Cowboys Crack Late in 30-27 Loss to Saints

Looking to go to 3-0 with new head coach Jason Garrett, the Cowboys found a way Thursday to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Leading by four with three minutes to play, the Cowboys had a chance to clinch the game vs the Saints, but wide out Roy Williams fumbled inside the Saints 10 on a pass play from Jon Kitna, and the Saints recovered.

With the air out of the balloon, the Saints marched down the field, hitting a big pass play from Drew Brees to Robert Meachem of 55 yards to the Dallas 12.

One play later with 1:55 left, Brees went to the end zone, hitting Lance Moore with a score to give the Saints a 30-27 lead. Dallas had a chance to tie but David Buehler was wide on a 59-yard field goal in the last seconds, saving the three-point win for New Orleans.

Dallas falls to 3-8, despite outgaining the Saints 457 to 414. They trailed 17-0 before many could finish their Thanksgiving dinners, but rallied with Kitna throwing for 313 yards on 30-of-42 passing.

The Cowboys clawed back into the game with a couple field goals to make it 20-6 at the half, and then Miles Austin got them back in the game with a 60-yard run to close it to 20-13.

New Orleans pushed it to 23-13, but the Cowboys got back to back short TD runs from Marion Barber and Tashard Choice to put Dallas up 27-23 before they killed themselves with the late turnover.

Brees was 23-for-39 for 352 yards with a TD and a pick. Chris Ivory scored twice for the Saints as they built the early lead before the Cowboys rallied.

New Orleans is now 8-3, winners of four in a row.

The Cowboys will be at Indy for a 4:15 EST game next Sunday.

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Cowboys’ Austin leaves game with forearm injury

Published: November 25th, 2010 | Tags: Dallas Cowboys, Jon Kitna, Miles Austin, Week 12 injuries 2010

UPDATE: Austin returned to the game on the following series. The FOX broadcast reported X-rays on Austin’s forearm were negative.

Not much is going right for the Cowboys in their Thanksgiving Day matchup against the Saints. Dallas trails 17-0 at the end of the first quarter, and Pro Bowl WR Miles Austin has left the game with a forearm injury.

Austin was injured at the end of a 6-yard reception late in the first quarter. Officials initially ruled that Austin had fumbled on the play, but it was overturned after the Cowboys challenged the call (about the only thing going right for Jason Garrett so far; he’s 2-for-2 on challenges).

Trainers checked out Austin’s right forearm on the sideline, and he soon headed toward the locker room for X-rays. The team announced he’s questionable to return.

Dez Bryant and Roy Williams have been in on the base packages for the Cowboys.

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Cowboys’ Barber sidelined with calf injury

Published: November 25th, 2010 | Tags: Dallas Cowboys, marion barber, Week 12 injuries 2010

The Cowboys are trying to close out a Thanksgiving Day comeback over the Saints, but they’ll likely have to do it without Marion Barber.

Barber is currently on the sidelines with his left calf area wrapped, and according to the FOX game broadcast is questionable to return. He appeared to be injured during two failed goal-line runs late during the fourth quarter.

He had 10 rushes for 19 yards and a touchdown, plus two receptions for eight yards, before leaving.

With this game nearing a conclusion, it doesn’t appear we’ll see Barber again. But a serious injury could impact the Cowboys’ backfield rotation between Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice.

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Defense as well as offense responds to new Cowboys coach Garrett

One of the questions we were having about Jason Garrett’s rise to head coach of the Dallas Cowboys was how would the defensive players respond to him. When Wade Phillips was the coach Garrett had little to no influence on the defensive players and what they did week in and week out. Some of the players even criticized the Cowboys offensive player caller for not calling a balanced game until the Green Bay shellacking.

If I had to choose an image from Sunday’s win over the Giants, it would be that of OLB DeMarcus Ware joking and laughing with his new head coach on the sidelines as the clock was winding down. It wasn’t just Ware either, there were visible shots of Brooking, James, and Newman all exchanging hugs or joking with Garrett at the end of the game. It was an answer to the question that a lot of people were asking.

While one game doesn’t mean anything, it is great to hear that the defensive players have also bought into what Garrett is selling. “You feel a different vibe around here,” Bowen said, “Everybody was all in behind coach Garrett and you see what happened out there.” Bowen is just an example of the attitude that is starting to spread, not just amongst the defense, but the whole team.

