Cowboys Thankful For Kicker

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The Dallas Cowboys escaped with a Thanksgiving Day victory after rookie Dan Bailey kicked a last-second field goal to push the Cowboys past the Miami Dolphins 20-19 at Cowboys Stadium.

Dallas appeared sluggish on offense, defense, and special teams for most of the game.  Quarterback Tony Romo threw 2 interceptions in the 1st quarter.  Fortunately, at that point in the game, the Dallas defense was playing well, only giving up a field goal, despite being backed into the corner most of the period.

The defense did not stay sharp the entire game, however.  The over-hyped Rob Ryan defense gave up 4 drives over 50 yards, 3 of them in the 2nd half.  Miami connected on 5 passes over 20 yards long, compared to 2 for the Cowboys.  The Dallas secondary looked out of place much of the game, padding Miami quarterback Matt Moore’s stats with a 99.5 QB rating.

Dallas quarterback Tony Romo did settle down after the first quarter.  He led the Cowboys to scoring drives in the 2nd and 4th quarter.  In both halves, he directed the Cowboys on drives that resulted in touchdown passes to Laurent Robinson.  Romo finished the game completing 22 of 34 for 226 yards and 2 touchdowns.  His quarterback rating was only 78.8 for the game.

Running back DeMarco Murray carried the load for the Cowboys ground game, gaining 87 yards on 22 attempts.  27 of his yards came on the Cowboys final drive to set up the winning field goal.

The Cowboys have won 4 in a row, and retain at least a share of the NFC East lead as they head to Arizona for their next game on December 4.

 

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