Missed Opportunities

Terrence Newman (41) and Brandon Marshall (15) fight for what ended up being the game winning touchdown pass. (AP Photo/ Jack Dempsey )


Sloppy Play Leads to 17-10 Loss to the Broncos
Overthrown receivers, ridiculous penalties, costly turnovers: these are the things that summed up the Dallas Cowboys play today, Oct. 4, in Denver. Tony Romo led the pack as he consistently missed open wide receivers and accounted for both Dallas turnovers, including a fumble in the first half that led to Denver’s first touchdown of the game. Numerous times in the fourth quarter Romo found open receivers downfield and could not seal the deal, consistently throwing high or out in front of wide-outs who had beaten their man. Seven penalties for 70 yards didn’t help either as Dallas time and again shot themselves in the foot.

The Dallas defense had another strong effort, but failed to step up with the game on the line in the fourth quarter. With under 3-minutes left in the game, on first down from the Denver 49-yard line, Broncos’ quarterback Kyle Orton threw it up to the right side of the field high to wide receiver Brandon Marshall. Terence Newman, who was in coverage on Marshall, rose up to snatch the pass away before Marshall could seize the ball.

"I couldn't have played that play any better," Newman said. “I could have sworn it was going to be a penalty. He grabbed my jersey and threw me to the side. If that wasn't a hold, I don't know what is.”

Unfortunately for Dallas, no penalty was called and Marshall caught the ball, weaved, broke tackles, and sprinted his way to a 51-yard touchdown catch and run, giving Denver a 17-10 lead with under 2 minutes left in the game.

The Cowboys weren’t done yet, after a miraculous Tony Romo fourth-down scramble away from pressure, touch pass, and subsequent 53-yard catch and run by Sam Hurd; Dallas had a chance to tie the game with 53 seconds left in regulation. The Cowboys drove all the way to the Broncos 2-yard line, but consecutive passes batted away by All-Pro cornerback Champ Bailey (both intended for Sam Hurd) on third and fourth down with 2 seconds left on the game clock ended the Dallas threat. Romo tested Bailey all game, and didn’t learn from his interception early in the third quarter as he dubiously challenged him consecutive times with the game on the line. Although Romo considered foul play a possibility.

“Their good all over,” Romo said of Denver’s (4-0) top ranked defense. "I understand Champ's good. It's questionable. I think you could go either way on that call. It's a bang-bang play and the corner's always driving on the ball. If he gets to the ball early, that's part of the game. ... Those are always going to be contested throws."

The Cowboys offense found out just how good Denver’s defense was the hard way as they were held to their lowest total yards (315) of the young season. Romo was sacked 5 times on the day and was held to 255 yards, completing only 25 of his 42 attempts along with no touchdowns and an interception. This is the first time in Romo’s career that he has gone consecutive games without a touchdown pass.

Dallas was also held to their lowest rushing output (74 yards), as their giant offensive line was beaten to the point of attack all game by the smaller, quicker Denver defenders. Coming back from a quadriceps injury, Marion Barber carried the ball only 11 times for 41 yards but had the Cowboys only touchdown of the game on a 1-yard rush in which he bullied his way into the end zone.

With Tony Romo’s play being helter-skelter from one week to the next along with an equally inconsistent defense; Dallas finds itself at 2-2 for the season. As former Cowboys’ coach Bill Parcells used to say, you are what your record says you are and the Cowboys right now are a mediocre football team.

Dallas plays next weekend (10/11) at Noon, in Kansas City against the Chiefs.

(Photo and portions of this article were taken from the Associated Press)