“We have a lot of fighters and competitors on this team”, said running back Doug Martin, who gained 63 hard-earned yards on 18 carries. They all have a great upside and, under the circumstances, have produced about what you could expect.
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The Cowboys had hoped to end their losing streak against the Buccaneers and make a final run to the playoffs with Romo over the final seven games.
The Cowboys defense may be in more trouble after losing cornerback Morris Claiborne to a hamstring injury.
With veteran Vincent Jackson sidelined by a knee injury, Winston targeted Evans 19 times against the Giants. No Louis Murphy, who is on injured reserve with a torn ACL. Across the National Football League, it has happened only one other time this season – the Falcons had a 10-7 win over the Tennessee Titans, but National Football League teams scoring 10 or less were 1-31 going into Sunday’s games.
And when might that be? “Mike Evans is not a good player, Mike Evans is a great player”, Smith said. But still, we’re not getting it done and that’s beginning with me.
In the meantime, the situation for Winston and the Bucs offense stinks like garlic gum.
The Cowboys (2-7) reached the Tampa Bay 44 following the ensuing kickoff, but Matt Cassel’s throw to the end zone intended for Dez Bryant was intercepted by Bradley McDougald after the Tampa Bay safety appeared to give the receiver a slight shove to the back. The Cowboys pose a threat with the defensive ends to bend the corner, but size in the secondary is a weakness that can be exploited if the Bucs are willing to trust Winston to deliver under fire. He also finished with three sacks in the game and couldn’t get anything going. “I thought it was a good call”. Dan Bailey made field goals of 53 and 42 yards. And while the 6-foot-5 receiver amassed the third-highest yardage total of his career, his miscues contributed to the Bucs settling for field goals on three of four trips inside the NY 11-yard line. Dye caught his only pass for a first down.
The oft-maligned defense won the game, and that had to hold some sweet redemption for the defensive-minded Smith. He threw a couple of interceptions but made the big plays when he needed to. We had a good play on – and very uncharacteristic – we had somebody make a mental mistake, so you got two guys blocking one guy and then nobody blocking the free hitter who comes over and makes the tackle. Linemen, snap count, everything has to be flawless and that’s what we got.
-RUSHING DEFENSE: A. The Bucs have never played the run as well under coach Lovie Smith as they did against the Cowboys. The second one came in the fourth quarter as the team had driven from its own 8-yard line down to Dallas’ 23. “On the ones that fall on Jameis (Winston), I would say that’s characteristic of inexperience”.
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It’s hard to argue the idea that Tony Romo really is the MVP of the Dallas Cowboys after they lost their seventh consecutive game on Sunday, making this the first Cowboys team to do so since Jerry Jones bought the franchise in 1989. “We all know that”. Now we take our weekly look at what went right and what went wrong in the sunshine state.
