Click here to see all recaps on a single page
| Other Week 6 Game Recaps | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAL at IND | CAR at TB | CHI at ATL | CIN at NYJ | DAL at ARI | DET at MIN | GB at SEA | JAX at DEN |
| MIA at HOU | NE at SD | NYG at CLE | OAK at NO | PHI at SF | STL at WAS | ||
Week 6 Game Recap: Dallas Cowboys 24, Arizona Cardinals 30
What you need to know
| Dallas Cowboys |
The Dallas offense started slowly, going three and out on three of their first four possessions and fumbling the ball away on the fourth. Of the 166 total yards in the first half, 55 came on the long touchdown pass from Tony Romo to Patrick Crayton. The offense began to click on the opening drive of the second half as Romo led the team down the field on a 12 play drive to take the lead for the only time. The defense failed to hold the lead as the Cardinals scored on their next two possessions to take a 21-14 lead. The Cardinals advantage did not last long as Dallas scored ten points in the final two minutes to tie the game. The final points came on Nick Folk's second attempt from 52 yards after Arizona called timeout just before the first attempt (which was blocked).
Tony Romo had an excellent day statistically despite being under heavy pressure from the Arizona pass rush. Despite having to rush his throws in the face of a pass rush, he threw for three touchdowns and no interceptions.
Dallas tried to establish the running game with Marion Barber early but was not able to have much success in the early stages of the game. Barber was only able to gain 26 yards in the opening half, with nine coming on a single carry. Things did not get better in the second half as Barber had little room to move with linemen getting penetration into the backfield.
With the Cardinals defensive secondary concentrating on taking away the deep passing game Dallas had to rely on Jason Witten moving around in the middle of the field to loosen up the defense. Witten had some success, catching four of his six targets, but Dallas was unable to consistently connect with their other receivers.
| Arizona Cardinals |
The difference in the game was the Cardinals special teams unit, which was directly responsible for the first and last scores. J.J. Arrington opened up the scoring by taking the opening kickoff back 93 yards for a touchdown. The final score occurred when they blocked a Dallas punt on the opening possession of overtime and returned the ball three yards for the winning score.
Arizona backs had little room to run, and the lack of a solid running game could have cost the Cardinals as they were trying to run out the clock in the fourth quarter. With Edgerrin James having little success the team turned to rookie Tim Hightower to run out the clock on the final two drives. Hightower did have some success, but was unable to gain a first down on the ground and they had to give the ball back to Dallas both times.
Kurt Warner was unable to connect with any of his receivers on deep passes due to the Dallas ends providing pressure. He was able to compensate by going to an offense based on shorter passing routes in the second half and led the Cardinals to 17 points in a 15 minute span between the third and fourth quarter.
Steve Breaston had a career game while starting in the place on an injured Anquan Bolden. Breaston hauled in eight of his ten targets for 102 yards and his first NFL touchdown. Most of his damage came in the second half as the Cardinals were coming from behind.
What you ought to know
| QB Tony Romo, Pass: 24 - 39 - 321 - 3 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 1 - 0 - 0 |
Romo finished with excellent numbers, but one would not have expected it after the first half. He had an average first half, only completing nine of 15 for 81 yards before throwing a 55 yard touchdown pass to a wide open Patrick Crayton with a minute to go before half time. His low yardage totals were the result of being forced to throw it to his closer targets due to being under pressure. The pressure was most effective when it was coming from the back side and caused him to fumble three times, losing one. He did almost have another fumble in his own end zone that was recovered for a Cardinal touchdown but that call was changed after Wade Phillips challenged the call on the field, saying that Romo's arm was still in the passing motion. The second half went better as Romo led the Cowboys on a scoring drive on their first possession. Romo was six of seven on the drive, and capped it off by throwing a perfect pass to the front corner of the end zone to Miles Austin. Two possessions later Romo threw a short screen pass to Marion Barber, who took it 70 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown to pull Dallas to within three points. On the next passion Romo led the team 34 yards in less than 50 seconds to set up the game tying field goal.
