Dallas Cowboys 37, Atlanta Falcons 21

by PegNews wire

ARLINGTON — The Dallas Cowboys took a great leap forward Sunday afternoon, defeating the Atlanta Falcons 37-21 at the shiny new Cowboys Stadium. The win was Dallas' second straight, and improved them to 4-2 on the season.

While Dallas' offense put up 37 points on a normally-stout defense, it was the much-maligned Dallas defense that stuffed the potent Falcon running game, put pressure on Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan, and essentially won the game. The Cowboys defensive line won the battle in the trenches, sacking Ryan four times -- twice as many times as Ryan had been sacked all season to this point -- while limiting the Falcons running game to a ineffective 124 yards over the entire game.

The Cowboys running game wasn't significantly better, but quarterback Tony Romo more than made up for it with his third 300-yard passing game of the season. Romo led the Cowboys on several long, balanced drives, and finished the game 21-of-29 with no interceptions, three touchdowns, and 311 yards passing.

Romo's primary target once again was explosive receiver Miles Austin, who followed up a 250-yard performance in the last game with six catches for 171 yards and two huge touchdowns. Jason Witten also had some key catches, finishing with 5 catches for 53 yards. Romo's other touchdown went to Patrick Crayton at the end of the first half, and Crayton would later seal the win with a 73-yard punt return in the waning moments of the fourth quarter.

Posted by Todd M.