Week 4 Game Recap: Dallas Cowboys 45, Tennessee Titans 14

What you need to know

Dallas Cowboys

The day started out poorly for QB Drew Bledsoe as he threw an interception on his first pass of the game. Bledsoe came back on the next two drives and lead the Cowboys to consecutive touchdowns. Both touchdown passes went to WR Terry Glenn. Bledsoe looked very sharp after the early interception, and he took advantage of the Titans’ weak cornerbacks in the first half by going nine for 14 for 141 yards. He had plenty of time to throw the ball most of the day and was able to pick apart the Titan secondary in the first half. Bledsoe only had 38 yards passing in the second half mainly because the game became a blowout, and Dallas went to a more conservative offense to run down the clock.

The game started well for RB Julius Jones as he got the ball early and often in the game and had 39 rushing yards in the first quarter. Dallas kept a balanced attack of running and passing through the first half. The Dallas’ offensive line wore down the Titans’ defense by the second half and the Cowboys turned to the run in the second half of game once they built a lead in the game. Jones and RB Marion Barber shredded the Titans’ run defense for a combined 114 yards and two touchdowns in the second half.

WR Terrell Owens took the field for the Cowboys after a bizarre week off the field and despite having a broken bone in his right hand. Owens did not look affected by the injury as he had a very good first half with 73 yards on three catches. Owens could have had an even better half, but he had a touchdown reception reversed by the officials after they ruled he didn’t have possession of the ball in the end zone late in the second half. He only had two catches for 15 yards in the second half as the Cowboys put the game out of reach early and went to a more rushing orientated offense to run the clock down.

WR Terry Glenn had a big first half in the game as he caught two touchdowns passes and had 49 yards receiving. He took advantage of a suspect Titans’ secondary and made two big plays in the red zone in the first half. He only had six receiving yards in the second half, but did add a 22 yard run in the third quarter.

Tennessee Titans

QB Vince Young got his first NFL start this week in place of QB Kerry Collins who had struggled to move the Titans’ offense in the first three games of the season. Young looked like a rookie in his first start as he often threw into double or even triple coverage at times, and had two interceptions. Young simply didn’t look comfortable in the pocket and was sacked twice by Dallas. He didn’t have a lot time to throw the ball as the Titans’ banged up offensive line had trouble in pass coverage. The Titans tried running Young out on the option play, but had no success with it. He finished the game with three yards on five rushes. His only touchdown pass came on a 17 yard pass to TE Ben Troupe in the third quarter, and he scored on draw play for a successful two point conversion after that touchdown.

DT Albert Haynesworth was ejected after he stomped on Dallas center Andre Gurode's face. Gurode was lying on the ground without a helmet and Haynesworth deliberately drove the heel of his cleats into Gurode’s face. With the game on grass, Haynesworth was wearing the long cleats and Gurode required stitches. Coach Jeff Fisher went ballistic and rushed to apologize to coach Bill Parcells after the game. Fisher said that if the league didn’t take appropriate measures to punish Haynesworth, the team would.

RB Chris Brown started this game after missing last week’s game with a toe injury. The Titans tried to establish the run early in the game as he had eight carries for 22 yards in the first quarter. Brown was pretty much a non-factor after the first quarter as he only had four more carries for 11 yards the rest of the game.

WR Drew Bennett’s numbers suffered the most with the benching of QB Kerry Collins for QB Vince Young in this game. He only had one catch for seven yards in the first half and had just one catch for three yards in the second half. Another discouraging stat was that he was only targeted four times in the game.

What you ought to know

QB Drew Bledsoe, Pass: 13 - 20 - 179 - 2 TD / 1 INT

Bledsoe’s first pass of the game was an interception, but he quickly made up for that mistake by leading the team on 80 and 55 yard drives on the next two Dallas possessions. He finished both drives off with touchdown throws to Terry Glenn. He also led them deep into Titans’ territory with two minutes left in the first half, but kicker Mike Vanderjagt missed an easy 26 yard field goal. Bledsoe had a quiet second half and only had 38 yards passing as Dallas opened up a big lead.

RB Julius Jones, Rush: 23 - 122 - 1

Jones looked good in the first half as he racked up 57 yards in the first half including a 26 yard run on the second drive of the game that help set up there first touchdown. His other big run was for 24 yards and came on Dallas’ first play after a Vince Young interception to start the third quarter that set a touchdown on a five yard run. The Cowboys offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage and allowed Jones to average over five yards a carry. Jones touchdown came on a five yard run early in the third quarter.

RB Marion Barber III, Rush: 9 - 55 - 1, Rec: 1 - 18 - 0 (1 targets)

Barber only had one carry for six yards in the first half. On Dallas’ second drive of the second half, he had five carries for 36 yards, including a one yard touchdown run. He also had an 18 yard reception in the third quarter for a first down. Barber finished with respectable numbers considering he only had 10 touches in the game.

RB Tyson Thompson, Rush: 5 - 18 - 1

All of Thompson’s carries, including his touchdown run, came at garbage time as the Cowboys had rapped up the game late in the fourth quarter. He scored on a seven yard run after a Vince Young fumble late in the fourth quarter that gave Dallas the ball deep in Titans’ territory.

WR Terry Glenn, Rush: 1 - 22 - 0, Rec: 5 - 54 - 2 (8 targets)

No one seemed to benefit more from Terrell Owens’ presence in the game then Glenn who had two touchdown receptions in the first half of the game. He saw a lot of one-on-one coverage as the Titans’ defense focused on stopping Owens. Glenn made a nice double move to get open in the red zone on his first touchdown, a 13 yard reception in the first quarter. His second touchdown also came on a 13 yard reception as Bledsoe hit him in the back of end zone on Dallas’ next drive in the game. Glenn’s only other big play was a 22 yard run in the third quarter.

