Dallas Cowboys: Rob Ryan’s defense saves the day
Monday night was Ex-Cowboy Night at JerryWorld. Dan Bailey kicked six field goals to account for all the Cowboy points in an 18-16 victory over Washington. Dez Bryant’s 30-yard reception from Tony Romo set up the final field goal, in the final two minutes. But don’t forget yet another guy who is part of Oklahoma State’s history.
Rob Ryan’s defense saved the day.
The Cowboy defensive coordinator, who was Bob Simmons’ d-coordinator in Stillwater in the late ’90s, has Dallas’ defense playing very well. The Cowboys had three sacks of Redskin quarterback Rex Grossman, giving Dallas an NFL-high 13 this season.
Grossman isn’t an elite quarterback. Despite their 2-0 start, the Redskins are not an offensive juggernaut. But still, in this era, anytime you hold a team to 16 points, you’ve played some defense. Look at all the scores from the first three weeks. Offenses are running wild.
You don’t win many NFL games without scoring a touchdown. Not just now. But ever.
But the Cowboys beat the Redskins without a TD. These Dallas nail-biters are nothing new. This was the Cowboys’ NFL-record ninth straight game decided by three points or less. Dallas actually broke the record in the season opener against the Jetropolitans. The previous record was six, held by the 2004-05 Raiders.
“If you look at the statistics in the National Football League, two out of three games in the NFL last year were within one score in the fourth quarter,” said Dallas coach Jason Garrett. ” We play a lot of those games. You have to understand and you have to believe you can make the plays when necessary. I thought it was a great job by our defense throughout the ballgame, just staying after them, continuing to fight.
“As a coach, it’s hard not to get emotional when you see the effort of those guys up front continuing to stay after the quarterback, determined to make a play. The whole crew of them were just working so hard throughout the ball game. We knew they were going to make a play and ultimately Anthony Spencer made the play to get the turnover late to seal the deal.”
Monday night was the 41st game in Cowboy history without a Dallas touchdown. That’s 52 seasons worth. But it was just the sixth time Dallas won without a touchdown. Here are the previous Cowboy wins in history without a TD:
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