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Packers Crush Cowboys: Reviews & Grades

Senior writer jclombardi grades Packers win over Cowboys.

SUMMARY: QB Rodgers threw for 289 yards and 3 touchdowns and RB Jackson scored twice as the Packers crushed the Cowboys 45-7. The Packers defense dominated destroying the Cowboys.

GAME BALLS: LB Matthews; QB Rodgers; LB Bishop; WR Jones; CB Bush; S Collins.

INJURY REPORT: DE Pickett (ankle sprain).  CB Harris was released.

QUOTE: After LB Matthews’ interception touchdown, NBC’s game commentator Collinsworth said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen somebody humiliate the Cowboys like this,” We sympathize with the Packers nation who suffered throughout the game with the endless biased Cowboys coverage.  Who cares if Phillips got fired?  The Packers are America’s team.

Report Card Grades–Good, Bad, & Ugly (JC vs. SE):

PASSING OFFENSE:  A vs A-. QB Rodgers had a good day throwing 27 of 34 passes for 289 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Rodgers had good command of the pocket with good protection with all linemen, even LT Clifton and rookie RT Bulaga, playing well. Generally, except for one or two plays. Rodgers established great sync with his receivers using high-percentage short and intermediate throws. WR Jones led the receivers with 8 catches for 123 yards and one touchdown. The spread out offense with quick slants and short-passes to wide-outs game plan destroyed the Cowboys passing defense.

RUSING OFFENSE: B VS B+. The Packers struggled rushing, but they got 128 total yards. FB Kuhn had RB Jackson combined for a tough 92 yards. QB Rodgers scrambled for 48 yards.

PASSING DEFENSE: A- vs A-. Cowboys QB Kitna completed only 19 of 30 passes for 183 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions under constant pressure. The interception highlight was the one returned by LB Matthews for a touchdown. Although rookie CB Shields had a great interception, he struggled covering WR Bryant especially on one big offensive series giving up a touchdown. S Collins got fined $50,000 for his inadvertent helmet-to-helmet hit on WR Williams. Rusty S Bigby got into the game, but we do not see him replacing consistent S Peprah.

RUSHING DEFENSE: A vs A. Led by the front seven line, the rush defense returned to its stout days limiting the Cowboys rushing to 14 rushes for 39 yards averaging a miserable 2.8 average. LB Matthews and LB Bishop dominated the inside rush defense. After LB Matthews stuffed RB Barber on a running plays, the Cowboys simply gave up running the ball.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B+ vs B. Although the kickoff coverage was shaky, they came up with two big turnovers. First, S Collins returned a fumble for a 26 yard touchdown (was the player down?).Then Bush recovered another fumble leading to another score. P Masthay had a good day averaging 49.5 gross yards and 47.5 net yards as the two kicks that landed inside the 20. Yet, K Crosby had a 54 early field goal blocked and his late first half kickoff went out-of-bounds gave good field position to the Cowboys leading to their only score. PR Williams averaged only just 4.4 yards. Rookie KR Shields will return kickoffs, especially after he returned his only one for 49 yards. S Bigby and LB Walden both looked rusty on coverage.

COACHING: A vs A. The Packers had their best game of the year with all three units delivering an outstanding performance. The game plan was solid using the simple spread out offense with 3 or 4 receivers. McCarthy focused upon using an effective running game with 34 rushing plays, employing even the old-school three backs backfield. DC Capers called another great defensive game using LB Matthews, LB Hawk, and CB Woodson on effective combination blitz schemes. The Packers go into the bye week 6-3 at the top of their NFC North division.

OVERALL: A- vs CBS Sportsline A-. The only thing the Packers didn’t do well was cover kickoffs. It was apparent they were up against a team that had no desire to make a game of it, so it’s hard to tell how well they played. The running game was solid and did just enough to keep the Cowboys off balance. The defense caused two turnovers.

COMMENTARY: The Packers are very lucky. GM Thompson did a great job getting replacement and solid backup players, especially from the later rounds in the drafts, the waivers, and free agencies. CB Shields, DE Wilson, S Peprah, LB Zombo, and DE Green really helped the team during a tough injury filled period in the 2010 season. Without them, the Packers would be 3-6 instead of a winning 6-3 record.

