Witten too much to handle
BY ANDY FRIEDLANDER
Newsday.com
September 10, 2007
IRVING, Texas - Without Terry Glenn, the Dallas Cowboys no longer had the weapons to hurt the Giants with a rocket down the sidelines.
Instead, they went inside and hurt them with something closer to a blunt instrument.
Jason Witten, the Cowboys' 6-5, 266-pound tight end, took on the heavy lifting for the Dallas offense and carried it as effortlessly as he dragged Giants defenders with him for the first half of Sunday night's game at Texas Stadium.
For most of the first half, Witten was the Cowboys' passing game, if not the entire attack.
The absence of the speedy Glenn - out for the game and perhaps the season with cartilage damage in his right knee - allowed the Giants to focus their coverage on the Cowboys' remaining dangerous receiver, Terrell Owens. Owens was shut out in the first half, and quarterback Tony Romo completed only one pass to a wide receiver, a 12-yard slant to Patrick Crayton, before halftime.
But Witten, a three-time Pro Bowler, bashed the Giants over the wide-open middle. Whenever the Cowboys faced a third down, the big tight end was the man Romo went to. Witten finished the half with 78 yards on five receptions, all on third down, and four of them leading to scores.
Indeed, the Cowboys converted 4 of 7 third downs in the first half, all by Witten.
He started on Dallas' third snap of the night - the game's first third-down play - by sliding into the seam to beat a cornerback blitz with a 15-yard catch and followed with the same play against the same blitz for 23 yards as the Cowboys drove 67 yards for a field goal.
In the second quarter, Witten's 10-yard reception on third-and-11 from the Giants' 28 set up Marion Barber's fourth-down touchdown run. And, not to be outdone, Witten scored one of his own on Dallas' next possession, maneuvering between linebackers Kawika Mitchell and Mathias Kiwanuka to find space in the end zone and grab Romo's 12-yard pass.
Witten's first catch on a down other than third occurred in the third quarter and was just as devastating. On first down from the Dallas 33, he ran unmolested on a short in pattern, made the catch and rumbled 38 yards to the Giants' 29, setting up Romo's 9-yard scoring scramble with 1:56 left in the quarter.
None of this, of course, was new to the Giants, who had been victimized by Witten before. In December, he was the key figure in the Cowboys' last-second victory over the Giants, catching a 42-yard pass from Romo to put Dallas in position for Martin Gramatica's winning field goal.
Sunday, Witten carried the Cowboys for a half, giving them a lead at the break. The wide receivers finally took over from there, with Owens scoring on receptions of 22 and 47 yards twice and Crayton picking up a big third-down conversion in the third quarter.
Newsday.com
September 10, 2007
IRVING, Texas - Without Terry Glenn, the Dallas Cowboys no longer had the weapons to hurt the Giants with a rocket down the sidelines.
Instead, they went inside and hurt them with something closer to a blunt instrument.
Jason Witten, the Cowboys' 6-5, 266-pound tight end, took on the heavy lifting for the Dallas offense and carried it as effortlessly as he dragged Giants defenders with him for the first half of Sunday night's game at Texas Stadium.
For most of the first half, Witten was the Cowboys' passing game, if not the entire attack.
The absence of the speedy Glenn - out for the game and perhaps the season with cartilage damage in his right knee - allowed the Giants to focus their coverage on the Cowboys' remaining dangerous receiver, Terrell Owens. Owens was shut out in the first half, and quarterback Tony Romo completed only one pass to a wide receiver, a 12-yard slant to Patrick Crayton, before halftime.
But Witten, a three-time Pro Bowler, bashed the Giants over the wide-open middle. Whenever the Cowboys faced a third down, the big tight end was the man Romo went to. Witten finished the half with 78 yards on five receptions, all on third down, and four of them leading to scores.
Indeed, the Cowboys converted 4 of 7 third downs in the first half, all by Witten.
He started on Dallas' third snap of the night - the game's first third-down play - by sliding into the seam to beat a cornerback blitz with a 15-yard catch and followed with the same play against the same blitz for 23 yards as the Cowboys drove 67 yards for a field goal.
In the second quarter, Witten's 10-yard reception on third-and-11 from the Giants' 28 set up Marion Barber's fourth-down touchdown run. And, not to be outdone, Witten scored one of his own on Dallas' next possession, maneuvering between linebackers Kawika Mitchell and Mathias Kiwanuka to find space in the end zone and grab Romo's 12-yard pass.
Witten's first catch on a down other than third occurred in the third quarter and was just as devastating. On first down from the Dallas 33, he ran unmolested on a short in pattern, made the catch and rumbled 38 yards to the Giants' 29, setting up Romo's 9-yard scoring scramble with 1:56 left in the quarter.
None of this, of course, was new to the Giants, who had been victimized by Witten before. In December, he was the key figure in the Cowboys' last-second victory over the Giants, catching a 42-yard pass from Romo to put Dallas in position for Martin Gramatica's winning field goal.
Sunday, Witten carried the Cowboys for a half, giving them a lead at the break. The wide receivers finally took over from there, with Owens scoring on receptions of 22 and 47 yards twice and Crayton picking up a big third-down conversion in the third quarter.
posted by The Gryphon at 7:45 AM
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