Team Grades: Dallas Cowboys Lose Tony Romo And Game To Carolina Panthers On Thanksgiving
By Shawn S. Lealos
The Dallas Cowboys headed into Thanksgiving Day with a lot of high hopes. Tony Romo was back and they beat the Miami Dolphins. Even with only three wins on the season, the Cowboys still had a chance to come back and make the playoffs because of the weakness of the NFC East. However, they entered the game as one point favorites over the undefeated Carolina Panthers and that was something that the Panthers found insulting. That gave the Panthers incentive and they turned that into a huge win over the Cowboys, 33-14, a loss that pretty much ended the season for Dallas.
Offense: F
The biggest reason the Cowboys season is over with is because Tony Romo took another hit on his left shoulder, the same injury that took him out for seven games earlier in the season. Romo was already having a horrible game. He had only completed 11 of 21 passes and threw three interceptions. That was the killer for the Cowboys. By the time that Romo was injured, Carolina was up 30-6 and two of those touchdowns were on interception returns by the defense.
That first pick six was on the third play of the game. It was Romo's second pass of the game, and Coleman returned it 36 yards for the touchdown. Luke Kuechly returned the second interception in the second quarter for 32 yards to put the Cowboys up 20-3. Romo just was completely off in this game and now his season might be over with. Matt Cassel came in and played decent, completing 13 of 19 passes for 93 yards for one touchdown.
Darren McFadden suffered for Romo's tough play, with only 11 yards on 10 carries, while Robert Turbin got two carries for 11 yards. On the receiving end, it was McFadden who led the team with 45 receiving yards on four receptions while Cole Beasley caught six for 44 yards and one touchdown in the game. Dez Bryant only caught two balls in the game for 26 yards.
Defense: B
Honestly, the Dallas Cowboys defense played as well as they have been this season. Until the third quarter, they limited Carolina to three field goals, and then gave up one more in the fourth quarter. Overall, they only let Cam Newton take his team into the end zone once in the game, which was impressive considering how many points Carolina has been scoring this season.
Newton only threw for 183 yards while running for 45 yards and the Panthers' only touchdown. Jonathan Stewart only gained 68 yards on 21 carries in the game.
Rolando McClain and Sean Lee accounted for 23 tackles between them, a great game by the Cowboys linebacker corps. Tyrone Crawford got the only sack of the game and the Cowboys didn't force a turnover. It was a nice game, but Dallas needs to capitalize better when it comes to hitting the quarterback and forcing turnovers, especially when their offense plays so bad.
Special Teams: B
The Cowboys have been struggling on special teams defense over the past few weeks, but they didn't allow Carolina to do anything this week. The Panthers returned one kick for three yards and one punt for no yards. The Cowboys did try an onside kick in the fourth, but were offside and lost the ball. The Cowboys weren't much better returning the ball, with no kick returns and only one punt return by Lucky Whitehead for eight yards.
Dan Bailey scored on two field goals, one from 48, and kicked an extra point as well. Chris Jones averaged 47 yards per punt in the game.
Coaching: D
There isn't much that Jason Garrett can do when the starting quarterback throws three interceptions in the game. However, he should have trusted Darren McFadden to run the ball more than 10 times. Yes, Dallas needed to come back after the pick six, but when the defense is limiting the Panthers to just field goals, Dallas should have been running the ball as much as they could to take pressure off Romo. They weren't and they lost because of it. The defense was coached as well as ever and did what they needed to for most of the game.
This game probably ended the season for the Dallas Cowboys. There is still an outside chance that they could make the playoffs if they win out, but they will not be able to if Tony Romo is out for the rest of the season. The injury, more than the loss, is what will likely doom the Cowboys to another year without a playoff appearance.
Shawn S. Lealos is a freelance writer who graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2000 with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism. He writes for a variety of national publications and has over 15 years of sports journalism experience. Follow Shawn on Twitter @sslealos. Examiner.com.