Just judging by the numbers, the Dallas Cowboys offensive statistics
do not jump off the page against the Washington Pro Football Team. Just briefly take a look
at the Cowboys top offensive player's stats, according to NFL.com…
Tony Romo threw for 170 yards and 1 TD with 1 INT. DeMarco
Murray ran for 29 yards on 7 attempts with 1 TD. Dez Bryant had 5 catches for
36 yards and Jason Whitten had 3 catches for 27 yards and neither caught a TD pass.
Miles Austin returned after missing two weeks and did not catch a pass. These
are the most productive players for the Boys offense on a weekly basis and the
Cowboys still beat the Redskins 31-16.
This tells me that the Boys must have done other things very
well. Their special teams player Dwayne Harris had a total of 222 yards
returning punts and kickoffs. He scored 1 TD on an 86 yard punt return in the 2nd
quarter. With 10 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, Harris received a
kickoff 5 yards in the end zone and returned the kick 90 yards down to Washington’s
15 yard line. Dwayne Harris made special teams plays on returns and kick
coverages.
The injuries hit the Cowboys stars in RB DeMarco Murray and
DE Demarcus Ware in the first half. According to Dallas Cowboys.com, Murray had
a sprained MCL and Ware had a quad injury. After halftime
evaluations, neither player returned in the second half.
The biggest story for the Cowboys was their defense. At the
start of the season the Boys had hopes for the defensive line. There was #93
Anthony Spencer, #90 Jay Ratliff, #94 Demarcus Ware and #97 Jason Hatcher. See photo excluding Jason Hatcher. Jerry Jones said he is not sure where Ratliff's future stands with the team, according to Dallas Cowboys.com.
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| photo: Sports Illustrated.com and CBS Sports.com |
Ratliff has not played the entire season and Spencer only played a few snaps in the Kansas City Chief game in week 2 before having season ending surgery. The Cowboys were playing in the second half with only Jason Hatcher on the front line. The rest of the players no one knew and they were being shuffled around all night.
The defensive line harassed RG3 and the passing game all night and the defensive backs played phenomenal man-to-man defense from start to finish. Brandon Carr played excellent against Pierre Garcon. Morris Claiborne has his confidence back and he has been playing better since the Denver Broncos game in week 5. Safety Barry Church just needs to pull back on his aggressiveness near the sidelines. He had two 15-yard penalties against him on hits to RG3, but Church is still playing well.
Dallas still has some learning to do, but at least the fans
saw other players that can get the job done and contribute to the team. Some
may be surprised, but the Cowboys defense gave up 216 total yards of rushing to
Washington on Sunday Night. See stats from NFL.com…
This is what fans have been waiting to see. A defense that
plays man and not the zone that has killed the defense all year long. Also fans
saw a small taste of running back #21 Joseph Randle. With the injury to Murray,
Dallas will use their stable of backs in Randle, #25 Lance Dunbar and #34 Phillip Tanner. Dunbar has the lighting speed but did not play this game due to a hamstring injury. Randle and Tanner are not the fastest, but they have the vision and toughness to get extra yards when needed. Ball security will be the only question with inexperienced backs.
Just a note, more pressure will be on Romo since DeMarco
Murray's injury. The coaching staff needs to make sure they run they ball to
keep the pressure off of Romo. If this team continues to play as a team (A TEAM), the
sky is the limit.
Last I checked, TEAMS WIN and LOSE football games. One
player cannot do it all. Time to see what the unknown Cowboys players can do.
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