Into the final few minutes, Cowboys holding on...

Things have greatly quieted down in the second half, and as time winds down, Dallas is a stop and a few first downs from having it in the books.

All each team has to show for in the second half is field goals, with Carolina trimming the deficit to a touchdown right out of the locker room with a 37-yard field goal from Jon Kasay on a drive that got down to the Dallas 1, but was pushed back by a false start and two sacks.

The Cowboys moved the ball into scoring position early in the fourth, but a Romo interception kept the Panthers in it. But, he made up for it on the next drive, leading Dallas to a field goal and a 20-10 lead with less than nine minutes to play.

It’s far from over though, as Moore just hit Smith for 57 yards on fourth down, and Carolina has it at the Dallas 9 inside four and a half a minutes.

A touchdown here, and it gets a little nervy, because the Panthers still have two timeouts.
Time to close it out…

Cowboys on track for lucky #13.

It’s back to business as usual for Dallas, as the Cowboys are up 17-7 over the Carolina Panthers at halftime.

Tony Romo has already thrown 32 passes, but he’s surpassed last week’s completion mark by eight (21 to 13), and with his 188 passing yards in the first half, Romo has a new single-season Cowboys record of 4,056 yards.

It’s good to see Romo back on track, and even more so to see a semblance of balance in the offense, as Marion Barber has 80 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.

The offense has thoroughly dominated proceedings in the first half, outgaining Carolina 291 to 109, but more importantly, holding a 50 to 17 edge in plays and a 15-minute edge in time of possession.

But, the Panthers are still very much in the game because of the one successful drive they put together, when a short kick gave Carolina the ball at the 37, and after a first-down completion and a 39-yard run by DeAngelo Williams, Matt Moore threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Steve Smith to get Carolina on the board.

After responding with a field goal, the Cowboys could have added to the lead before halftime, but a penalty for an illegal shift wiped out a first-down pass to Sam Hurd (that would have put it at the 20), and then Dallas simply ran out of time.

The second half just started, with the Panthers getting the ball first. The Cowboys will be playing the rest of the game without T.O., who left during the last scoring drive with an injury and won’t return. He had five catches for 48 yards and the score before he was hurt, so it’s a blow for him, since he was a key part of the offense after being quiet in the last two games. It shouldn’t be a big concern for the duration of the night, but hopefully it’s not an injury that will keep him out of any games from this point.

Carolina’s moving the ball and has it inside the 10, so the deficit could quickly be trimmed.
I’ll check back here and there…