Dallas Cowboys Wander Into the Lions' Den

This couldn’t happen. Not in this game.

Not after the Cowboys' defense had been called out—and rightly so—by Lions QB Jon Kitna following an embarrassing regular-season ending loss at the hands of a 2-13 Detroit team.

Not when said defense prepared for this game with a chip on their shoulder and planned to make life miserable for Kitna, who has been sacked more times than any other QB in football this year.

Not even with said defense—particularly the secondary—shown to be leaky at times this year when faced with an above-average QB. 
 
The Lions came into the game riding a four-game losing streak, and the Cowboys were looking to seal up their first NFC East title since 1998. This was supposed to be easy. The defense was supposed to feast.

Instead, they were exposed by Kitna—again.

Dallas only sacked Kitna once—on the last play of the game. Kitna frequently shredded the Cowboys' secondary on third downs. For most of the game, the Dallas defense looked as pathetic and lethargic as any in the NFL.

The Lions found their long-dormant running game, and totaled a season-high 152 yards on the ground, with 3 rushing TDs—the most rushing scores for the Lions in 40 games.
 
Baby Drop looked mortal, with only three catches for 21 yards and no TDs, as the Lions' secondary was determined not to let him beat them.   Jason Witten fumbled at the Lions' one-yard line, Romo fumbled at the Cowboys' 40 and Marion Barber fumbled at the Lions 28. 

The Cowboys only led for 18 seconds. 
 
Yet, for the second time this season—the Monday-night game against Buffalo game being the first—the Cowboys got lucky and ended up triumphant in a game they had no business winning, as they defeated the Lions 28-27 in a shingles-inducing affair at Ford Field.

And they did it, in part, because of Tony Romo, whose legend continues to be written before our eyes.

This team—much like the other elites of the NFL, New England and Indianapolis—can’t be beat if you only play 59 minutes. Teams have to play 60 minutes to beat the Cowboys.
 
Perhaps that’s why Dallas’ only loss this season has been to the undefeated Patriots.

Another common thread the three teams have: franchise QBs who, when given the ball back late in the game, have the confidence and poise to lead their team down the field and get the winning score. That’s precisely what Romo did Sunday.

Trailing 27-21 with 2:15 left to play and no timeouts, Romo led the Cowboys 83 yards down the field for the winning score. Jason Witten atoned for his goal line fumble three and a half minutes earlier in the form of the game-winning 16-yard TD pass from Romo.

Take away the fumble, and Witten had one of the greatest single games EVER for a tight end, finishing with 15 catches for 138 yards and the game-winner. Witten's 15 catches tied an NFL record for catches by a tight end (Kellen Winslow Sr. in 1984).
 

Romo finished with 302 yards on 35-of-44 passing and two TDs, continuing to rewrite the Cowboys' record books and give this team and its fans viable Super Bowl hopes for years to come.

Marion Barber had a huge day in the air and on the ground, catching a career-high 10 passes for 61 yards and a critical TD at the end of the first half, as well as gaining 43 yards on the ground with two TDs.

The Lions' patchwork offensive line, which had given up more sacks than any other team, soundly beat the hell out of the Cowboys defensive line at the line of scrimmage. Detroit ran the ball well—despite being the 32nd ranked rushing team in the league—and the stellar play of the O-line kept Jon Kitna out of the obituary column.

Kitna played well, finishing with 248 yards on 22-of-36 passing with no INTs—but also no TDs. Kevin Jones and T.J. Duckett combined for a monster day of 152 yards rushing and three TDs. 

The Lions racked up 390 yards of offense with no turnovers. Their defensive front seven sacked Romo three times. Baby Drop was shut down and basically reduced to a decoy. Yet, they still lost the game.

Of course, like the Buffalo game, the Cowboys needed some miracles, the most notable of which in the form of a missed 35-yard FG by Jason Hanson—who never misses—with 10:45 left in the fourth quarter, which left the Lions with only a 27-21 lead.

Then, the Lions inexplicably mistook Miles Austin for Devin Hester, and pooch-kicked the ball away from him, which frequently gave the Cowboys the ball at their 35- or 40-yard line. True, Austin did have 112 yards on three kickoffs—but over half of those yards came from one return, after which the Lions began pooching.
 
To top off the Cowboys' good luck, Romo fumbled the ball on third down during the climactic, game-winning drive—but Detroit linebacker Paris Lemon tried to pick up the ball rather than just falling on it, which would have ended the game.

Instead, Lemon kicked the ball back to left guard Kyle Kosier who recovered for the Cowboys and kept their drive alive.
 
And, just to show that I am objective about this, there was also a missed Roy Williams pass interference call that ended up costing the Lions a potential TD and forced them to settle for a FG. How that call was missed is beyond me—and I root for the Cowboys.

More and more, we are seeing poorly-officiated games costing teams wins. I know that pass interference is a subjective call, but the NFL

must look into some kind of specific challenge system for these kinds of situations. These can be game-changing calls—or in this case, non-calls.
 
I hate my teams winning games because of lousy calls, and that non-call on Williams was as blatant as they come. It cost the Lions four points and quite possibly the game. 

And for good measure, there was another missed pass-interference call on Cowboys safety Pat Watkins at the end of the first half. 

Quite frankly, this was as poor an officiated game as I’ve ever seen, and the Cowboys benefited from it. If this is what the NFL deems acceptable, they’ve got more problems than three-fourths of their teams being unwatchable.

With a 12-1 record and the division title wrapped up, the Cowboys need just two more wins to clinch home field throughout the playoffs.

Great teams win games even when they have no business winning them. An average team might get one win like this in a season. The Cowboys now have two in 2007.

This one, however, was luck playing its hand to the utmost, in the form of poor officiating and lucky bounces.
 
What is particularly troubling is that the defense regressed in this game, bringing back memories of December 2006. No offense to the Lions—but there is no excuse for getting manhandled by a saran-wrap offensive line. 

This game has reignited fears about this defense being overrated—and a potential liability.

The Cowboys may still get to Arizona, but if the defense plays against the Patriots or Colts like they did on Sunday, it will be a massacre.