Cowboys beat champs, are true blue Super Bowl contenders
OK, now we can take the Dallas Cowboys seriously as a Super Bowl threat.
That’s what happens when you’re 5-1 and just beat the Super Bowl champions in their house where most opponents fold before the second half.
MORE: DeMarco Murray ties Jim Brown’s 56-year-old record | Scoreboard | AIKMAN: Cowboys using proven formula
If these were the 8-8 Cowboys of the previous three seasons, they would have blown Sunday’s game in Seattle by not running the ball enough or making a big mistake late. They did neither, and the result was a 30-23 victory over the Seahakws, the most resounding one of the still young 2014 season.
So what gives this year? If you paid attention to them over their first five games, Jason Garrett and the Cowboys have found a simple, but not-so secret formula to go from .500 to the top of the NFC heap after six weeks. It’s called ideal complementary football.
The foundation is the NFL’s best offensive line, Jerry Jones’ best rebuilding work as general manager. It has blown everyone off the ball in opening holes for DeMarco Murray and has kept Tony Romo cleaner than ever.
So much for the Seahawks having a deep pass rush and nasty run defense against everyone at home.
They couldn’t slow down Murray (29 carries, 115 yards) all the way through his game-winning, 15-yard TD with 3:16 left. The Cowboys have not wavered in their steadfast commitment to running Murray. The result is a Jim Brown-like 6-for-6 100-yard efforts and an Eric Dickerson-like 2,000-yard pace.
It’s set up Romo, one of the best play-action quarterbacks in the NFL, to work to the most versatile receiving corps he’s ever had with teams needing to commit that swing secondary defender to stopping Murray. Whether it’s the Seahawks’ secondary or anyone else, they can’t cover everything the Cowboys can do. The burden is off Romo to force the issue, because of the running game and defense.
IYER: Cowboys have one of NFL’s four most-improved defenses
Running and grinding out drives also adds up to keeping the defense off the field, fresh enough to make impact plays. The Cowboys went into Seattle averaging 34:07 in time of possession, third in the league. That will go up after they held the ball for 38:08 against the Seahawks.
When you’re not on the field, it’s hard to give up points. They came with the No. 8 scoring defense, and the Seahawks managed only 16 offensive points. The Cowboys’ own ball control forces teams out of their element with fewer possessions.
Seattle ran Marshawn Lynch only 10 times, despite the Cowboys’ big weakness between the tackles. They man up, make teams take extended drives to score and have come up with critical third-down stops and turnovers. Simple, right?
With this consistent game plan, the Cowboys are one bad season-opening half against Sporting News’ preseason Super Bowl pick, the San Francisco 49ers, from being undefeated.
When the Cowboys were last winning Super Bowls over the 49ers and everyone else in a top-heavy NFC in early 1990s, they had an unstoppable offensive line and an all-time running back. They had a quarterback who spread the ball around to a great No. 1, a very good No. 2 and a savvy tight end.
MORE: Romo thinks Witten is one of the best Cowboys of all time
With all that working again, they don’t need to field that loaded defense they had back then under Jimmy Johnson. This is a much different, more offensive-efficiency oriented era.
They also had that Cowboys swagger, something that should come back now that they’ve “beat the best in trying to be the best.”
That’s complementary football. That’s a complete conference contender.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