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Cowboys latest goof – they forget to renew registration on dallascowboys.com

The Cowboys are not only inept on the field, their website is as well. That’s because the Cowboys, amid all the issues on the field, forgot to renew its registration on the dallascowboys.com domain.

Dallascowboys.com was pulled Sunday night, and replaced with a generic page indicating the address was available for purchase from Network Solutions LLC. The Cowboys recovered though, as they quickly renewed its registration.

Since the team had to panic to get the site re-registered, it takes about 48 hours for all Internet servers to recognize renewals, meaning now if you visit the site – a stock image of two kids playing soccer.

Dallascowboys.com is the second-most-popular NFL website. That is until people saw two kids playing soccer instead of news the firing of Wade Phillips.

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Can Cowboys get any better under Garrett?

Published: November 9th, 2010 | | Tags: Dallas Cowboys, Wade Phillips, Brian Baldinger, Jerry Jones, Jason Garrett, Rod Woodson, Mike Mayock, Charles Davis, Fran Charles, NFL Total Access

As you can imagine, the Cowboys are still the big talk inside the walls at NFL Network, one day after Jerry Jones dismissed Wade Phillips in favor of Jason Garrett on an interim basis for the rest of the season.

So what, exactly, you say is left to talk about the 1-7 Cowboys? The “NFL Total Access” crew brought out the four-box during the A-block (TV lingo for the top of the show) Tuesday to let Brian Baldinger, Mike Mayock, Charles Davis and Rod Woodson hash out this question: Are the Cowboys any better under Garrett?

Here’s a brief recap of their answers with host Fran Charles, and check out the video to the right for the full segment.

Baldinger: “I think the one thing he can do right now is up the tempo of this team. Make them play faster. They can think quicker, react quicker. All those things can benefit (everybody) right now. Maybe just a different voice in the locker room, maybe the message gets through just a little bit clearer.”

Mayock: “A percentage of players will play hard just because it’s in their DNA. Another percentage will play hard because they have to, because they’re borderline players. There is also a big percentage that don’t care anymore. They don’t want to get hurt, and they know they’re not going to the playoffs. Those are the guys that Garrett has to motivate. It’s a thankless job, and very few men have been able to accomplish it.”

Davis: “It will be interesting to watch, because we always talk about pride in the NFL. We haven’t seen as much of that from the Cowboys lately, as one would have thought. Will (the coaching staff) jump up their game right now for Garrett and try to secure their jobs for next year?”

Woodson: “The one thing you can do as a coach, and what Garrett has to do, is to change the laziness and complacency of this year’s football team. The way you do that is to hold them accountable. You don’t flick on a light switch during a game. It happens in practice. If he can do that, maybe he can get something out of them.”

Posted in: NFL Network  

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Mora: Fixing Cowboys starts with cutting Jenkins

Published: November 8th, 2010 | | Tags: Brian Billick, Dallas Cowboys, Jim Mora, Mike Jenkins, The Coaches Show

Certainly, most football minds would agree the Dallas Cowboys have more issues than a mid-season change at head coach will remedy. Needless to say, every aspect of the 1-7 Cowboys and new interim coach Jason Garrett is now under the microscope.

Former NFL coach and current NFL Network analyst Jim Mora has a very strong opinion on where Garrett should start. After watching the 45-7 loss to the Packers, Mora didn’t hold back his criticism of CB Mike Jenkins for his lack of effort on this 7-yard touchdown reception by James Jones .

“To me, this is high treason,” Mora said. “An NFL football player does not turn down a play like that. And if I’m Jason Garrett, the first thing that I’m doing when I take over as the head coach of this team, is I’m getting guys like that — number 21, who absolutely committed treason, let his team down by passing up a tackle and let the ball get in the end zone — I’m taking him and I’m getting him out of my locker room.”

Mora had more to say when asked by Brian Billick about what he would do in Garrett’s shoes.

“I’d take (No.) 21 and get him out of my locker room,” Mora continued. “Guys who are not willing to lay it on the line for me and my football team, for this organization, I identify them and I either try to change them quickly, and if I don’t think I can change them, I try to get rid of them.”

At least Mora didn’t leave us guessing as to how he really felt.

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