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Week 2 Game Recap: Dallas Cowboys 37, Miami Dolphins 20
What you need to know
| Dallas Cowboys |
QB Tony Romo led the Cowboys to a breakaway victory over the Dolphins in the second half. He showed the ability to get away from pressure and make things happen, reminiscent of Brett Favre. Romo only made one real mistake on the day, a ball that should have been intercepted but was dropped. Romo showed he is more mobile than advertised, taking advantage of man coverage and picking up 36 yards on the ground.
RB Marion Barber had more success rushing than Julius Jones. Barber scored early in a goal line situation, and again on a long 40 yard run late in the fourth quarter. Jones was fairly unsuccessful against the Miami run defense, only netting 32 yards on 15 attempts.
WR Terrell Owens scored another touchdown for the Cowboys. He was Romo's favorite target by far, receiving 11 targets, compared to only six by the next closest competitor, Jason Witten. Witten only caught two passes, mainly because Romo was forcing the ball into tight coverage. Crayton failed to catch a pass, but he was targeted on a ball that would have been a touchdown had he not been held by the defense.
| Miami Dolphins |
QB Trent Green struggled with his accuracy, often overthrowing his receivers. His inaccuracy helped lead to four interceptions on the day. The Dolphins passed 40 times trying to catch up to the Cowboys, while only running 21. They gave up the running game very quickly in the second half.
RB Ronnie Brown could not get anything going in the rushing game. His only success came in the third quarter where he had a couple of nice runs, but failed to produce any consistent offense. Jesse Chatman got more work because Brown had problems, but this was mainly as receiving back since the Dolphins decided to focus on passing to attempt to catch up with the Cowboys.
WR Chris Chambers was targeted 16 times in this game. He ran his routes very well, and his timing was down with Green the whole game. Marty Booker caught a touchdown pass, but only was targeted seven times on the night. Green clearly favored those two compared to anyone else, as Derek Hagen was the next most targeted receiver with four targets, one being a jump ball he came down with in the end zone.
What you ought to know
| QB Tony Romo, Pass: 14 - 29 - 186 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 4 - 36 - 0 |
Romo had problems with vision on the field, often forcing the ball into people instead of finding the open man. He had all day against the Miami pass defense, which covered well but put no pressure on Romo. One of the few times the Dolphins did put pressure on Romo, he managed to dump it off for a touchdown pass to Tony Curtis in the red zone. Romo showed great evasion throughout the game to avoid sacks and keep plays alive.
| RB Marion Barber III, Rush: 14 - 89 - 2, Rec: 2 - 6 - 0 (4 targets) |
Barber ran physically. He often would run through a tackler to make something out of nothing. Although his yards per carry were low, he made a lot of people missed and earned every yard, including his first touchdown run. He was untouched on his 40 yard run to put the game away, hitting the huge hole with no hesitation.
| RB Julius Jones, Rush: 15 - 32 - 0, Rec: 1 - 24 - 0 (2 targets) |
Jones broke a lot of tackles, but struggled against the swarming Miami defense. He had two long runs (10-15 yards) called back due to penalties. Jones saw little playing time on the major drives the Cowboys had during the third quarter. Barber was again taking almost all of the red zone snaps, while Jones became the main back when the Cowboys wanted to use the clock in the fourth quarter.
| WR Terrell Owens, Rush: 1 - 5 - 0, Rec: 5 - 97 - 1 (11 targets) |
Owens had a very solid receiving day for the Cowboys. He was targeted often and only dropped one uncontested pass. Romo seems to trust Owens. Owens did not break many tackles in this game, something he is known for doing. He was covered heavily throughout the game, which could be because Glenn is out so defenses can focus more on Owens. Owens caught his touchdown catch on a fourth down and four from the 34 yard line in the fourth quarter, which showed that the Cowboys have confidence in their offense.
| WR Sam Hurd, Rec: 2 - 18 - 0 (3 targets) |
Hurd caught all three balls thrown his way, but got called for offensive pass interference on his third reception, which was in the red zone. Dallas kicked a field goal after they lost ten yards.
| WR Patrick Crayton (4 targets) |
Crayton drew a pass interference call in the red zone in the third quarter, being held by the Dolphins secondary. This likely would have been a touchdown. Crayton did not make any other catches.
