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Week 3 Game Recap: Dallas Cowboys 34, Chicago Bears 10
What you need to know
| Dallas Cowboys |
The Cowboys' offense came into this contest averaging over 400 yards through their first two games and continued their success moving the ball against a Bears' defense with a reputation of being stingy. Tony Romo led an offensive attack that picked up 21 first downs and accumulated 431 yards of total offense. Contributing towards offense's success was the fact that Dallas gave up only two sacks and committed only one turnover.
Despite little success on limited opportunities in the first two quarters, RB Marion Barber had a break out second half. At halftime, Barber had a paltry eight yards on three carries but he finished the game with 112 total yards and two touchdowns. As was the case in the previous two games, he continues to outperform RB counterpart Julius Jones who could only muster 55 total yards.
Getting the ball to WR Terrell Owens seemed to be a priority for the Cowboys' offense. A number of his catches came on crossing patterns and more than once he came in motion out of the backfield in an attempt to take advantage of a defensive match up. Owens led all Dallas' receivers with 13 targets and he was able to turn those 13 pass attempts into eight receptions for 135 yards.
| Chicago Bears |
To say that Rex Grossman struggled in this game would be an understatement. Against a Cowboy defense that came into this contest ranked 26th in the league against the pass, Grossman was only able to complete 47% of his passes and finished the night with three interceptions. Contributing towards his struggles throwing the football, Grossman was sacked three times and had three catch able passes to Bernard Berrian bounce off his hands for incompletions. The Chicago faithful were calling for backup QB Brian Griese in the fourth quarter after Grossman's second interception was returned by Dallas for a touchdown.
RB Cedric Benson had a hard time rushing the football against the Cowboys defense. Despite the fact that he rushed for a one yard touchdown in the third quarter, Benson was only able to average 2.9 yards on 16 carries. In addition to his low rushing output, he also lost a fumble in the third quarter after the Cowboys had taken the lead 17--10.
The Chicago defense had three players leave this game due to injury. LB Lance Briggs and CB Nathan Vasher both sustained groin injuries that would force them out, while DT Tommie Harris left the game after hurting his knee.
What you ought to know
| QB Tony Romo, Pass: 22 - 35 - 329 - 2 TD / 1 INT |
Romo was the story of this game, throwing for 329 yards and two scores in helping lead the Cowboys offense to 27 points. Romo had a good first half, completing ten passes for 140 yards over the first two quarters. At one point in the second quarter, Dallas seemed to abandon the running game, instead showing confidence in Romo and almost exclusively relying on his right arm to move the ball. Romo followed up his good first half with an even better second half, torching the Bears in the third and fourth quarters for 189 yards and two touchdowns. Throughout the game he showed great pocket presence by side stepping the Chicago rush to buy himself time to complete passes. Romo's only interception of the game came on a high throw that deflected off the hands of WR Patrick Crayton and was picked off by S Adam Archuleta.
| QB Brad Johnson |
Johnson entered the game on the Cowboys' final driver of the game, but did not throw a pass.
| RB Marion Barber III, Rush: 15 - 102 - 1, Rec: 1 - 10 - 1 (2 targets) |
Barber saw his first action with the offense at the start of the second quarter on Dallas' third drive. He took two caries on that drive that totaled zero yards. His third and final carry of the first half went for eight yards. Barber got more involved in the offense starting on the Cowboys second series of the second half. After the Cowboys got the ball down to the Bears 22 yard line, Barber picked up 12 yards on three successive carries and followed that up by catching a swing pass for a ten yard touchdown. After making the catch in the right flat, Barber side stepped a would be tackler and broke through an Adam Archuleta tackle to get into the end zone. Later on in the fourth quarter, Barber would add a one yard touchdown run two plays after he ran through the Bears' defense for a 54 yard pick up.
