Home > 2005 Schedule and Tickets > Game 15 stats and recap

Cowboys keep playoff hopes alive with last second victory in Carolina.

This team could have mailed this one in and no one would have thought the less of them. For the most part, most fans thought the Cowboys were done after last weeks debacle in Washington but when they fell down 10-0 early in this game, a lot of fans started thinking about the draft. But a funny thing happened on the way to New York, the Cowboys were not quite ready to call it a season.

The 3rd quarter was a defensive struggle until Julius Jones busted loose on a 43 yard touchdown run, his longest TD run of the season, to give the Cowboys a 17-13 lead.

The lead remained 4 points until late in the 4th quarter when Panthers QB Jake Delhomme hit a streaking Ricky Proehl on a 35 yard touchdown strike. Rookie Safety Willie Pile was on the coverage.

A similar theme started to ring true, the Cowboys defense had played well all game but as it near the end, the defense falter allowing the Panthers to take the lead.

The Cowboys got the ball back with just over 2 minutes to play and trailing by 3 points. The Cowboys had been in too many close games to let this one crack them. They methodically moved the ball down the field, setting up a game tying field goal with just a minute of play left.

Cowboys kicker, Billy Cundiff, had struggled all day with his kicks and sure enough, this kick went wide right. But just like in the Chiefs game, just when the Cowboys had the taste of defeat in their mouths, the Yellow Flag came to the rescue. Now there is no doubt that the Panthers ran into the kicker, he should have made the kick regardless but they definitely ran into him.

The Panthers argued that kick was blocked (tipped) and therefore running into the kicker was allowed, the replay did not confirm this, although it was terribly close, just not very obvious. The Cowboys had new life and did not waste it. Two plays later, Drew Bledsoe hit Terry Glenn for a short game winning Touchdown! The Cowboys had escaped again! WHEW!

As thrilling as this game was, it was not enough to secure a playoff spot. The Cowboys need to win their final game vs the Rams but also need either the Panthers or the Redskins to loose their final games in order for the Cowboys to make the playoffs. Its not the best scenario but if you think about where the Cowboys were this time last year, its a pretty good place to be!

Player of the Game; For the first time all Year Julius Jones rushed for more than 100 yards. He almost doubled that by going for 194 and 2 touchdowns. Something Cowboy fans had hoped to see all season but an ankle injury has kept Julius at bay this year!

Other players who deserve props; Demarcus Ware was NFC defensive player of the week with 3 sacks and 3 forced fumbles!

Both Terry Glenn and Keyshawn Johnson had nice receiving days.

Grades:
Offense - B. Struggled at times but when the game was on the line they found a way to move the ball and score the game winner. Over 200 yards rushing is always nice!
Defense - B. This team really played well against a staunch offense. The Cowboys limited the Panthers best player Steve Smith, until he got so frustrated he was tossed from the game. Plus 3 forced fumbles and 3 sacks helped the cause a lot!
Special teams - C. Not so special. A late first half field goal miss from just over 30 yards is terrible and then when you do it again at the end of the game you should start looking for another job. I really like Billy Cundiff and I am not sure what the deal is but he has lost something or he is still ailing. Fortunately for the Cowboys that last minute missed field goal was nullified when the Panthers were caught running into the kicker giving the Cowboys a fresh set of downs. Unfortunately for Billy Cundiff that was not enough to save his job.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final 7 3 7 7 24 10 3 0 7 20

Scoring Summary 1st Quarter FG John Kasay 24 Yd, 10:05. Drive: 5 plays, 74 yards in 1:46. TD Drew Carter, 32 Yd pass from Jake Delhomme (John Kasay kick is good), 9:49. Drive: 1 play, 32 yards in 0:07. TD Julius Jones, 8 Yd run (Billy Cundiff kick is good), 7:00. Drive: 5 plays, 80 yards in 2:49. 2nd Quarter FG Billy Cundiff 24 Yd, 11:00. Drive: 10 plays, 54 yards in 5:46. TD John Kasay 47 Yd, 6:50. Drive: 8 plays, 47 yards in 4:10. 3rd Quarter TD Julius Jones, 43 Yd run (Billy Cundiff kick is good), 4:50. Drive: 5 plays, 61 yards in 2:45. 4th Quarter TD Ricky Proehl, 35 Yd pass from Jake Delhomme (John Kasay kick is good), 2:32. Drive: 7 plays, 64 yards in 3:24. TD Terry Glenn, 2 Yd pass from Drew Bledsoe (Billy Cundiff kick is good), 0:24. Drive: 9 plays, 58 yards in 2:08.

Passing   CP/AT YDS TD INT D. Bledsoe 15/23 209 1 1           Rushing   ATT YDS TD LG J. Jones 34 194 2 43 M. Barber 6 20 0 10 D. Bledsoe 1 0 0 0                               Receiving   REC YDS TD LG K. Johnson 6 89 0 19 T. Glenn 4 88 1 51 J. Jones 2 17 0 15 J. Witten 1 9 0 9 M. Barber 1 5 0 5 L. Polite 1 1 0 1                     Fumbles   FUM LOST REC YDS D. Bledsoe 1 0 0 -1 T. Newman 1 0 1 0 T. Thompson 1 1 0 0 L. Allen 0 0 1 0 G. Ellis 0 0 1 0 Kicking   FG LG XP PTS B. Cundiff 1/2 24 3/3 6 Punting   NO AVG I20 LG M. McBriar 7 48.6 1 63 Kickoff Returns   NO AVG TD LG T. Thompson 5 26.4 0 40           Punt Returns   NO AVG TD LG P. Crayton 2 4.0 0 6 T. Newman 2 1.0 0 2 Defense   T-A SCK INT FF B. James 7-0 0.0 0 0 D. Ware 7-2 3.0 0 3 T. Newman 4-1 0.0 0 0 J. Ferguson 3-0 0.0 0 0 S. Fujita 3-0 0.0 0 0 K. Burnett 2-1 0.0 0 0 K. Coleman 2-0 0.0 0 0 K. Davis 2-0 0.0 0 0 G. Ellis 2-1 0.0 0 0 L. Glover 2-0 0.0 0 0 M. Barber 1-0 0.0 0 0 Q. Caver 1-0 0.0 0 0 R. Fowler 1-2 0.0 0 0 A. Glenn 1-0 0.0 0 0 N. Jones 1-1 0.0 0 0 W. Pile 1-0 0.0 0 0 J. Reeves 1-1 0.0 0 0 M. Spears 1-0 0.0 0 0 T. Thompson 1-0 0.0 0 0 R. Williams 1-0 0.0 1 0 C. Canty 0-1 0.0 0 0

Next game; Sunday January 1, 2006! 8:30 PM EST on ESPN vs the St. Louis Rams in Dallas. Last game of the year and since this is a night game, the Cowboys will know their fate by the time the game starts. This game could mean the playoffs or it could mean nothing.

2005 Season stats