2005 Dallas Cowboys game 3 versus the San Francisco 49er's stats and recap

For a while Sunday, it appeared the Cowboys were still railing from the Monday night collapse vs the Redskins. I don't think many Cowboy fans or players envisioned the Cowboys trailing 21-6 early in the 2nd quarter but that is just what happened. A long opening touchdown drive, a record setting 89 yard touchdown pass and a defensive interception returned for a touchdown, set the table for a 49er blowout. But the Cowboys remained calm and collected behind their veteran quarterback. The defense licked its wounds and started to make plays. Slowly but surely the Cowboys chipped into the lead. A long touchdown drive (84 yards in 6 plays, Bledsoe to Witten for 6 yard TD) and a defensive stand at the 1 yard line kept the score close at half 24-12.

The Cowboys opened the 2nd half with another touchdown drive (55 yards in 10 plays, 1 yard Julius Jones TD Run) but the niners quickly answered with an interception and short touchdown drive of their own (34 yards in 4 plays, Lloyd 14 yard pass from Rattay). Going into the 4th quarter down 12 points (32-19) is not a coaches dream but the Cowboys had withstood the 49er's fury and held serve to trail by less than 2 scores. The Cowboys scored early in the 4th quarter to inch closer (32-26, 72 yards in 4 plays, Julius Jones 1 yard TD run) and then played tough defense to keep the niners close. With just over 6 minutes left to play, time was running out and the Cowboys needed some more offense. Enter a 12 year veteran at QB. Drew Bledsoe, just as he did in the opener at San Diego, moved the Cowboys down the field and scored the go ahead touchdown (76 yards in 8 plays, 14 yard TD pass from Drew Bledsoe to Keyshawn Johnson). Now it was the defenses turn to shut the door. A Dat Nguyen interception late secured the Cowboys win. It wasn't easy and it wasn't always pretty but in the end, The Cowboys star shined brightest.

Injuries; Dat Nguyen suffered a strained neck but returned to the game in time to intercept a late game saving pass.

Player of the Game; With the defense struggling, the player of the game has to go to an offensive player and there were plenty to choose from but I think Drew Bledsoe clearly shined brighter than anyone else.

Other players who deserve props; Terry Glenn had another huge game with over 100 yards receiving. Keyshawn made some clutch catches including the game winner. Jason Witten led the team in catches including his 1st TD of the year. Julius Jones also scored 2 touchdowns on the ground.

Grades:
Offense - B; The turnovers led to 14 points but the offense had just enough to overcome those plays (5 touchdowns for the 2nd time this year)!
Defense - C+; After the initial onslaught the Cowboys defense really stiffened. They limited the 49ers to just 1 score in the 2nd half and that came off a turnover and a short field.
Special teams - C; Missing an extra point really hurts regardless of who is to blame. It puts the team behind the 8 ball and they spend the rest of the day trying to catch up.. hence the 2 2-point trys.. Also, not picking up a first down no a fake punt hurst the defense.

With these types of grades, you would have thought the Cowboys lost the game but they had just enough for the 49ers.

Did you notice? Marcus Spears was the blocking fullback on Julius Jones 1 yard touchdown run early in the 4th quarter.

Jason Witten finally got into the action leading the team in catches for the first time this year!

Anthony Thomas was not active for this game. Rookie Tyson Thompson served as Julius Jones' backup.

Scott Fujita and Dat Nguyen's tackle on the 1 yard line of Kevin Barlow keeping the niners out of the end zone saving 4 points, They eventually kicked a field goal. Oh yea, the Cowboys won by 3 points.

On San Francisco's final drive of the game, Niners guard Justin Smiley was charged with a false start, and Rattay blamed it on all the noise the Cowboys fans here at Monster Park were making. Very cool!

When the Cowboys got the ball back with 6:05 remaining at their own 25 and trailing 31-26, the Monster Park scoreboard blinked, and the score came up Cowboys 32, 49ers 31, very spooky.