Dallas / Detroit

Not much to talk about, unless as Randy Galloway said, you're Ed Hochuli. He was the head referee that had to explain to the Cowboys and their fans all of the Detroit penalties. Sometimes, he even had to explain a choice of penalties for Dallas to choose from. All in all, Dallas, coming off of a poor performance the previous Monday, performed pretty well as expected. Dallas did not play well, but they played good enough to win. They were certainly aided by 17 Detroit penalties, 9 of which gave them first downs.

The strong point of the game was the Dallas defense. They kept Detroit in check the entire game. Combine that with an already inept offense and numerous penalties, and the net result for Detroit was only 11 first downs and 226 total yards.

Special team play was also very good. Kicking coverage was great and old-new Billy Cundiff (signed this past week) set a Dallas record with a 56 yard field goal. I never knew he had that strong of a leg.

Overall, even though the offense was sputtering, Dallas won the game. The Cowboys could easily have been upset this week because of big games the week before and the following Thanksgiving Day Thursday game. But, Detroit did not come ready to play and the Dallas team showed enough concentration to win the game. Now comes the tough part of the Cowboys schedule. This Thursday they play Denver, which is probably the league's second best team behind Indianapolis. In the coming weeks, they also have New York, Washington, and Carolina -- all on the road. If they go on to win their division, it will be well earned.