COWBOYS FALL TO GIANTS: LOSE 33-31

Last night was the home opener for the Dallas Cowboys and their new $1.2 Billion dollar stadium. It was a beautiful September night in Dallas as over 105,000 fans packed into the new venue to cheer on the Cowboys [largest crowd ever to witness an American Football game]. With the stadium and the fans all hyped up, all the Cowboys had to do was come out and play football and get a win for the home crowd. Well, they came out to play, but it wasn't all pretty as the Cowboys lose to the Giants 33-31 with a last second Field Goal by NY. What were some good things or bad things you saw last night? Read some of my thoughts and then let me know your thoughts in the comments section below:

THE GOOD:

- Running game excelled last night. Man, I haven't seen Marion Barber have a dominant game as he did last night in over a year. He seemed to run at will against the Giants and found big holes for huge gains. Felix Jones and his breakaway speed is the perfect complement to Barber's pounding style and the duo worked well together along with Choice to gain 251 yards rushing.

- WTG Run Defense - After the poor showing at Tampa Bay last week, a huge emphasis was placed on the run defense against the Giants monster duo of Jacobs and Bradshaw. Watching last night, I felt the Cowboys completely dominated the line of scrimmage and the Giants ended the night not even clearing 100 rushing yards, and with 4 tackles for a loss.


THE BAD:

- Romo's off night - Romo continues to struggle so I am not sure what is going on with him. Last week in Tampa he started slow in the first half before finding his rhythm in the second half with those 3 long TD bombs. Last night he still looked out of place, unfortunately, he never found his comfort zone as we watched him struggle all night with passing. He frequently was throwing over or behind receivers and ended the night with only 127 yards passing with 3 INTs. In the NFL, you simply cannot get away with that many turnovers and expect to win.


- Secondary always one step behind tonight As dominant as the front line defense was last night, the secondary was equally soft. We showed lots of blitzes and pressure on the line, yet gave the NY receivers enough cushion to catch the ball and get 1st downs, especially on that last drive. I have high expectations for this defense, and when you pressure at the LOS, then your secondary has to have better coverage and jump routes and try to force turnovers when the QB is throwing under pressure like Manning was last night.


THE UGLY:
Witten kicks ball to defense for INT. This was one of the strangest plays I have ever seen. Witten was running a crossing route and Romo's throw was slightly behind; Witten deflected the ball and it bounced off his foot and into the hands of the defender who promptly ran it in for a TD. The TD didn't count because the play was whistled dead, but the INT stood since the ball never hit the turf. That's a new one...