Monday, September 14, 2009
Dallas Cowboys 34, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21
Photo not provided by the Dallas Cowboys
Today, the Cowboys became CowMen.
The Dallas Cowboys streaked by an inferior opponent Sunday afternoon, defeating the rudderless Tampa Bay Buccaneers 34-21 in Florida. The win set the stage for Dallas at 1-0, tied in their division with the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles.
The win was the first game in three seasons without star receiver Terrell Owens, who was kicked off the team over the off-season and landed in Buffalo. Any questions about whether Dallas had the wideout depth to replace Owens was answered, however, as quarterback Tony Romo went 16-for-27 with no interceptions, three touchdowns and a career-high 353 yards passing.
A huge chunk of Romo's passing yardage came on a small number of plays, including touchdown passes of 42 yards to Miles Austin, 66 yards to Roy Williams, and 80 yards to Patrick Crayton. It was the first time Dallas had thrown two touchdown passes of 60 or more yards in the same game since 1962.
Photo not provided by the Dallas Cowboys
Pictured: the Cowboys' run defense. Not pictured: actual defense.
Dallas' three-headed rushing attack was also effective, amassing 118 yards on the ground against a historically-good Tampa defense. Marion Barber led the charge, rushing 14 times for 79 yards and a touchdown, while sophomore Felix Jones added 22 yards, 19 of which came on a single carry.
But all was not well for the Cowboys, as the final score did not tell the true story of the game: Fresh off last year's colossal embarrassments against Philadelphia and Baltimore, the Dallas defense picked up right where it left off last season. Tampa ran all over Dallas for 174 rushing yards, 5.6 yards a carry and a total time of possession 6 minutes better than the Cowboys. When Tampa wasn't slicing through Dallas' soft run defense like butter, they were carving them up in the passing game, as league retread Byron Leftwich passed for 276 yards and a touchdown without once getting sacked or intercepted. Only a series of seemingly-minor five yard penalties killed Tampa drives that threatened to put the game away early, as well as Leftwich overthrowing key receivers on third downs and a dropped pass on a crucial fourth down play by Kellen Winslow.
Dallas' next opponent is their hated divisional rival New York Giants, who barely squeaked past the sad-sack Washington Redskins 23-17 later in the day.
Posted by Todd M.
