Cowboys Revisit The Year 2008!

Photo by Willie Martin "Mr. Will"

It's always great to delve into the numbers and try to make sense of what the numbers tell you.

Do they lie, are they factual, is there a trend to keep an eye on, do you favor offensive or defensive statistics?

Take your pick. As the 3-1 Dallas Cowboys prepared for a Texas Two Step with the 3-1 Houston Texans the #1 question I asked myself was, 'What impresses me more? The #2 offense taking on the #1 defense?'

A defensive battle was what came to mind. Fresh off what these eyes witnessed last week in Houston my thoughts were:

How well the offensive line of the Cowboys would fare against the defensive physicality that the Texans could bring?

We knew that DeMarco Murray would be good for 20-25 carries and get over 100 yards.

Nobody was talking about the overall health of Arian Foster. Could he be a factor on this day in Arlington?

Defense and turnovers were the story in the first half of a scoreless game before Dan Bailey placed the Cowboys on the board with a 33 yard field goal after 26 minutes for a 3-0 halftime lead.

The game would end in dramatic fashion only after the Texans would score twice in the final 2:27 to knot the game up at 17-17 before Dan Bailey was iced by Bill O'Brien with seconds left in regulation.

For the first time in a while Bailey hooked his kick wide left which meant overtime.

For the Cowboys to lose a game and a ten point lead in overtime would have made for some long faces with the Seahawks on the radar next week.

As it were The Cowboys would stop Houston before getting the ball back. Tony Romo would put the ball in DeMarco Murrays hands. Good enough for 136 yards on 31 carries.

Murray became the first Cowboy to have 5 straight 100 yard rushing games. Tony Romo would then escape a sure sack from JJ Watt before heaving a touchdown pass high into the hands of Terrence Williams for a touchdown. 

Dez Bryant made a circus while covered by a Texans defender and Tony Romo avoiding a sack in the extra period.

"Just got to come down with it, come down with it," said Bryant. "That's something I always tell Tony. If the ball is in the air, I'm going to try my best to come down with it."

Moments later Dan Bailey atoned for a rare miss by making a 53 yard field goal for a 20-17 overtime win.

"We had to go down and basically win the game twice," said Tony Romo, "You just put your work hat on and go out and execute."

Tony Romo was a very workmanlike 28 of 41 in the air for 324 yards and a 24th comeback victory.

To say that this game was a defensive battle in the first half was an understatement.

"Football is a brutal game," JJ Watt said. "It's brutal on your body. It's brutal on your emotions. To fight back the way we did, to show that resilience, it was good to see. But at the end of the day, we lost the game."

Arian Foster had a big second half in defeat with two touchdowns, 157 yards rushing on 23 touches-117 of those came in the second half.

Ryan Fitzpatrick 16 of 25 in the air for 154 yards. Fitzpatrick not much of a factor in the red zone. Texans fans will argue that perhaps they could have won if Foster kept getting the ball.

Congratulations to Jason Witten in becoming the third tight end in NFL history to reach 10,000 career yards. After the game all Drew wanted to talk about was the catch that Dez Bryant made.

"Dez, I've seen him make it a million times," said Jason Witten. "I don't know that there's two better people at clutch moments than Tony and him."

Dez Bryant had nine catches for 85 yards with one touchdown. Terrence Williams two catches for 71 yards.

With the win the Cowboys reach 4-1 for the first time since 2008. It was also the first four game win streak since 2011 under Jason Garrett. 

Noteworthy:

Teams who begin the season 4-1 reach the playoffs 70% of the time. The Cowboys in 2008 and 2011 did not, for the record.

DeMarco Murray joined Jim Brown and OJ Simpson as the only players to have five straight 100 yard games in NFL history.

The Cowboys ran the ball on 22 of 32 first down plays Sunday, including 21 rushes for 93 yards by DeMarco Murray. The first down passing led to big gains on second down as Tony Romo went 15-of-20 for 185 yards on second down Sunday.

The Cowboys were held to a field goal in the first half Sunday as their receivers dropped four passes in the half. The Cowboys finished with five drops total Sunday after recording one in their first four games.

Four of Tony Romo's five interceptions this season have come on passes intended for Dez Bryant.

Dez Bryant's 4th quarter touchdown was his 29th receiving touchdown since the start of 2012, breaking a tie with Jimmy Graham and Brandon Marshall for the most during that time.

(Source: ESPN Stats and information)

Its off to Seattle for what should be an interesting game next week. If the Cowboys can play keep away with the Hawks and have a solid run game Dallas had a chance to get to 5-1.

Exceeding all expectations, this has been fun to watch.

Over and out in Big D.

Mr. Will