| RB Marion Barber III, Rush: 17 - 45 - 0, Rec: 11 - 128 - 1 (12 targets) |
Dallas used Marion Barber on the ground during the first quarter as they tried to establish a running game. Barber carried the ball on five of the first nine plays from scrimmage, but was only able to gain a total of eight yards. With the Cowboys unable to get anything going on the ground with Barber they decided to use him in the passing game to try and help get the offense going. Barber was targeted five times in the second quarter as Dallas began to have some success moving the ball. He touched the ball on seven of nine plays during one sequence in the second quarter. Barber did not seem to lose any quickness as the game wore on, even though he did not get much of a breather due to an injury to Felix Jones. His ability to catch passes out the backfield played a key role in getting Dallas back in the game. His key play occurred on a screen pass with 2:17 left in the game that he took down the left sideline for a touchdown to pull the team to within three points. Barber broke through tackles and managed to stay in bounds as first the defense tried to knock him out of bounds. When he saw an opening toward the middle of the field he cut back and headed straight for the end zone.
| RB Felix Jones, Rush: 3 - 22 - 0 |
Felix Jones was used to give Marion Barber an occasional rest and proved to be an excellent change of pace back. Where Barber was unable to find any room to run, Jones was able to use his speed to beat the defense to the corner and turn up field for big gains. However, his day ended early due to a hamstring injury during the third quarter.
| WR Terrell Owens, Rush: 1 - 6 - 0, Rec: 4 - 36 - 0 (9 targets) |
The Cardinals defense concentrated on trying to take Owens out of the passing offense and they were successful. Owens faced double teams and rarely saw single coverage. Owens did start to become more successful after the defense had to divert some attention over to Patrick Crayton. Due to the excellent coverage on Owens, he was held to catch four receptions, three coming in the second half. His best reception came on a pass in the third quarter where he had to reach forward while standing on the sideline. He somehow managed to catch the ball and stay inbounds.
| WR Patrick Crayton, Rec: 3 - 84 - 1 (6 targets) |
Crayton benefited from the defense concentrating on trying to stop Terrell Owens. With Owens being well covered for most the first half Tony Romo found himself having to locate Crayton on deep routes. Crayton was well covered also, but did manage to find some open areas in the secondary to catch three passes, all in the first half. His most important reception was his last one as Tony Romo connected with him on a deep route down the middle for a 55 yard score.
| WR Miles Austin, Rec: 1 - 14 - 1 (3 targets) |
Playing as the third wide receiver in the Cowboys offense Austin only saw limited action, but he did make an impact with his only reception. He ended the opening drive of the second half by catching a perfectly thrown pass just inside the pylon for a touchdown to give the Cowboys a seven point lead.
| TE Jason Witten, Rec: 4 - 55 - 0 (6 targets) |
Jason Witten saw most of his action in the second half after the offense began to have success moving the ball. His good hands gave Romo a reliable target over the middle of the field that would either give them a first down or get them within reasonable distance of a first down. He was at his best during the second half as all three of his receptions were on the three scoring drives. The first reception was on a key third and five play that gave the Cowboys a first down and led to a scoring pass three plays later. His last reception was his most important as it put the Cowboys in position for the game tying field goal.
| TE Tony Curtis, Rec: 1 - 4 - 0 (1 targets) |
Curtis caught the only pass thrown his direction just before the two minute warning in the first half.
| TE Martellus Bennett (1 targets) |
Bennett dropped the only pass thrown his way. Had he been able to hold on to the ball he had an open path to the end zone.
| PK Nick Folk 1 - 2 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 6 points |
Folk was one of two on field goals, hitting the left upright from 36 yards out and making the game tying field goal from 52 yards out on the last play of regulation.
| DAL Rush Defense |
The Dallas defense was rock solid against the run, only allowing a total of 50 yards for the entire game. Cardinals running backs had to fight for every yard and the lack of a running game would lead to the Cowboys having a chance to tie the game.
| DAL Pass Defense |
The pass rush was able to get pressure on Kurt Warner, but were only able to sack him once. Even though they were only able to get one sack they did manage to force Warner into two turnovers. The pressure caused problems for the offense as they were unable to convert on any third down play during the first half.
