Cowboys lose to Lions 34-30, and blow largest lead in team history.
Arlington, TX – The Dallas Cowboys appear to be making a habit out of losing double-digit second half leads. Three weeks after losing a fourteen point fourth quarter lead for the first time in team history to the New York Jets, the Cowboys blew a twenty-four point second half lead for the first time in team history.
Tony Romo threw two first half touchdown passes, both to Dez Bryant from 25 yards and 6 yards respectively, and the rookie kicking phenom Dan Bailey added two chip shot field goals to give the Cowboys a 20-3 lead going into the break.
Jason Hanson’s second half opening kickoff went to one of the Cowboy’s upbacks Sean Lissemore, who proceeded to dash up field and elude would be tacklers for a gain of 38 yards to the Detroit 46 yard line. The return was reminiscent of Patriots lineman Dan Connolly’s kickoff return of 71 yards back in 2010 against the Green Bay Packers.
Romo then engineered a nice six play, forty-six yard drive culminating with a 1 yard touchdown pass to Jason Witten to put Dallas up comfortably 27-3 with 12:23 left in the third quarter. Then, all hell broke loose.
After Detroit was unable to obtain a first down on the following drive, Dallas regained possession with 10:12 left on the clock in the third quarter. On the first play of the drive, Romo inexplicably threw a pass in the vicinity of no one but former teammate, and first round bust, Detroit linebacker Bobby Carpenter. Carpenter rambled 35 yards into the end zone for his first career touchdown to cut the Dallas lead to 27-10. Carpenter never had one interception during his time in Dallas, and was traded before the 2010 season to the St. Louis Rams for the eventual goat of the 2010 season opener against Washington, Orlando Pace. Despite the harsh irony of the team’s former draft bust scoring a touchdown against them, the Cowboys still had a comfortable lead.
The ensuing drive seemed to be going well as Tashard Choice rushed twice for 13 yards on the drive’s first two plays. Rookie DeMarco Murray from Oklahoma rushed three times for 12 yards, and free-agent WR Laurent Robinson caught a Romo spiral for 6 yards as the team appeared to be marching down the field for another score against a suspect Lions defense.
However, on the seventh play of the drive, Romo again threw another inexplicably poor pass in traffic which was intercepted by Lions cornerback Chris Houston. Houston raced down the sideline 56 yards untouched into the end zone, followed by a spot-on Deion Sanders high-step impersonation to celebrate. After Hanson’s extra point, the Dallas lead was down to just 10 points.
Romo had given 14 gift points to a struggling Lions defense, and gave a team who should not have been in the game confidence. After the interception, Romo appeared poised and resolute as the team marched down the field with the key play being a roughing the passer penalty called on the villainous Ndamukong Suh on 3rd and 3. However, the Cowboys continued to have trouble executing in the red zone as the drive stalled at the 6 yard line after Romo threw an incomplete pass intended for Kevin Ogletree. Dan Bailey added his third field goal of the afternoon to put the Cowboys up 30-17, but the game was still within reach for the Lions.
Detroit Quarterback Matthew Stafford began to heat up on the ensuing drive as he completed four passes for a total of 77 yards, with Wide Receiver Calvin Johnson making a spectacular leaping 23 yard touchdown catch between three defenders to pull the Lions to within one score at 30-24.
Detroit’s defense would force a Dallas punt the next possession, giving the Lions the opportunity to take their first lead of the game. Stafford would complete a 28 yard pass to Tight End Brandon Pettigrew down to the Cowboys 8 yard line, only to have the play negated by a Nate Burleson block in the back penalty. Detroit would have to settle for a Jason Hanson 51 yard field goal to cut the lead to three points.
The Cowboys next possession began at their own 20 yard line with under five minutes to go protecting a 3 point lead. On the first play of the drive, Romo threw a duck into double coverage intended for Jason Witten which was intercepted by Middle Linebacker Stephen Tulloch at the Dallas 40 yard line. This was Romo’s third interception of the second half.
Detroit proceeded to march down field 40 yards and score with 1:39 left to go on another Stafford to Johnson touchdown pass of 2 yards. Johnson has now scored 8 touchdowns in the season’s first four games. After the Hanson extra point, Detroit was up 34-30.
Dallas was unable to get anything going on the next drive in the two-minute offense with the last two plays being a sack of Romo by Wllie Young (the first sack of the game for Detroit), and a laughable bonehead run out of bounds by Felix Jones on 4th down short of the first down.
Stafford would kneel on the final play for an improbable Detroit 34-30 comeback win at Cowboys Stadium. The 24 point lead blown by Dallas was the largest blown lead in franchise history, a franchise dating back to 1960.
Romo’s second-half meltdown was the second in four weeks. The three interceptions were all inexcusable errors for a quarterback who has repeatedly stressed the importance of ball security. Teams in today’s NFL cannot win if a quarterback makes perpetual mental errors week in and week out. Romo did throw for 331 yards, but statistics do not make amends for turnovers. Romo has to be better.
The Cowboys were a -2 in the turnover battle against the Lions, and failed to sack Matthew Stafford one time. Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan has to do a better job of coming up with a scheme which will create more pressure on the opposing quarterback, and stop giving bulletin board material to opposing players of Calvin Johnson’s caliber. One questions Ryan’s football intelligence if he truly believes any Cowboys wide receiver is better than Johnson.
Dallas also has to find a way to create more turnovers. That was the big knock on the Wade Phillips’ defense. If Dallas continues to lose the turnover battle, and not pressure the quarterback, they will lose. Only causing one turnover against a young quarterback known for making errors is inexcusable.
After the devastating loss, the Cowboys are still 2-2 heading into the Week 5 bye week, one game behind the division leading Giants and one game ahead of the 1-3 Eagles. The Cowboys could easily be 4-0, but could just as easily be 0-4. The Cowboys must improve in all three areas if they are going to have a realistic chance of winning the NFC East in 2011. They have to forget about the two horrendous losses, and focus on the monumental task of defeating the Patriots in Foxboro in Week 6.
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