Tony Romo led a late touchdown drive to cap a dramatic rally in Dallas.
You can put those Cowboys choking story lines away for the time being. On third-and-goal with 2:32 remaining, Tony Romo found Terrance Williams for a go-ahead touchdown to cap a thrilling rally and give Dallas a 24-20 playoff win over the Detroit Lions.
Detroit had it's chance for a comeback, taking possession with two and a half minutes remaining. But on fourth-and-three from the Cowboys' 42-yard line, DeMarcus Lawrence sacked Mathew Stafford with a minute left to seal the game.
It was the Cowboys making mistakes early, blowing a coverage for a long Golden Tate touchdown and roughing the punter in the end zone to spark what ended up being a 99-yard Lions scoring drive. A 76-yard explosion from Terrence Williams gave Dallas a brief spark, but a pair of Detroit field goals put the Lions back up 20-7 midway through the third quarter.
But then the momentum began to shift. Dallas began leaning on DeMarco Murray, who did the heavy lifting during a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive that cut the deficit to six. After tacking on a field goal on their next drive, the Cowboys offense came back onto the field trailing 20-17 with just over eight minutes remaining.
Buoyed by a fourth-down conversion and two third-down defensive penalties by the Lions, the Cowboys marched 59 yards in close to six minutes, capping the drive with Romo's eight-yard completion to Williams, who scored twice in the game.
1) The Cowboys O-line struggled early but came on late.
Early on, Detroit's big, bruising defensive front was having it's way with a the Cowboys' O-line. The Lions, who led the league in run D this season, held Murray to just 30 yards on seven carries and sacked Romo three times in the first half.
But midway through the third quarter, an offensive line studded with three Pro Bowlers began enforcing its will. The Cowboys made a concerted effort to begin feeding the ball to Murray, who finished with 75 yards and a touchdown. Romo was sacked three times in the second half, but all three came because Romo held onto the ball too long. With the O-line clicking, Dallas scored 17 of its 24 points in the second half.
2) The Lions offense started hot.
Just four plays into the Lions' first possession, Golden Tate burned safety Barry Church on a nasty double-route then housed Stafford's on-target pass.
The Lions second possession was a real back-breaker. Having pinned Detroit inside their own one-yard line with a spectacular punt, the Cowboys held them to a quick three-and-out. But a controversial roughing the punter in the end zone gave the Lions new life and they responded by marching down for the first 99-yard playoff drive in the last 12 years, capping it off with this nifty 18-yard scamper by Reggie Bush.
But from that point on the Lions offense dried up, managing just a pair of field goals over the next three quarters.
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1Dmoztp
No comments:
Post a Comment