| RB Julius Jones, Rush: 7 - 26 - 0, Rec: 2 - 29 - 0 (3 targets) |
Jones didn't have much success against the Chicago run defense, averaging 3.7 yards on only seven carries. Despite his low number of rushing yards, he did add 29 yards receiving on two catches out of the backfield. His night could have been better if not for penalties committed by his offensive teammates. Early on in the second quarter, Jones had a 14 yard reception brought back due to a questionable illegal block in the back penalty called on Jason Whitten. Later on in the fourth quarter, he had a 22 yard run negated due to a holding penalty on Flozell Adams. It's worth noting that following that play Jones left the field of play after being looked at by the Dallas medical staff.
| RB Tyson Thompson, Rush: 3 - 3 - 0 |
Thompson's fist carry came with a little over three minutes left in the game with Dallas leading 34--10. In addition to his three rushes, Thompson also averaged 6.5 yards on two kick off returns.
| WR Terrell Owens, Rec: 8 - 145 - 0 (13 targets) |
Despite not getting into the end zone, Owens had a big night catching the football for the Cowboys. When Dallas needed a big play, Romo would look to get the ball to Owens. He caught four passes on third or fourth down that moved the chains, and seven of his eight catches went for first downs. Though it has no fantasy implications, a false start infraction in the first quarter followed by a pass interference call in the second cost the Cowboys' offense 15 yards.
| WR Patrick Crayton, Rec: 3 - 27 - 0 (7 targets) |
Crayton played this game with a broken pinky finger on his right hand. Despite being targeted seven times by Tony Romo, he was only able to haul in three passes. He'll most be remembered in this game for the play that he didn't make. In the second quarter on a third and four from the Chicago five, Crayton dropped a perfect pass from Tony Romo that what would have went for a five yard touchdown reception. In addition to his three receptions, Crayton also returned two punts for a total of two yards. Sideline reports said that his finger wasn't a problem but he obviously dropped more passes than normal.
| WR Sam Hurd, Rec: 1 - 25 - 0 (2 targets) |
Hurd's first big contribution on offense didn't come until the third quarter and was on a pass play where he didn't make the catch. His big block on Bears' S Adam Archuleta helped Terrell Owens pick up extra yards on a play that went for 35 yards. On the very next play of the drive, Hurd caught his only pass of the game on a 25 yard pass from Tony Romo.
| TE Jason Witten, Rec: 6 - 90 - 1 (9 targets) |
Witten's first target of the game didn't come until the second quarter but it went for a big gain. Operating from their own 31 yard line, QB Tony Romo hit Witten on a pass over the middle of the field that went for 34 yards. On that same drive, he would catch another pass for 22 yards and was targeted in the end zone on a ball that fell incomplete. Witten would go on to catch four more balls for 34 yards and would snare a three yard touchdown pass on Dallas' first drive of the second half.
| TE Anthony Fasano, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (2 targets) |
Fasano's only completion of the game came in the second quarter and went for three yards.
| PK Nick Folk 2 - 3 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 10 points |
Folk made his first field goal attempt of the game from 30 yards. His second attempt late in the second quarter came from 23 yards out, but was blocked by DE Israel Idonije and returned 48 yards by S Adam Archuleta. Folk connected on his third field goal attempt from 44 yards out in the fourth quarter. In addition to his two made field goals, he also converted on all four of his extra point attempts.
| DAL Rush Defense |
The Dallas rush defense did a good job against the Bears giving up only 75 yards on the ground. The rushing touchdown that was surrendered came from one yard out. The Cowboys'' defense also forced a Cedric Benson fumble that was recovered by Roy Williams.
| DAL Pass Defense |
The Cowboys allowed QB Rex Grossman to complete only 15 of 32 passes for 195 yards. The Dallas secondary also intercepted three passes, and Anthony Henry was able to return one of his two picks 28 yards for a touchdown.
