Cardinals Defeat Cowboys in Wild Finish 27-26
By Scott Allen
Had it in the bag, no problem. Of course after jumping out to an early 14-0 lead, the Arizona Cardinals must have felt that way against the Dallas Cowboys Saturday night. Of course, it came down to the final play. Always seems games like this for the Cards do, as they won on a Jay Feely field goal with five seconds left.
The Cards seemingly hand gift wrapped this one though after allowing the Cowboys to claw back into the game after being down 21-3. In usual Cardinals fashion, they allowed Dallas to claw closer and closer before taking a 26-24 lead with 1:40 to go in the game. Even with no timeouts left, that still left the Cards and quarterback John Skelton enough time to take the Cards down the field for the winning drive.
Some observations from tonight:
John Skelton didn't look that great most of the night, but came through, especially on the 4th and 15 on the game winning drive
Beanie Wells found some nice running holes
The Cards offense basically shut down after taking a 21-3 lead. They only gained 23 yards of offense in the 3rd quarter
The Cowboys Marion Barber and David Buehler both had a night to forget. Both can be directly linked to the loss. Barber selfishly took his helmet off in celebration after a third quarter touchdown. The penalty took the Cowboys out of a potential game -tying two point conversion. As for Buehler, his missed extra point after their final touchdown kept the Cowboys from at least achieving overtime.
All in all, the Cards managed to win, even if ugly at times. They might have lost this game in November or October. Skelton may not be the long term answer in Arizona at quarterback, but given his success so far, he deserves a chance to compete next summer in Flagstaff.