Jay Cutler (above, doing the claw) picks apart Dallas D as a mistake-laden game dooms Cowboys to 0-2 start. (AP Photo/Sharon Ellman)Another week, another disturbingly sloppy performance from the Dallas Cowboys (0-2). Turnovers, penalties, and the fact that the Cowboys struggled on both sides of the ball to compete with the Chicago Bears (2-0) led to a seven point loss in the season opener at Cowboys Stadium.
Just like last week, Dallas continues to shoot themselves in the foot - turning the ball over three times and accumulating six penalties for 50 yards. The Bears, on the other hand, played mostly mistake-free football. The Cowboys defense forced no Chicago turnovers and the Bears had only two penalties for 10 yards on the afternoon.
Both of Tony Romo's turnovers were tip-pass interceptions, one which was his fault on a pass thrown behind Jason Witten, and another in which Miles Austin was lit up and coughed the ball out and into the hands of Bears corner D.J. Moore - who snatched both picks. Roy Williams accounted for the other Dallas turnover, getting stripped after failing to go down near the sidelines with five minutes left in the fourth, that sealed the game for Chicago.
"We've got to do things better and we need to figure out in a hurry how," said Romo, who finished the game having completed 34 of 51 passes for 374 yards and a touchdown
David Buehler was shaky for the second-straight week, this time missing a 44-yard field goal that would have tied the game with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Bears capitalized as Devin Hester turned a three-yard hitch into a 38-yard gain after a Terence Newman missed tackle. Michael Hamlin then moved to cornerback on the next play in place of Mike Jenkins, who went down on the Hester big gain, and was burned immediately on a corner of the end zone touchdown catch by Bears' halfback Matt Forte.
For the second week in a row, mental mistakes caused Dallas to make the game much more difficult than it had to be on both sides of the ball. Jason Garrett's play-calling was suspect yet again (51 passes compared to 20 rushes in a close game), and the defense was overwhelmed by a Bears passing attack that was mediocre at best in week one against the Detroit Lions.
"I think it is a crossroads right now," said Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips of his team's direction going into week three.
Another disturbing trend: for the second straight game, the Cowboys had over 100 more total yards and had possession over seven minutes longer than their opponent and still lost.
Defense Disappointing After Strong Week One
After the defense supplied relentless pressure on Jay Cutler for the majority of the first quarter, the Bears' quarterback began to exploit the Cowboys' soft coverage and beat the blitz. Cutler found Greg Olsen late in the first, beating the blitz to hit the Bears' tight end all alone down the middle of the field for a 38-yard touchdown, the Bears first of the game.
"It was a basic play," said Olsen of his only catch of the game. "We just executed exactly what [Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz] said. If you execute the offense exactly how it's meant to be, most of the time you'll be in position to do well."
There were four lead changes in the first half, largely because of the Cowboys' defense's willingness to give up the lead.
Dallas took it's first lead of the game at 7-3 with 2:44 left in the first quarter. Chicago responded less than two minutes later with the aforementioned pitch and catch to Olsen.
The Cowboys took it's second and final lead of the game with 8:16 left in the first half. This time, a 1-yard touchdown pass to rookie fullback Chris Gronkowski put Dallas up 17-14.
On the very next drive, the Bears went 74 yards in six plays, with Hester and fellow-receiver Johnny Knox both having their way with Jenkins - culminating with an excellent catch by Hester in the corner of the end zone.
"We knew we were going to get their best punch earlier," said Cutler. "Once we settled down and started attacking more, we were OK."
Cutler had his way with the Cowboys defense, surviving a barrage of pressure early to put up some excellent numbers. In the first half alone, the Bears QB racked up more passing yards (163) than Dallas gave up all last week (161) against the Redskins. For the game, Cutler completed 21 of 29 passes for 277 yards and three touchdowns. His 136.7 QB rating is the highest he's had in a game since Sept. 8, 2008 - a total of 32 regular season starts.
Cowboys Beaten and Beat-Up
Both Witten and Jenkins left the game in the fourth quarter due to injury and did not return. Witten appeared to sustain a concussion after the back of his helmet violently bounced off the ground following a 23-yard reception over the middle. Jenkins slipped and fell on the big play to Hester in the fourth quarter as he appeared to injure his right knee. It didn't appear serious at the time, but Jenkins was later carted off the field. Both player's status for next week in unknown.
If any sort of significant time is missed by either one of the players the Cowboys are in serious trouble. Especially in the case of Jenkins, as Dallas is already thin with only three active cornerbacks on the roster.
Dez Bryant was also shaken up on a punt return in the fourth quarter after Hamlin (who also gave up the TD to Forte later in the game) committed an illegal block in the back penalty and then subsequently took Bryant out at the knees. Bryant appeared to walk it off on the sidelines, and returned to the field on the next possession.
Speaking of Bryant...
For the second week in a row, number 88 showed the playmaking-potential that the Cowboys have salivated about since drafting him 24th overall in the 2010 draft.
On the Bears second punt of the afternoon, Bryant made a couple of defenders miss (including a nice stutter-step to get past the kicker) and then showcased his blazing speed down the sideline for a 62-yard touchdown - the Cowboys first of the game and the first of his career. Bryant also added two deep grabs for 52 yards, the second game with 50 or more receiving yards to start his career.
Whats Next
The Cowboys next opponent is the Houston Texans, who visit Cowboys Stadium for the first time in the regular season. The Texans are 2-0 this season after dismantling the Indianapolis Colts in week one and then coming back from down 20-7 in the first half against the Washington Redskins to win in overtime 30-27.
Kickoff is scheduled for noon and can be seen on Fox.
News and Notes:
- The Cowboys have gained a whopping 790 yards of total offense over the first two games of the season but have only two touchdowns to show for it.
- Dallas is now 0-2 for the first time since 2001. Anthony Wright and Quincy Carter split quarterback duty for the Cowboys that year.
(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)
No comments:
Post a Comment