The Cowboys defeated the Dolphins 20-19 with another game-winning field goal off the foot of rookie kicking sensation Dan Bailey. The Cowboys improve to 7-4 and alone atop the NFC East. The game itself was full of high drama, it had it all from kickoff to the final whistle; but, the Cowboys were able to muster some clutch drives with Romo leading the way.
Romomentum in November
Throughout Romo’s career, he continues to be nearly unbeatable in the month of November, and Thanksgiving wraps up another solid month for Romo. It was pretty ugly, but a win is a win, and we’ll take it. The question everyone is wondering is “how long can we keep winning close dramatic games like this?” The quick fire answer is “probably not much longer”, but think about what it may take to win some of these games down the stretch – a running game. Without the running game of DeMarco Murray, we lose several of these close games, and we see alot of those clutch drives die quick. Murray is helping us keep drives alive with shorter 3rd downs, no more 3rd and longs. So, if we’re going to be in more close games, I like the edge we have with Murray.
Secondary Woes
The thing that scares me about the Cowboys right now, is the secondary. Everyone has seen it over the last few games, and we’re now seeing alot of teams going after the secondary with frequent success. Jenkins is injured, Newman is inconsistent as ever, and Scandrick has regressed really bad. Despite what the offense has been able to do with new weapons in Robinson and Murray, everything will be for nothing if the secondary doesn’t step it up. We’re getting burnt regularly now, and making dumb penalties left and right. To put it simple, the secondary sucks.
I said this after last season, and all through the lockout, keeping Maxie and Campo as our secondary coaches was a mistake. They are letting these players do the same sucky things over and over again. They are too inconsistent, and making dumb plays, sometimes they won’t even make a tackle. Has anyone seen how Scandrick has been shying away from tackles lately? We should have dumped our secondary coaches in the offseason, and we’re seeing more of the same garbage. I don’t want to see them back after this season.
Looking ahead
Its crunch time, December is where this team becomes a contender or a pretender, and the road is going to be a tough one. Have all these close wins made us tougher, have they made us battle-tested for a championship run? We are about to find out. Here comes the litmus test for Garrett as a Head Coach, and the rest of the team.
Cowboys @ Cardinals 12/4 3:15pm FOX
Giants @ Cowboys 12/11 7:20pm NBC
Cowboys @ Buccaneers 12/17 7:20pm NFLN
Eagles @ Cowboys 12/24 3:15pm FOX
Cowboys @ Giants 1/1 12pm FOX
There isn’t a single “easy” game is this stretch, I expect more close brawling games, but we must play better, and clinch the East, and to do that we’re going to battling it out. Without clinching the NFC East the Cowboys are going to need the Lions, Bears, and Falcons to take-on more losses. As it stands right now, we’re all bunched together with similar records. Bottom line, we need to handle our own business and we’ll be in the playoffs.
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