WR Terrell Owens, Rec: 5 - 88 - 0 (8 targets)

Owens had a strange and eventful week, even for his standards, but he did start this Sunday despite nursing a broken bone in his ring finger on his right hand. Owens looked good in his first game since his injury. His first reception came early in the second quarter when he caught a 20 yard pass down the middle of the field. He also caught a beautiful 46 yard catch in the second quarter. Owens' best scoring opportunity came late in the first half when he juggled a potential touchdown in the end zone, but was unable to gain possession of ball. After the game, he said there were no problems at all with his hand.

WR Patrick Crayton

Crayton saw no targets in this game, as most the balls were thrown in Terry Glenn and Terrell Owens’ direction.

WR Sam Hurd

Hurd saw time on the field spelling Owens but he had no receptions and no targets in the game.

TE Jason Witten, Rec: 2 - 19 - 0 (4 targets)

Witten had two receptions for 19 yards and was targeted four times in the game.

PK Mike Vanderjagt 1 - 2 FG, 6 - 6 XP, 9 points

Vanderjagt was one for two in field goals attempts in the game. He missed a chip shot of 26 yards at the end of the second quarter but did make a 43 yard kick in the fourth quarter. He also added six extra points as the Cowboys rolled up several touchdowns on the Titans.

DAL Rush Defense

The Cowboys’ defense held Tennessee to only 78 yards rushing in the game and recovered a Vince Young fumble late in the game.

DAL Pass Defense

The Dallas defense sacked Vince Young twice and intercepted him twice. Aaron Glenn had Young’s first interception in the third quarter that eventually led to Dallas’ third touchdown in the game. The second interception came in the fourth quarter by Bradie James and he returned it for a touchdown. Dallas did a good job of containing Young on passing situations and did not allow him to run. They had a defender spy on him in passing situations most of the game in case he took off and ran.

QB Vince Young, Pass: 14 - 29 - 155 - 1 TD / 2 INT, Rush: 5 - 3 - 0

Rookie QB Vince Young made his first career start in this game. Young had a decent first half and was 8 for 12 for 81 yards, with no touchdowns, and interceptions. Young struggled in the second half, as he came out and threw an interception on his second pass of the half. He did come back right after that turnover and lead the Titans on a 77 yard drive, and hit TE Ben Troupe on a 17 yard touchdown pass. Young then scored two points on the following conversion on draw play up the middle. He had a second interception in the fourth quarter that was returned for a touchdown by Bradie James. He also had a fumble in the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach for Tennessee. The Titans tried to call a few running plays for Young, but those were stopped by the Dallas defense as Young finished the game with three yards on five carries.

QB Kerry Collins

Collins did not get the start in this game, nor did he see the field.

RB Chris Brown, Rush: 12 - 33 - 0 (2 targets)

Brown started this game after missing last week’s because of a toe injury. Even though Travis Henry was not active for this game, Brown still shared carries with rookie LenDale White through most of the game. Brown saw most of his carries in the first quarter; he only had four carries for 11 yards after the first quarter. The Titans spent most of the second half trying to get back into the game and Tennessee had to abandon the running game.

RB LenDale White, Rush: 9 - 39 - 0

White didn’t get his first carry until the second quarter on the Titans’ third drive of the game. He looked good in this drive racking up 29 yards on five carries. He finished the game as Tennessee leading rusher with 39 yards.

RB Travis Henry

Henry was inactive this week even though he was not on the injury report this week.

WR Bobby Wade, Rec: 3 - 45 - 0 (3 targets)

Wade had a 24 yard catch in the second quarter and made a nifty run after the catch to pick extra yards. He led the Titans in receiving with 45 yards.

WR Drew Bennett, Rec: 2 - 10 - 0 (4 targets)

Bennett had been the Titans’ leading receiver coming into this game, and was not a factor in this game, as he only had two receptions for ten yards. He only had four balls thrown his way.

WR David Givens, Rush: 1 - 3 - 0, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (6 targets)

Givens was targeted in the end zone on the first drive of the game, but the ball was incomplete. He only had one catch for three yards.

WR Roydell Williams (2 targets)

He didn’t have any receptions in the game, but did have two targets.

TE Ben Troupe, Rec: 3 - 39 - 1 (4 targets)

Troupe’s biggest play came in the third quarter when he beat safety Roy Williams on 17 yard touchdown. He added another 22 yards receiving in the game.

TE Bo Scaife, Rec: 3 - 40 - 0 (5 targets)

Scaife was targeted five times in the game and had two catches for 22 yards in the first half and had one catch for 18 yards in the second half. The tight end position was targeted nine times in the game.

TE Erron Kinney

Kinney was inactive again for this game due to a knee injury.

PK Rob Bironas 2 - 2 FG, 0 - 0 XP, 6 points

Bironas was two for two for field goals in the game. He hit a 33 yard field in the first quarter on the first drive of the game. He also made a 39 yard field goal on the last play of the first half. Bironas had no extra point attempts.

TEN Rush Defense

The rush defense allowed 63 yards rushing in the first half, but appeared to wear down in the second half as they gave up 154 yards.

TEN Pass Defense

The Titans intercepted Drew Bledsoe’s first pass of the game, but that would be the only turnover for the Tennessee defense. They didn’t record any sacks in the game.