Ravens vs. Cowboys Gametime Running Blog

I’ve said before that I can’t stand live blogs.  Well now I’m doing something about it.  I’m changing it up.  I’m not gonna do a stream of random thought-like posts, because it’s hard to follow.  Instead, I’ll post at regular intervals.  There’ll be a pregame post with my thoughts running up to the game, followed by updates after each quarter.  I’ll tally up some stats and post them along with my thoughts.  I think this will make for a much more coherent post.  With that in mind, it begins after the jump…

UPDATE:  I was right, what follows is a nice little narrative of the game, with a few stats and personal summations thrown in.  It reads well and I think I’ll stick with this format.

Pregame Wrap-up

It looks like Marion Barber is in, as is Pacman Jones.  Ed Reed is in for the Ravens as well, which could be unfortunate for the Cowboys.  I don’t know how healthy Barber is, so Dallas is probably going to need Tashard “Tasters” Choice to step up again as he has done so well the past couple of weeks.  Tony Romo is going to have to keep it together and avoid the costly mistakes that we all know he is capable of making. The Ravens defense will surely bring pressure and Romo is going to have to handle it and make good decisions.

Here’s an interesting tidbit:  The Cowboys won their first Super Bowl the first year Texas Stadium was open. How great would it be to win in the last year of Texas Stadium as well?

First Quarter Wrap-up

Miles Austin had a good kick return to start the game off.  Tashard Choice started at running back.  The Cowboys first 3 offensive plays went to Choice, a screen and 2 runs resulting in a first down.  Ed Reed, as expected, is already causing trouble.  Three beautiful plays by Choice, nullified by a poor um… choice by Romo, and a forced bomb down the field, which Reed intercepted (as he is prone to do).  The other Roy Williams should have at least attempted to get the ball, though.

Demarcus Ware got his first sack of the game on the Ravens’ third play, stripping the ball and allowing the Cowboys to recover on the 4 yard line, first and goal Dallas.  This bodes well for Ware’s bid for the sack record.  Romo had Terrell Owens in the end zone, but shockingly T.O. dropped it.  Next play, Tasters Choice took it the last 3 yards to the end zone and it was 7 – 0 Cowboys.

The Ravens’ next drive was stacked with penalties on both sides.  Joe Flacco made one or two good throws and got a couple of first downs.  Then Derrick Mason left the game after he hurt his shoulder while going to the ground and stretching for a first down.  The Ravens got into the red zone on a pass interference call against the Cowboys’ Kieth Davis a few plays later.  However, the Dallas defense continues to play well and they held Baltimore to a field goal.  Cowboys still had the lead, 7 – 3, and Marion Barber has yet to play.

On the Cowboys first play of the next drive Choice broke out for a 29 yard run, but the drive stalled after that, with Romo getting sacked on 3rd down.  Ravens OT Willie Anderson left the game after being shaken up on a play, and the Ravens went 3 and out.

Pacman Jones, as he usually does, broke a couple of tackles as he ran more sideways than forward on the punt return.  Marion the Barbarian entered the game, but was ultimately a wash.  In three plays he gained yardage, got no yardage and lost yardage, and the Cowboys had to punt.  The Ravens got pretty good field position after a bad punt and the quarter came to a close.

First Half Wrap-up

Derrick Mason re-entered the game to start the second quarter, but Willie Anderson had to leave for good.  Wade Phillips continued his trend of poorly chosen challenges, losing a challenge over a Mason reception (after which Mason left again, his trend being one catch and out).  Flacco made an admittedly pretty throw to Todd Heap, leaving the Ravens on the 5 with goal-to-go.  Then Kevin Burnett came straight up the middle unimpeded and flattened Flacco, and the Ravens continued their habit of not converting in the red zone, ending up with a field goal.  7 – 6 Cowboys.

At this point in the game, Tony Romo has thrown 3 passes, all to Choice.  Then he threw short over the middle and found Owens, for a first down and more, but once again the drive stalled and the Cowboys had to punt.  Flacco completed a beautiful pass to Derrick Mason, who was obviously playing in great pain, and who continued to make great catches.  Their drive also went nowhere, after the Cowboys got their 4th sack of the game.  The Ravens had a great punt, though and pinned the Cowboys back at their own 3.

Dallas, with nowhere to go, quickly went 3 and out, and avoided a Baltimore drive starting in their own territory when an illegal block in the back pushed the Ravens back across the 50 to the 42.  Shortly thereafter, Dallas got its 5th sack of the game.  Rich Eisen said the temperature had dropped 20 degrees since kickoff at the 2 minute warning.  The Cowboys got the ball back at their own 13 yard line with 1:44 left to play in the half.  The Cowboys looked impressive in the no-huddle, as they often do.  They made a first down, and then Terrell Owens missed a beautiful long pass that he should have had.  Then Ed Reed intercepted his second Romo deep ball.

