Cowboys Win In Overtime!

I had to work two hours over because of a no show, no call yesterday morning and by the time I got home, I was too wound up to catch my nap before the Cowboy Game at Noon.    The game against the Cleveland Browns at Cowboy Stadium in Arlington was definitely a tale of two halves.  In the first half, the Browns came on like gang busters and it looked like they were the team with a shot at the playoffs instead of a 2-7 team.  The Browns totally dominated the Cowboys in route to a 13-0 lead at the half. The Browns held the Cowboys to their lowest offensive total for a half in 5 years, yielding just 68 total yards while gaining  177 yards for themselves.  Most of the Cowboys trouble was due to a banged up offensive line with Mackenzie Bernadeau moving over from right tackle to center to replace the injured Ryan Cook who in turn was replacing the injured Phil Costa.  This brought Derrick Dockery in to take Bernadeau's place at right tackle.  Then midway through the second period, left tackle Tyron Smith left with an ankle injury bringing in Jeremy Parnell to take his place.  The offensive line at this point was makeshift at best and it took them some time to coalesce and keep the Browns from running QB Tony Romo into the ground.  I was beginning to wish I had not stayed up to watch the game.   

The second half was a different story all together, although the Browns did not give up without a fight.  After exchanging possessions in the Third Quarter, the Cowboys drove to their first points of the game, a 44 yard Field Goal by Dan Bailey.  This little bit of momentum was multiplied on the next Cowboy drive with Tony Romo picking apart the Cleveland secondary, connecting with Dez Bryant 4 times for 54 yards and Kevin Ogletree for 10 more.  Ogletree also earned a pass interference call that kept the drive alive and led to the Felix Jones 2 yard Touchdown run at the beginning of the Fourth   Quarter to bring the Cowboys within 3 at 13-10.  On the Cowboys next possession, they scored a go ahead Touchdown on a 28 yard perfect strike to Dez Bryant in the End Zone.  On the ensuing Browns drive, QB Josh Weeden was sacked and  stripped of the ball at the Cleveland 18.  However the Browns returned the favor two plays later by sacking and stripping the ball from Tony Romo.  The browns gained some 17 yards on that exchange, then drove 64 yards but were stopped in a goal line stand by the Cowboys defense inside the two minute mark.  The browns then used their time outs and a defensive stand of their own to get the ball back. The Browns then scored on a 17 yard Weeden to Benjamin Watson pass set up by a good punt return and a horribly blown call for a horse collar tackle against John Phillips when in actuality he had a hold of the runners dreadlocks which is a totally legal tackle.  This left 1:07 on the clock for Romo and the Cowboys to work with.  the Cowboys drove 66 yards to set up Bailey’s 32 yard game-tying Field Goal with 2 seconds left on the clock.  40 of the Cowboys yards on the drive came on two of Cleveland’s 12 penalties, including a 35-yard pass interference by cornerback Sheldon Brown against receiver  Dwayne Harris.  

In the overtime period, after a trade of possessions, Dwayne Harris returned a punt 20 yards leading to six plays for 28 yards to set up Dan Bailey's game winning 38 yard Field Goal.  This improved the Cowboys record to 5-5 just 1 game back of the division leading Giants with their 6-4 record.  The Cowboys can gain some more ground when they meet the Washington Redskins for the annual Thanksgiving day home game.  The Cowboys have hosted the Redskins six times on Thanksgiving and have come away victorious every time.  Let's hope the Cowboys and Redskins hold with tradition leading to another Cowboy win.  Then the Cowboys have 10 days to rest up and get ready to host the Philadelphia Eagles who lost badly to Washington yesterday and were destroyed last week in Philly by the Cowboys.  Thing are looking up and the Cowboys could be a play off contender before the season is over.  

Your musical interlude for today is the 24 Opus 28 Preludes by Frederic Chopin performed by  Halina Czerny-Stefanska.  The music was digitized from a 1960 LP release of a 1958 recording on the Polskie Nagrania  label.  The video is followed by this week's collection of lithesome lads and muscle hunks strutting their stuff in their finest Monday's Undies for your edification.  Thanks for the visit, see you again tomorrow.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!