Cowboys win three in a row!
Strange game indeed. Each team had the ball once and the first quarter was over. Fortunately for the Cowboys, their possession ended in a touchdown while the Lions were forced to Punt. The Cowboys were able to muster up 2 field goals in the 2nd quarter as the Lions put together a long 78 yard drive for their only score of the day.
The Cowboys had 2 long drives of 14 and 13 plays for 84 and 89 yards taking up over 14 minutes of game clock in the first half on those 2 drives alone. Those 10 points combined with a late field goal gave the Cowboys a tenuous 13-7 half time lead.
The second half was all Cowboys defense. The Cowboys forced the Lions to punt the first 2 times they had the ball allowing -4 total yards. The Lions put together a nice drive at the end of the 3rd quarter but Jason Hanson missed a 50 yard field goal as the 4th quarter began which spelled doom for the Lions.
In the middle of the 3rd quarter the Cowboys put together their final scoring drive. A Marion Barber touchdown run of 4 yards gave the Cowboys a 20-7 lead. The drive was 48 yards in 12 plays taking up over 6 minutes of game clock.
The Lions got the ball only one more time in the 4th quarter and that drive ended with a fumble by Joey Harrington after being sacked by Greg Ellis. The fumble was recovered by Dat Nguyen and the Cowboys had the ball with just over 4 minutes left and a 20-7 lead.
The Cowboys offense was able to run the ball effectively and picked up 3 first downs on the final drive to kill the remaining minutes of the game. Overall it was a great performance by the Defense as the Offense played keep away most of the day.
Injuries; Dat Nguyen
Player of the Game; Billy Cundiff makes a triumphant return to the Cowboys and sets a franchise record with a 56 yard field goal! Welcome back Billy!
Other players who deserve props; Marion Barber scores 2 touchdowns on the ground and has secure his position as the back up to Julius Jones.
Dat Nguyen, although still hobbled some was able to play, make a tackle and recover a fumble.
Greg Ellis continues to pile up his sack totals. He now leads the team in sacks by almost double.
Grades:
Offense - B, even though they only scored 20 points and gained only 253 yards, they played keep away all day from the Lions. The Cowboys offense controlled the ball for 36 plus minutes compared to the Lions 23 plus minutes.
Defense - B+, the defense was dominant all day long allowing only a single touchdown. The Lions were only able to gain 226 total yards and 11 first downs. A few more sacks and turnovers would have been nice but still a very solid game for this unit.
Special teams - B+, McBrair was very successfully pinning the Lions deep. Cundiff made all his kicks including a 56 yarder and there were no long returns by the Lions.
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1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
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6 |
7 |
0 |
20 |
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0 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
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Scoring Summary |
1st Quarter |
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TD |
Marion Barber, 6 Yd run (Billy Cundiff kick is good), 6:58. Drive: 14 plays, 84 yards in 8:02. |
2nd Quarter |
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FG |
Billy Cundiff 19 Yd, 6:39. Drive: 13 plays, 89 yards in 6:43. |
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TD |
Kevin Jones, 2 Yd run (Jason Hanson kick is good), 2:49. Drive: 8 plays, 78 yards in 3:50. |
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FG |
Billy Cundiff 56 Yd, 0:03. Drive: 5 plays, 4 yards in 0:35. |
3rd Quarter |
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TD |
Marion Barber, 4 Yd run (Billy Cundiff kick is good), 2:21. Drive: 12 plays, 48 yards in 6:03. |
4th Quarter |
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none |
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Passing |
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CP/AT |
YDS |
TD |
INT |
D. Bledsoe |
12/23 |
110 |
0 |
0 |
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Rushing |
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ATT |
YDS |
TD |
LG |
J. Jones |
21 |
92 |
0 |
18 |
M. Barber |
15 |
53 |
2 |
10 |
D. Bledsoe |
4 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
T. Thompson |
2 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
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Receiving |
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REC |
YDS |
TD |
LG |
K. Johnson |
5 |
37 |
0 |
9 |
T. Glenn |
3 |
35 |
0 |
15 |
J. Witten |
2 |
15 |
0 |
10 |
J. Jones |
1 |
13 |
0 |
13 |
L. Polite |
1 |
10 |
0 |
10 |
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Fumbles |
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FUM |
LOST |
REC |
YDS |
D. Bledsoe |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
J. Jones |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
A. Johnson |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
D. Nguyen |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Kicking |
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FG |
LG |
XP |
PTS |
B. Cundiff |
2/2 |
56 |
2/2 |
8 |
Punting |
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NO |
AVG |
I20 |
LG |
M. McBriar |
3 |
32.3 |
3 |
46 |
Kickoff Returns |
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NO |
AVG |
TD |
LG |
T. Thompson |
1 |
21.0 |
0 |
21 |
T. Copper |
1 |
21.0 |
0 |
21 |
Punt Returns |
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NO |
AVG |
TD |
LG |
T. Newman |
2 |
7.0 |
0 |
8 |
P. Price |
1 |
10.0 |
0 |
10 |
Defense |
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T-A |
SCK |
INT |
FF |
B. James |
4-4 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
T. Newman |
4-0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
R. Williams |
4-2 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
K. Davis |
3-4 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
A. Henry |
3-1 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
G. Ellis |
2-2 |
1.0 |
0 |
1 |
A. Glenn |
2-1 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
C. Canty |
1-1 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
J. Ferguson |
1-0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
R. Fowler |
1-0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
S. Fujita |
1-0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
T. Glenn |
1-0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
L. Glover |
1-1 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
D. Nguyen |
1-0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
D. Ware |
1-1 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
K. Burnett |
0-2 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
Q. Carver |
0-1 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
S. Shanle |
0-1 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
M. Spears |
0-1 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
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Next game; Thursday November 24th, 3:00 PM at home against the Denver Broncos on Turkey Day.
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