Got back at 1:00 this morning from KC (560 mile drive).. a little tired but will power thru the day!
First things first, went with my 9 year old son who sees things for what they are, his favorite team on the field doing battle with another team. No power rankings, no sports TV rhetoric and no message board experts to influence him. Just pure football pleasure. I miss those days.
Just a couple observations, I normally don't take a camera to a game. I like to keep things simple, and focus on the game.
1.) Pregame: Sam Hurd couldn't catch anything. Witten got kicked out of offense walk thru for false start and was completely pissed off for the rest of the game - more on him later.
2.) The Stadium: not the dump I thought it might be. Fans were cordial and willing to write off their team before the game even started. Most really disliked Haley and considered him just a fill in during their rebuilding process. They also severly disliked Larry Johnson, what a steep decline from the guy who when he last faced us was on fire and near the top of the league. And of course our fans, doing everything they could to make this a home game for our team.
3.) The game: Witten got in the mix right away after Crayton's forward progress no fumble Haley challenge flag. He was in Haley's face arguing and had to be persuaded by Romo to leave the area. Romo was good all game as was our running game. Would have liked to see more runs called, but haven't seen the complete stats yet, if we were a 50/50 pass-run split then I will stand to be corrected. Which brings me to a subtopic here:
3a.) The offensive coordinator: I can see why the offense looks so disorganized on the field - they are constantly arguing with Garrett! There was hardly a play in the 2nd or 3rd quarter where somebody on the field wasn't yelling at him. It was Romo telling him to get the plays in sooner, Bennett telling JG that he was open and mostly Witten yelling and screaming at him. Witten yelled at JG from the field and from the sidelines. Many times pointing to himself in an effort to get plays called for him. He also paced/raced and otherwise pouted on the sidelines the whole game. Throwing his helmet, water bottles and being unruly. Not sure to call that a cometetive fire or something pregame that he couldn't get over.
4.) The win: Glad we won and have the bye to get everybody healthy. You take this win and put it in the bank, never know when you'll need it and in December it won't matter how close the game was or how poor the opponent was.
Side note; possibly some on this board are too young to understand, too unwilling to understand or just haven't been educated on this yet. But the Dallas Cowboys are America's team, which for the most part means that they are the most favorite and most hated team in the NFL. I have been very fortunate over the past 10 years since moving from Texas to attend many games. Usually 1 home game and a couple road games every year. I can tell you without hesitation that when the Dallas Cowboys come to town its the biggest game on the other teams calendar. Its the biggest game for the fans, they want nothing more then to send all the invading Cowboys fans (usually no less than 20% of the attendance) out of their stadium with a loss. Its the biggest game for the players, they know that beating the Cowboys gets them on ESPN, NFLN or whatever other network and is their chance to be shown on TV worldwide if they win. So don't for a moment ever downgrade a win, especially on the road - they earn it every time.
