Carolina Eliminated From Playoffs
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by Behbigben15
For those of you who couldn't watch last night's game on NFL Network: You missed a good game.
Steve Smith, WR of the 6-9 Carolina Panthers, finally broke out with a big game. Smith broke his streak of 7 games with under 100+ receiving yards (hasn't broken 100 since week 6 vs ARI). Smith caught 9 balls, for 137 Yards, and a TD. Carolina's rookie QB, Matt Moore, started his 2nd career game, and a pretty good day for a rookie going up against this Dallas D. Moore, who was traded from the Cowboys earlier this season, went to Oregon State University, and led Carolina to a 13-10 win over the Seattle Seahawks last week, in his first career start. But, the Panthers were eliminated from the NFC playoff pitcure after the disappointing loss in front of the home crowd.
Carolina was a threat to NFC's top-ranked team, the Dallas Cowboys, but eventually Pro Bowl QB, Tony Romo, pulled away with the 20-13 win. But, not all was good for the 'Boys last night, Terrell Owens, the 'Boys Pro Bowl wideout went down with a high ankle sprain, and may miss 3-4 weeks, which is bad news, because he really be missed in the playoffs. But, Romo was able to lead the Cowboys to a win despite being without Owens for a majority of the game, with a little help from yet another Pro Bowler, their backup RB, Marion Barber III, who ran for 110 Yards, and a TD on 22 attempts. Before he went down with an injury, Owens did catch 5 passes for 48 Yards, and a TD.
Dallas' D helped out Romo as well, sacking Moore 5 times, and picking him off once, too (Anthony Henry). Dallas dominated Carolina's offense, as they had the ball just 21 minutes, while Dallas had the ball for 39 of the 60 minutes, that is 65% of the game, that's incredible. I did like the fact that both teams had just 1 turnover each, both being INT's. There wasn't many penalties, either (DAL: 5-39 yards, CAR: 3-15 yards), both of those categories factor in for a great, mistake-free game.
The key to the Dallas win was the running game. Dallas was able to run the ball, and run it well, running for 148 yards as a team, while the Panthers leading rusher was DeAngelo Williams, who managed just 60 yards. Carolina ran the ball just 14 times for 69 Yards (4.9 YPC), Dallas ran the ball 37 times, which took alot of pressure off Romo, who, like I said earlier, was without T.O. for most of the game. Due to the lack of run plays on Carolina's side, Dallas dominated the clock, and came away with the W.
| This user is a Minnesota Vikings fan. |