| TE Jason Witten, Rec: 2 - 27 - 0 (6 targets) |
Witten only caught two out of the six balls thrown his way, but he was often targeted while he was well covered. Witten failed to perform like he did against the Giants, which could be because Miami has a much better group of linebackers.
| TE Tony Curtis, Rec: 1 - 2 - 1 (1 targets) |
Curtis caught a touchdown pass from Romo in the third quarter. He found a way to get open as Romo finally had pressure on him and was about to go down.
| TE Anthony Fasano, Rec: 1 - 12 - 0 (1 targets) |
Fasano caught one pass for a first down in the second quarter.
| PK Nick Folk 3 - 3 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 13 points |
Folk kicked well, hitting all of his field goals and extra points.
| DAL Rush Defense |
Dallas held the Dolphins to 61 net rushing yards on 21 attempts. They allowed three or four decent rushes, and held the Dolphin runners for near no gain on the rest of the attempts. Miami could not push around the front four for the Cowboys.
| DAL Pass Defense |
The Dallas pass defense was up and down. They intercepted four passes, while holding Green to 287 yards on 40 attempts (7.1 yards per attempt). They allowed Miami receivers to get wide open several times, and two of their interceptions were because Green overthrew his receivers.
| QB Trent Green, Pass: 23 - 40 - 287 - 2 TD / 4 INT, Rush: 5 - 9 - 0 |
Green was inconsistent with his accuracy all day versus the Cowboys. He overthrew his wide receivers several times, leading to the interception late in the third quarter. He had a lot of power, but his accuracy was a problem. He fumbled and lost a snap, and in the two minute drill fumbled a spike attempt which cost them precious time and a down. He played poorly on all but three Miami drives.
| RB Ronnie Brown, Rush: 11 - 33 - 0, Rec: 2 - 36 - 0 (2 targets) |
Brown had a tough time running against the Cowboys. He had runs of seven and 12 yards early in the third quarter, but struggled to get past the line of scrimmage during the rest of the game. Chatman saw more playing time as the game went on, which could be because Brown failed to create consistent offense.
| RB Jesse Chatman, Rush: 3 - 27 - 0, Rec: 4 - 15 - 0 (3 targets) |
Chatman saw quite a bit of playing time, substituting in for Ronnie Brown frequently. He played the majority of the second half snaps, but they did not run much because they were trying to catch up by passing because their running game was struggling.
| WR Chris Chambers, Rush: 1 - -5 - 0, Rec: 9 - 109 - 0 (16 targets) |
Chambers was by far Green's favorite target. Green seemed to have a trust in him throughout the game. Chambers did a good job all game of running routes, often being targeted when the safety was spying on him. He did not drop any balls.
| WR Marty Booker, Rec: 4 - 79 - 1 (7 targets) |
Booker caught a touchdown pass in the third quarter. He did not do anything spectacular, but he worked his way into a good day.
| WR Derek Hagan, Rec: 2 - 33 - 1 (4 targets) |
Hagen caught a ridiculous touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. He was covered perfectly but he out-battled the Cowboys secondary to come down with the catch.
| WR Ted Ginn, Rush: 1 - -3 - 0 (2 targets) |
Ginn did not receive much playing time on offense. He also had problems getting Miami good field position as their main returner.
| TE David Martin, Rec: 2 - 15 - 0 (2 targets) |
Green did not attempt to throw to tight ends often. Martin was used more as a blocking tight end than a receiving one. They never ran plays for him down the middle. His catches were all in the flats.
| PK Jay Feely 2 - 2 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 8 points |
Feely kicked well on the day, and also had an excellent onside kick that was almost recovered by the Dolphins.
| MIA Rush Defense |
The Miami rush defense was solid in the first three quarters of the game, but eventually got worn out and gave up a couple of long runs to the Cowboys. The Cowboys had over ten minutes more on the time of possession clock than the Dolphins, which could have caused the breakdown. They allowed a 40 yard touchdown run from Barber and a 17 yard run from Romo late in the game.
| MIA Pass Defense |
The Miami pass defense was pretty solid, holding Romo to 14 of 29 on the day. Romo has a ton of time in the pocket, but the secondary was defending the receivers very well. They failed to pressure Romo consistently, but held him to under 200 yards.