Baltimore started on their 49 with 27 seconds left.  McGahee broke a long run and the Ravens were within field goal range.  To close out the half, Baltimore kicked their third field goal to go up 9 – 7 over the Dallas Cowboys.

Halftime Stats:

Romo: 8 of 17 for 59 yards and 2 picks
Choice: 8 carries for 49 yards and a TD, 4 catches for 13 yards
Owens has 1 catch for 22 yards, Witten has 2 catches for 17.
Cowboys defense has 5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles.

Flacco: 11 of 15 for 112 yards, no picks
Flacco has spread the ball around to 5 different receivers.
Ravens Defense has 1 sack and 2 interceptions.

The Ravens have 50 yards rushing to the Cowboys’ 49, and 86 yards passing to Dallas’ 54.

The Cowboys have held the Ravens to nothing but field goals.  If the Dallas offense can get in sync in the second half and get a couple of touchdowns, we should be able to wrap this game up.

Third Quarter Wrap-up

The Cowboys defense came out strong in the second half, stopping the Ravens.  The Cowboys continued to be out of sync in the passing game, with T.O. seemingly just not even trying to catch passes anymore.  What followed was a couple of mostly uninteresting drive attempts ending in punts, until the Ravens got inside the Cowboys 40 on a punt return.  They got a few more yards and went for another field goal, but faked it and Sam Koch ran for a first down.  It wasn’t long after that Joe Flacco threw his first touchdown pass of the night and found Derrick Mason in the end zone.  The extra point made it 16 – 7, Ravens over Cowboys.

Romo is still looking less than impressive, but short catches and runs by Owens and the other Roy Williams, along with a couple of good runs by Choice, picked up 2 first downs for the Dallas Cowboys.  They end the third quarter with 1st and 10 on the Baltimore 40, mid-drive.

Post Game Wrap-up

Romo continued the drive with short passes to Choice and the other Roy Williams, getting to the 20.  Choice bobbled a shovel pass, and the Cowboys had 4th down.  Nick Folk was good on the field goal and the Cowboys pulled back within a touchdown of the Ravens, 16 – 10.

Because of a couple of stupid penalties by the Dallas defense, the Ravens wound up in field goal range on the next drive, and the Ravens made it a two possession game once again.  19 – 10 Ravens.

Romo came out strong this time, and Witten caught a long pass to get to the Baltimore 22.  Then Patrick Crayton made a great catch and fought for extra yards to go inside the 10.  Finally, Romo connected to T.O. in the end zone.  19 – 17 Ravens, 3:50 left to play.  On the kickoff return, the Ravens fumbled the ball but managed to recover.  The next play, Willis McGahee broke a 77 yard run to the end zone for what was, in effect, the game sealing touchdown.  26 – 17 Ravens.

This is where Tony Romo is supposed to come out and make an amazing 2 or 3 play touchdown drive, followed by an amazing onside kick recovery.  He completed a couple of long passes to Witten and Crayton, and they were at the 2 minute warning.  With 1:36 left to play, Romo connected with Witten in the end zone and the cowboys once again pulled within 3, 26 – 24, but at what cost?  Witten limped off the field with a terribly painful looking grimace on his face.

Two plays later, Le’Ron McClain broke off an 82 yard run for TD.  That one was in reality the game sealingn touchdown.  Final score 33 – 24 Baltimore over Dallas.  Pacman Jones finally broke off a long kick return, but it was too little, too late.  False start Flo finally showed up.

Baltimore clinches the 5th seed in the AFC and Dallas needs a miracle to get into the postseason.  The Cowboys are too beat up right now anyway, and I don’t think they could have gone deep into the postseason like this.  Romo and Witten are playing hurt, and Owens is barely playing at all.  The defense played well, but couldn’t sustain it through the 4th quarter, giving up two monster runs for touchdown to close out the Dallas Cowboys’ tenure at Texas Stadium.  It wasn’t their fault, really, they were just worn out because the offense couldn’t stay on the field.

The drama in Dallas will continue, certainly, and it will probably come to a head now that they are practically out of playoff contention.  I am not looking forward to it, but in a way I welcome it, as it should be cleansing to this team that lost its cohesion early in the season.

Tags: Adam Jones, Baltimore Ravens, Dallas Cowboys, DeMarcus Ware, Derrick Mason, Ed Reed, Gameday, Gameday Running Blog, injuries, Joe Flacco, Kieth Davis, Marion Barber, Miles Austin, Roy E. Williams, Tashard Choice, Terrell Owens, Texas Stadium, Tony Romo

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