December Slump? Dallas Beats Carolina
A win is a win. Tony Romo, injured thumb and all, played average. Marion Barber ran the ball well, gaining over 110 yards on 22 carries (season high in yards), and scoring a touchdown. Terrell Owens has a high ankle sprain, but not before he scored a touchdown to his 3-game slide.
With that said, the Dallas Cowboys moved one step closer to home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs with a 20-13 win over the Carolina Panthers.
The offense still isn’t hitting on all cylinders. The defense had 5 sacks, the most so far this year. Other than one botched coverage that left Steve Smith wide open for a touchdown, the Cowboys dominated this game. The Cowboys also are lucky: it appeared to me the refs missed a pass interference call that would have kept a drive going for Carolina in Dallas territory. The Cowboys defense held strong on third downs, allowing the Panthers just 2-of-11 on third down conversions.
There were several other key injuries besides Owens. Nose tackle Jay Ratliff, cornerback Terence Newman and linebacker Bradie James all sustained injuries. Owens is scheduled to have an MRI on his high left ankle sprain on today. Ratliff, Newman and James all returned.
What a week of scandals. The Cowboys survived it though. To the naysayers who claimed the Cowboys were in a December slump, the laugh is on you. We all forgot what it felt like to lose a game, so the Eagles woke us up. Romo, during an interview, addressed the media frenzy over his girlfriend and Owens’ comments. He said that this is the first time he could remember when he didn’t care about anything but football. Gee, Romo … I hope you continue to focus life around football right now. The Cowboys did give you a handsome raise, and the team really would like to win a record-setting sixth Super Bowl, especially against the Cheatriots, whom no one thinks can be defeated. Jessica Simpson can wait until mid-February for some lovin’.
Nick Eatman has a story up about the win. Some records were broken last night. Romo is the first player in Cowboys history to pass for more than 4,000 yards in a season. Danny White had the record with 3,980 yards in 1983. Owens 15th touchdown catch tops Frank Clarke’s record of 14 set in 1962. Jason Witten has 94 catches for1,121 yards, career highs and team records for a tight end. DeMarcus Ware’s 13 sacks are the most in a season since Jim Jeffcoat’s 14 in 1986.
Owens may be done for the regular season to rest his ankle for the playoffs. Who knows, he may be more seriously injured than the trainers are letting out. I had this vision last night as I watched Owens use crutches to leave the locker room: with Terry Glenn preparing for a comeback, possibly playing his first game since a serious knee injury, what if he comes in and leads the Cowboys to a Super Bowl win? Glenn is a team leader. Just like Owens, he has big-play potential. Imagine the storyline to Glenn returning and playing at a high caliber that kickstarts this Cowboys offense? The vision stuck with me all night and this morning.
From the DMN, an interview with Owens about his ankle:
"The bye week helps, and I have all the confidence in the world this team can win," Owens said. "As you saw tonight, those guys gutted it out. We have some good receivers in Sam Hurd and Miles Austin. Those guys will get it done."
As for the seriousness of the injury, T.O. tossed us a bunch of "day-to-day" jargon. But he did allow that he feels that the injury isn’t serious, and several people close to him said tonight that the feeling is that he’ll be OK.
"I know it’s not to the extent of what my first injury was, on the opposite leg," Owens said, referencing the injury he suffered in 2004 with the Eagles. "I’ll be fine, it’s day-to-day."
December 23rd, 2007 at 8:52 amNot trying to hate here, but the Cowboys really aren’t playing their best football heading into the postseason. Isn’t that a concern? Injuries are mounting. I’m seeing a one-and-out postseason appearance for the Cowboys.
December 23rd, 2007 at 1:02 pmGee, PJS, are you saying the same thing about the Patriots? If not, then you are obviously trying to spread some hate. Go make love to CL. You two can make a hate baby together.
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:41 pmOkay, now I’ve known for a while you were biased, but Terry Glenn leading your team to the superbowl? Don’t worry about TO, we’ve got TERRY GLENN to save us! He’s gonna take us all the way to the superbowl, carrying the team on the cybernetic knees he was given by the scientists from the 6 Million Dollar Man. That comment nearly made me snort up egg-nog onto my computer screen. Your cowboys won a timid victory against a bad team that was on it’s 82nd quarterback. They have some real injury concerns and looked pretty terrible once TO went out. I don’t know if I’d be strutting around the way you are if my team played the way the cowboys have played over the last three weeks.
December 23rd, 2007 at 11:16 pmFolks, don’t worry, that’s Giants fan up there. Like Eagles fans, he comes here grumpy and prepared to be nasty. Somehow the Carolina Panthers are a much worse team than the Buffalo Bills, who nearly beat the Giants. Or the Viking, who beat the Giants by like 40 points suddenly became a real good team, well, because they beat the Giants. Please. I love it when jealous division foes come in here with garbage. Apparently, you missed how the Dallas D shut down the Panthers, who do have weapons. Apparently, you missed Marin Barber’s 100 yard game? Ummm, what game were you watching?
December 24th, 2007 at 6:31 amActually I’m Redskins Fan, thank you very much!Oooh, the Dallas D shut down an anemic running attack and a 5th string quarterback. If only you could shut down a GOOD team that effectively. Like…I don’t know…the LIONS. Or the Eagles. Since you brought it up, I too am enjoying the Giant’s own December meltdown. Isn’t it nice when hated rivals can find some common ground? Like the commercial says…Eli Manning is UNSTOPPABLE. Especially when it comes to throwing poorly.
December 24th, 2007 at 9:59 am