Cowboys Overcome Sluggish Start And Defeat Carolina 21-7

NFL News - September 29th, 2009 - Written by Scott

The Dallas Cowboys went into the locker room at half time against the Carolina Panthers Monday night as boos filled the stadium. The unimpressed crowd was suffering through what seemed to be another loss in their new stadium trailing 7-0 at intermission. Dallas was moving the football, but coming up empty on every drive. Running backs Felix Jones and Tashard Choice were doing the bulk of the work, while quarterback Tony Romo, who passed for 255 yards and no touchdowns, seemed to be playing very conservative and trying not to lose the game. In the end, the Cowboy's defense pulled through as Dallas went on to get their first win in their new $1.15 billion stadium 21-7 and improve their record to 2-1, putting owner Jerry Jones' mind at ease.

“It certainly does feel good,” Jones said. “The way it went so early, it just felt like maybe we ought to check this thing out for Grim Reapers living in the back someplace.”

Carolina opened up the scoring on a 25 yard pass from quarterback Jake Delhomme to Dante Rosario. Midway through the third quarter, the Cowboys got on the score board with a 24 yard field goal from Nick Folk to cut the Panther lead to 7-3. On their next drive, Dallas took the lead on a 5 yard touchdown run from Choice, who ended the night with 82 yards rushing. Folk then nailed a 19 yard field goal to put the Cowboys up by six with 12:02 left in the game.

With 5:07 remaining and the Panthers down 13-7, Delhomme made a costly mistake as he was picked off by Terence Newman who returned the interception 27 yards to seal the Cowboy's victory. Choice then converted the two point conversion attempt to give the Cowboys a 21-7 lead. Delhomme's pass was picked off due to wide receiver Steve Smith changing the route which was intended to be a slant. Smith said that Delhomme, who has 7 interceptions already on the year, was not to blame.

“I put Jake in a bad situation,” Smith said. “The bottom line is that I (hurt) Jake.”

The Panthers went 12-4 last year and won their division. They are now 0-3 and this is their worst start since 1998, where they started the season 0-7. They have struggled offensively so far this season and only managed 271 yards of offense against the Cowboy's defense who finally played a complete game, stopping the Panthers on both the ground and through the air. Panther coach John Fox isn't ready to throw in the towel on the season yet though.

“We have lots of football left,” coach John Fox said. “We’re not even a quarter through the season. We’ve had three-loss skids before. We have to stick together.”

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