| QB Rex Grossman, Pass: 15 - 32 - 195 - 0 TD / 3 INT, Rush: 1 - 12 - 0 |
Despite the poor outing by Grossman, he did find some success in moving the ball for the Chicago offense. On the Bears' second drive of the game, Grossman was effective, completing five of seven passes for 53 yards in leading Chicago to a field goal. His only other scoring drive came on Chicago's first drive of the second half. Down seven and facing a third and 10 from their own 14, Grossman picked up a big first down after rushing for 12 yards. On the very next play, he completed a pass to Desmond Clark for 52 yards and followed that up with a 21 yard completion to Greg Olsen. With the good though also comes the bad when you're talking about Grossman. Through out the night errant passes fell incomplete and poor decisions led to three interceptions as Grossman finished the game with a quarterback rating of 27.5.
| RB Cedric Benson, Rush: 16 - 46 - 1, Rec: 1 - 8 - 0 (1 targets) |
Benson rushed for 29 yards on Chicago's first two drives, but would only pick up an additional 17 yards on the ground during the remainder of the game. His touchdown run came from one yard out on the Bears' first drive of the second half. Benson's lost fumble came late in the third quarter at the Chicago 45 yard line after Dallas had pushed the score to 17--10. Dallas would turn the turnover into a Nick Folk field goal.
| RB Adrian Peterson, Rush: 6 - 17 - 0, Rec: 2 - 7 - 0 (3 targets) |
In the game on third downs as well as the primary back on the Bears' final drive, Peterson had 24 total yards in the game.
| WR Bernard Berrian, Rec: 6 - 73 - 0 (10 targets) |
Berrian was targeted often by Rex Grossman early on in this contest. He had four catches in the first quarter, all of which went for first downs. In the second quarter Berrian caught a 12 yard pass that went for another first down, but he dropped a pass that would have went for a long gain. On the play, Berrian ran a slant and go and found himself wide open along the sideline. Grossman placed the pass perfectly, but the ball bounced right off Berrian's chest. He had two targets in the second half, one of which he caught for an 11 yard gain.
| WR Muhsin Muhammad, Rec: 2 - 21 - 0 (10 targets) |
Despite the high number of targets, Muhammad was only able to catch two passes for 21 yards. All three of Rex Grossman's interceptions were intended for him.
| WR Devin Hester |
Hester ran a limited number of plays with the offense, but was not targeted.
| WR Rashied Davis (2 targets) |
Davis was targeted twice in this game, but both passes fell incomplete.
| TE Desmond Clark, Rec: 2 - 58 - 0 (4 targets) |
Clark biggest contribution on offense came in the third quarter on a catch that he made that went for 52 yards. On the play he secured the pass, bounced off of safety Roy Williams, and took the ball all the way down to the Dallas 22 yard line. Clark's only other catch in the game went for six yards. He was also targeted on the Bears' fake field goal attempt.
| TE Greg Olsen, Rec: 2 - 28 - 0 (2 targets) |
Making his NFL debut, Olson caught his only two targets of the game. His first catch came on the Bears' second drive and went for seven yards. Olsen's second catch went for 21 yards and took the Bears down to the Cowboys one yard line.
| PK Robbie Gould 1 - 1 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 4 points |
Gould converted on his only field goal attempt from 20 yards out and he also converted his only extra point attempt. In addition to his kicking duties, Gould also attempted a pass on a fake field goal. His pass to TE Desmond Clark was off the mark and fell incomplete.
| CHI Rush Defense |
The Bears did a good job against the Cowboys running backs in the first half, giving up only 18 yards over the first two quarters. In the second half, Chicago would give up 113 yards on the ground, including a 54 yard run by RB Marion Barber. Two plays after the big gain, Barber would punch in a one yard score.
| CHI Pass Defense |
The Chicago pass defense had problems stopping Tony Romo and allowed him to complete 22 of 35 passes for 329 yards and two scores. Adam Archuleta did intercept a pass on the Cowboys' second drive and the pass rush did drop the Cowboys' quarterback for three sacks.
