say….
Mantab,
That would be sweet.
LOL Squid. I was big into “moral” victories back during the Campo years. Those were the only kind the Cowboys were giving out back then.
Does anyone know his ypc? Anyone complete 5 yard passes. Dont crucify me Im just playing devils advocate. Im a card carrying Romosexual.
I’m just so glad for the win. The Cowboys have historically been bad in Detroit and been even worse in December since 1997. As Joe Buck said, the legend of Romo just keeps on growing.
Detroit coaches last week, “we just can’t let Owens beat us. He’s the key, we stop him we stop Dallas”. Detroit coaches tomorrow, “I said Witten not Owens. You said Owens, did not, did so, did not, did so” and on and on it goes.
Congrats to Witten on his record setting day.
Re: Post # 30
Luke,
I concur with you mate. That was very well said. Why cuss out your own team?
It is a sixty minute game. Going 7 for 14, like the Lions did, on third down doesn’t win the game.
Scoreboard!
You know, I feel the same way as Man Tab. I personally feel depressed and a little cheated when another team plays them well. I’ll feel the same way if someone beats them before we get another chance.
Squidlo,
Please don’t mention the Campo years. I still have nightmares and trauma from that time.
Primetime just said something I really agreed with on NFL Net. It showed the replay of Kitna going nuts when their kicker missed the FG. Prime said he didn’t like that because the kicker didn’t do that when Kitna would throw an INT. Guess you can have all the physical talent in the world but it takes a lot more to be a leader like Romo.
Now, if we get there to the SB and we loose and they get crowned at our expense, I will probably not survive the offseason….
can you Imagine If we had A healthy TG, what kinda numbers you think Romo would have? Ppl in the Media Lose sight of this. Brad HAs all his weapons.. I believe the Numbers would be similar, and I believe Brady could not improv if the play breaks down. As u can See hid game completly changes with pressure in his face. Romo changes the Game when faced with Pressure!! His one Flaw…protecting the ball under duress..And MAN TAB PLease!! If our defense stinks how in the hell were we ranked in the top ten for most of the season?? Oh Yeah NEW ENGLANDS D sucks too..Given up almost 200 yds on the ground..and back to back 100yd rushers..Oh yeah DALLAS 0 100 yd Rushers all Season..
I’m just so happy to be 1 out of 4 of the best (really best) teams in the NFL. Everyone else just sucks. How many years were we one of those teams? Too many to count. The last time they won a playoff, my daughter was 2. Now she’s almost 13.
It’s time to put things into some huge perspective. This could be our 3rd dynasty in the making. How many teams can say that. We have all the players in place to go the Superbowl and continue to dominate (unlike the Bears, Seahawks, Bucs, etc.)
Squid,
It was a 6.9 average. That’s very respectable off 44 attempts. What makes me so happy is that Buffalo played this same type of game and Romo refused to surrender to it and kept forcing into double coverage but in this game even when we fell behind he didn’t take the bait. Romo’s biggest problem always seemed to be himself, he can be to gung-ho, but recently (especially today) he waited it out and took what was there. If he let his frustrations (and the teams sometimes poor execution and frustration) get the better of him and chucked one up deep for TO and got picked off I’d say we lose this game. Earlier in the year I think he would’ve made the bad decision but this game he looked in complete control even when we were losing. It’s no coincidence that Romo’s completion percentage has gone up considerably since the Bills game.
Romo’s completions over the first 6 games this year;
119 of 200 at 59.5%
Romo’s completions over the next 7 games;
168 of 226 at 74.3%
The offence played well - the Lions cover 2 took away the deep ball and Romo had to be patient.
The defence is looking like deja vu all over again. Hopefully, the D will get better before the playoffs begin.
Luke - that’s a great stat, and sure does seem to back up what you said convincingly
“Romo’s completions over the first 6 games this year;
119 of 200 at 59.5%
Romo’s completions over the next 7 games;
168 of 226 at 74.3%”
Groove…
It is my opinion that our D sucks. I g by what I see on the field. Opn receivers all the time, no pressure…same ol same ol. Hope Romo can cover their asses until Feb.
I’m guilty of getting on here and cursing the team. Sorry. Where else can I vent! I get mad when all this talent plays like that. I just worry about them going into a skid. I know it’s not last year, but I see flashes of last year sometimes, especially from the D and it worries me at the time.
Doesn’t mean I’m not happy with the win.The playoffs might give me an ulcer, though.
Right. Perspective.
There’s some perspective.
One game at a time boys.
And I am so loving this year, even the occassional ice cream headache.
I expected a close game….not this close, but a close game non the less. Besides the NFC east teams, the Lions always give us a hard way to go. Look at the history between the teams, I think the Lions are one of few teams that have a consistent W/L% against us especially in Detroit.
Besides,we needed a game like this to keep us focused and continue to play like were upset.
This game reminds me of two of the NFL’s mose shopworn cliches:
“Any given Sunday”
and
“That’s why they play the game”
As recently as last year I would have lost hope somewhere midway through the 3rd quarter during a game like this one, however, this year, I keep hope alive and I actually expect us to win our first playoff game in what, 10 years.
Now as for the Super Bowl, we’ll see, but for the first time in a long time I feel that anything’s possible and it’s a good feeling.