From: dwelch@mpd.tandem.com (Dan Welch)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro
Subject: Cowboys steamroll over Lions
Date: 9 Nov 92 15:51:29 GMT
Organization: Tandem Computers (MPD) Austin, TX

It looked ugly at first, but the result was beautiful -- an efficient,
almost mechanical 37-3 win over the struggling Lions.

The Lions came out pretty fired up, and for a second I started having
flashbacks to last year (much to the dismay of my in-laws, who were
trying to play mahjong in the same room :^) ).  On the Lions second drive,
they were moving the ball very well, especially considering that they
started at the one yard line after a brilliant Saxon punt.  But then
Everett made the first of two picks on the night, and the Lions were
pretty much history after that.

The Lions had only two drives that went longer than four plays or twenty
yards -- one ended in the interception mentioned above, and one in their
only score, a second quarter field goal.  Other than that, they had four
3-and-outs, a 4-and-out, two more interceptions, a fumble, and one play
at the end of the game.  They ended up with 201 yards total offense, a
good enough performance by the Dallas D to retain their #1 defensive ranking
(San Diego gave up 211).  The only bright spot for the Lions was Barry
Sanders, who picked apart the Cowboy's run defense with disturbing ease.
Sanders ended up with 108 yards on the ground and one catch for three.
He became the first rusher to go over 100 this year against the Cowboys;
the first in 20 games, extending back to last year's win over Cincinnati.

The Dallas offense sputtered at first, getting nothing from a fumble 
and an interception that ended Detroit's first two drives, but then picked
up steam and rolled to 26 first downs and 398 total yards.  It got to the
point where Aikman, Irvin, and Smith were all taken out of the game for
the fourth quarter, but that didn't really slow down the Cowboys.  Curvin
Richards came and rushed for 82 yards on 16 carries, ending Emmitt's
34-game streak of being the team's leading rusher.  Beuerlein went 2-2
for 26 yards in relief of Aikman.  The Cowboys tacked on another field
goal, and almost scored another touchdown -- Richards fumbled at the two
yard line.

It was such a business-like win, it was almost boring.  Some highlights
and comments:

- Emmitt scored three touchdowns to retain the top spot on the TD list.
  He has 12 this year, all rushing.  Thurman Thomas is second with nine.
  Emmitt's total ties the Cowboy record for rushing touchdowns in a
  season, held jointly by Herschel Walker and Tony Dorsett.
- Cowboy opponents have only converted one of their last 30 third-down
  attempts, a pretty impressive stat, IMHO.  Detroit went 0-7 on third
  down.  The average number of yards they needed for a first: 10.  The
  Cowboys lead the league in third-down conversions allowed; they are
  allowing only around 21%.
- Curvin Richards looked very good in relief of Emmitt, especially when
  you consider that Detroit knew Dallas was going to be trying to kill the
  clock with run after run.  Then again, the Cowboys had the ball for
  more than 37 minutes, so the Detroit defense was probably pretty tired
  and demoralized in the fourth quarter.  Still, an impressive performance.
- This was the Cowboys' first win in a dome under Johnson.  The second
  should come later this year, when they play at Altanta.
- Chad Hennings saw his first action of the year.  He came in on special
  teams play, replacing the injured Tony Hill.  Hennings didn't make any
  tackles, but did a good job disrupting the blocking for Mel Gray.
- In their five game winning streak, the Cowboys have only allowed four
  touchdowns.  They have outscored their oppenents 129-36.

Not a whole lot more to say.  Next up is the Rams, at Dallas.

Daniel Welch
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro