Cowboys 20, Dolphins 19: My Top 10 CBS Contemplations
10. Admit it, your confidence level in Dan Bailey on the game-winning kick from straightaway 28 yards was 100 percent. If it wasn't, shame on you. It should've been. That's two consecutive game-winners and 26 field goals in a row overall, one short of Chris Boniol's franchise record. Dude is automatic.
9. Good to know that the Cowboys (Andre Gurode and Phil Costa ring a bell?) aren't the only team with shotgun snap trouble. Matt Moore let center Mike Pouncey's high snap slip through his hands for a fumble recovered by DeMarcus Ware at Miami's 5. Cowboys don't escape this ugly performance without that Christmas gift on Thanksgiving Day from the Dolphins.
8. Cowboys Stadium "Kiss Cam" always delivers. Today it focused on the Dolphins' Will Allen and Yeremiah Bell, who looked up, saw themselves framed by a heart on JumboJerry and couldn't help but giggle. Somehow they resisted the urge to smooch.
7. I'm all about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, but aren't we getting a little too interactive? First it was the Bills' David Nelson hugging one and today Jason Witten totally blindsided another after being shoved out of bounds after a catch. (But admit it, you giggled, didn't you? And probably rewound the DVR to check for any "wardrobe malfunction.")
6. Not sure who was worse, Doug Free and his false-start hat trick or Alan Ball, who has yet to ever see a pass while it's in the air.
5. Give props for this comeback to Jay Ratliff. I know he's a nose tackle, but he was stalking the sideline, waving a towel and urging his offense to march to a field goal down in the final three minutes. Nobody wanted this one more than No. 90. He's a leader.
4. Just when I was drowning in envy at the fact that Enrique Iglesias has routinely gotten naked with Anna Kournikova, he was upstaged during the halftime concert by Pitbull. Well played, Cowboys Stadium. Color us surprised.
3. Tony Romo is now 13-0 at home in November and 5-0 on Thanksgiving. Can't explain it, but it sure makes the turkey taste better. And, by the way, no NFL quarterback is better rolling left. I've lost count of how many touchdowns he's thrown moving left, including another today on a perfect strike to a diving Laurent Robinson.
2. Like I've been preaching all season, that's precisely why you have Dez Bryant return punts. With his team down by two and three minutes remaining, he fielded Brandon Fields' 56-yard boomer at Dallas' 16 and juked and jived his way for a precious 20 yards to the 36 to spark the Cowboys' game-winning 10-play, 54-yard drive. Biggest, best kick return of the season, and he's the only cat on the roster who could've produced it.
1. DeMarco Murray ran for 87 yards (including 27 on the final drive), but no play was bigger than his decision to go down inbounds on the 5-yard scamper around right end with just under a minute left. He goes out of bounds and, perhaps, the Cowboys have to kick off to Clyde Gates and Davone Bess. Veteran move by a rookie. I'm impressed.
I'm also exhausted. That's two heart-pounding escapes in five days. Yet, the Cowboys are 7-4 and have 10 days off before traveling to the lowly Cardinals. 8-4 and a two-game lead in the NFC East entering the Dec. 11 showdown versus the Giants in Arlington is now a distinct possibility.
