The good news? The Dallas Cowboys found their offense in the fourth quarter to pull off a massive comeback in a 27-26 dramatic win over the New York Giants. The bad news? Dez Bryant broke his right foot, and will be out for at least a month, maybe more.
Bryant wasn’t on the field for the Cowboys’ fourth quarter touchdown drives. He’ll need surgery according to Jerry Jones, and a pin placed in his foot to repair and overcome the injury that occurred to him sometime during the third quarter. Bryant did get to celebrate with his teammates after the win, hopping out of the locker room on one foot, but that’s all he’s going to be able to do in the coming weeks until he recovers from the injury.
Bryant finished the game with 5 receptions for 48 yards. The Cowboys rely heavily on his presence, because he constantly draws double teams, enabling the team to run the ball and for other receivers; Terrance Williams and Cole Beasley to get open. Jason Witten, who had a huge game, will probably become even more of the go-to-guy for Romo in the next few games, while Devin Street will be the one getting a bump in the depth chart, while also more of the passing to running backs, something the Cowboys did quite a lot in their win over the Giants.
The Giants didn’t look good on offense all game long (Eli Manning with 20-of-36 for 193 yards) while the running game worked well, but wasn’t special (99 yards on 24 carries). They got most of their points through Cowboys turnovers: A fumble return taken back for the touchdown by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and the Tony Romo interception in the fourth quarter setting up the touchdown for Rashad Jennings and the Giants taking the 23-13 lead.
From there? The Cowboys offense, which did so well last season, went back into its usual form. The Cowboys went down the field in 2:53 minutes, moving 76 yards in just six plays with Romo going 6-for-6 on that drive, capping it off with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Witten. The Giants got a field goal back to put themselves up by six points after getting stopped on the 1 yards line, but the Cowboys were going for the dramatic finish, with an even quicker, more impressive drive.
This time? Six plays, 72 yards, 112 seconds. Romo used Lance Dunbar for two big gains early in the drive, and with the Cowboys on the Giants’ 11 with third and 2, they went for the pass (things might have been different with DeMarco Murray), finding Witten for his second touchdown in the quarter, leaving the Giants with only 7 seconds to try and make a miracle happen. It didn’t.
Romo did throw two interceptions but finished with three touchdown passes (one to Gavin Escobar, relying on his tight ends for red zone situations) and 356 yards, posting a 103.3 passer rating. Jason Witten caught 8 of the nine passes targeted at him for 60 yards and the two scores, while Dunbar with 70 yards and Williams with 60 yards show the Cowboys have more than just Bryant in the passing game. The running game however has to improve, with only 80 yards on 23 carries. Joseph Randle got most of the carries (65 yards, 16 attempts) while Darren McFadden was limited to 16 yards on 6 carries. Using them more in the passing game might be a better way to use them at the moment.