News: BTB: Six Takeaways From The Cowboys Playoff Win Over The Lions

[NewsBot]

Six takeaways from the Cowboys dramatic win over the Lions.

At the beginning of the game between Dallas and Detroit, the Cowboys looked tight and Tony Romo looked tentative, his passes were not where he wanted them to be. Several were very low. In the post-game Romo said he was throwing low because he wanted to make sure that there was no chance for an interception. But there were times where he threw behind his receivers as well.

As the game progressed, and the Cowboys began to close the gap. Other than the above, here are my six takeaways.

1. Jermey Parnell - On the final TD pass to Terrence Williams Parnell was a monster, but I thought he played really well through out the whole game. I am glad that Doug Free was not needed because if he was not 100 percent, he might have petitioned Jason Garrett to play and that could have hurt the Cowboys.
2. Dez Bryant - The Lions did a really good job of taking Bryant out of the game for the most part, but Dez was still able to make his mark in this game. With the score 20-7 and the ball near midfield, Romo hit Bryant across the middle for 47 yards to the 7-yard line for a first and goal. But, then came the 4th and 1 call that was a sign of the confidence that Garrett has in his offense as he decided to go for the touchdown instead of the field goal. I remember thinking at the time that if this fails, Garrett will be roasted by the media and if it works, he will be elevated by them and I was also thinking "what would Jimmy do in this situation?" ...and my answer to myself, "fade to Dez." Much to my surprise, they went with the run. Gutsy!
3. Demarcus Lawrence - Near the end of the game, Lawrence picked up a fumble by Matthew Stafford that was caused by Anthony Spencer and when Lawrence picked it up, I found myself screaming...game-over, game-over, just fall down, JUST FALL DOWN!!!! Oh, Crap!
4. The running into the kicker flag - With the score 7-0 and the Lions punting deep in their own territory, Dakota Watson tried to block a punt and wound up giving the Lions new life and allowed them to grid out a 99-yard drive that resulted in increasing the score to 14-0 instead of Dallas having possibly great field position and then narrowing the score.
5. The flag picked up - While this one play will be talked about as the defining play, no one can say for sure what the Lions would have done over the next plays, or if they would have only gotten a field goal out of the drive and thus could have still lost the game. Again, it was just one play and no one knows what if any difference it would have made in the final score.
6. Tony Romo - Never gave up. On that final TD, he kept the play alive and then threw a fastball on a rope to Williams and all year long Romo has brought his team back from deficits that seemed to be insurmountable. Romo has had his best season but the pressure of this game might cause any other quarterback to shrink in the moment on that final TD drive knowing that he would once again be saddled with the "Can't win the big games." I remember Tom Landry being saddled with that label and he finally got the monkey off his back and I fully expect Romo to get it off his back before he hangs it up. With this offensive line, all things are possible.

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