| QB Kurt Warner, Pass: 22 - 30 - 236 - 2 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 2 - -1 - 0 |
Kurt Warner had a difficult game as he was facing constant pressure from the Dallas down linemen. Warner was forced to move around in the pocket in order to find time to throw, and was forced into two turnovers in the first half. Unable to generate any type of offense during the first half the Cardinals adjusted their game plan to call for shorter passing routes to take some of the pressure off of Warner. Warner did well with the new game plan, throwing for 179 yards and two touchdowns in the second half.
| RB Tim Hightower, Rush: 7 - 20 - 0, Rec: 4 - 29 - 0 (5 targets) |
Tim Hightower was used in the first three quarters to give Edgerrin James a rest. But with the team unable to establish any type of running attack he began to see more time on the field due to his pass catching ability out of the back field. Hightower was in the game during the fourth quarter as the team was trying to run out the clock.
| RB Edgerrin James, Rush: 9 - 29 - 0 (2 targets) |
James was focus of the offense in the first half as the Cardinals tried to get their offense started through their running game. James found the going tough, as he had little room to maneuver through any holes that may have opened. As the game wore on James found himself sharing carries with Tim Hightower, and did give way to the fresher back during the fourth quarter when the Cardinals were trying to put the game away by keeping the ball on the ground to keep the clock moving.
| RB J.J. Arrington, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0, Rec: 1 - 10 - 0 (1 targets) |
Arrington's impact in the game was felt on special teams as he took the opening kickoff back 93 yards for a touch down. His only other action was as a third down back when Tim Hightower needed to catch his breath.
| WR Steve Breaston, Rec: 8 - 102 - 1 (10 targets) |
Steve Breaston had a career game, with 102 yards receiving and one touchdown. He was Warner's main target as the Dallas defense worked to take Larry Fitzgerald out of the offense. Breaston was able to catch passes no matter if he was open or well covered. He was helped out by a quarterback who had the ability to place passes in spots where only he could catch them on those instances where he was well covered.
| WR Larry Fitzgerald, Rec: 5 - 79 - 1 (8 targets) |
Larry Fitzgerald started slow, only catching one pass during the first half. He made up for the lack of production in the first half by having a great second half. He was well covered by the Dallas defensive backs, but he still managed to use his body to shield the defender or to out jump the defender for the ball on his second half receptions. His touchdown pass was a beautiful reception where he caught the ball on a fade route and managed to keep both feet inbounds. However, he almost scored two plays before that when he made an outstanding catch and was originally ruled to have gotten both feet down inbounds but had the play over turned when the replay official ruled that his left foot touched the out of bounds marker.
| WR Jerheme Urban, Rec: 1 - 1 - 0 (2 targets) |
Urban was only able to catch one pass, and that only resulted on a one yard gain during the second quarter.
| WR Early Doucet, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (1 targets) |
Doucet caught the only pass that was thrown in his direction during the fourth quarter as Arizona was trying to run out the clock.
| TE Leonard Pope, Rec: 2 - 12 - 0 (3 targets) |
Pope only saw limited action in the passing game as he was mainly utilized to help the offensive line block. His last reception gave the Cardinals a third and one that they were able to successfully convert on their last touchdown drive.
| PK Neil Rackers 1 - 1 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 6 points |
Rackers made his only field goal attempt, from 41 yards.
| ARI Rush Defense |
The Cardinals rush defense was able to limit the Cowboys backs to 77 yards rushing, and held Marion Barber to 2.6 yards per carry. They keyed on stopping Barber and were able to take away his running lanes and forced him to stay in the middle of the field where the linebackers were able to help out.
| ARI Pass Defense |
The pass rush was able to get some pressure on Tony Romo and tried to disrupt his timing with the receivers. For most of the first half they were successful, causing one fumble and forcing Dallas to go three and out during the early stages of the game. They were burned on two long scoring passes, the last of which was aided by poor tackling by the defensive backs as they were unable to force Marion Barber out of bounds on his long touchdown reception.
