Cowboys hold off Bucs

Dallas defense stops Tampa Bay on final drive for 13-9 victory

As the seconds ticked away in the 4 th quarter of Sunday’s game between the Cowboys and Buccaneers, Cowboy fans everywhere held their breath. The Buccs, who were trailing 13-9, had driven to the Cowboys 18 yard line and were threatening to take the lead. All it would’ve taken was one pass or one missed tackle and Dallas would’ve been devastated. But the Cowboys did something they haven’t done much of this season. They showed their resiliency and pulled out a nail-biting last second victory against Tampa Bay.

It was a nerve wracking game for the Boy’s and their faithful pretty much from beginning to end as the two teams got locked up in a physical, grind-it-out duel. In the first half the Buccs had success putting drives together deep into Dallas territory. However, the Cowboys defense set the tone by stopping Tampa’s offense in the red zone. The Buccs were forced to settle for field goals twice after moving the ball inside the Dallas 20. Likewise, Tampa Bay’s defense shut down Dallas’s offense allowing only one field goal until very late in the second quarter. Had it not been for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Cato June of Tampa Bay the game likely would have been tied at six going into halftime. Instead, the Cowboys ended up with a touchdown with four seconds left to go up 10-6. The score came on a pass from Brad Johnson to Roy Williams, who hauled in his first TD reception as a Cowboy.

In the second half the defenses continued to dominate. Dallas tacked on another field goal and the Buccaneers later added one of their own to bring the score to 13-9. The once prolific offense of the Cowboys struggled to gain yards and first downs. Credit is due to the Tampa Bay defense for containing them, but with Brad Johnson under center the Cowboys offense appeared stagnant. On the day Johnson threw 19 completions on 33 attempts for one touchdown. It was a lackluster performance to say the least, but the most important thing Johnson did for his team on Sunday was what he didn’t do. He didn’t turn the ball over and in a game that was won primarily on battling for field position that was huge.

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Still in all the game came down to the final drive. With 4:15 left to play, Jeff Garcia lead his offense from their own 26 all the way to the Dallas 18 yard line. Along the way the Buccs converted a third and three and two fourth downs. But on a 4 th and five Garcia’s pass was incomplete and the game, for all intensive purposes, was over. The Cowboys and their fans could finally exhale.

The Cowboys survived in a game they had to have. A loss would’ve dropped them to 4-4 and last place in the tough NFC East. It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win, and the way things have been going for Dallas lately, they’ll gladly take it. So now the Cowboys will prepare themselves for an even bigger game next week at the Meadowlands against the Giants. In the meantime, we’ll see what more drama unfolds between now and then. There is already another juicy subplot possibly in the making, as news has surfaced about the Cowboys mulling a decision to start third string quarterback Brooks Bollinger over Brad Johnson.

By Steven Mondelli
ProFootball-fans.com Dallas Cowboys Correspondent