Dallas improves to 13-2 with 20-13 win at Carolina.

It wasn’t sealed until Marion Barber’s 11-yard run inside the final two minutes, but Dallas has their 13th win of the season by a count of 20-13 over the Carolina Panthers.

Barber ran for 110 yards, the second-highest total of his career behind a 127-yard game against Arizona in his rookie year, and Dallas needed all of those yards tonight, especially at the end.

Tony Romo bounced back well from Sunday's nightmare game against Philadelphia and finished 28 of 42 for 257 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, and broke Danny White’s single-season team record of 3,980 yards (it now stands at 4,125).

Give credit to the Panthers for staying in it even though the Cowboys should have had it sewn up well before the end. Matt Moore certainly has the tools to be a success as a starter in the NFL, as he’s shown in his first two starts - it wouldn’t have taken long for him to be the backup in Dallas, but he’s much better off in Carolina - and he nearly came back to haunt his old team.

But, the defense certainly didn’t take it easy on Moore, sacking him five times, with DeMarcus Ware upping his total to a career-high 13 with two sacks and Greg Ellis adding one to his total, which is now at 12.5 for the season. The key plays for the defense were keeping the Panthers out of the end zone both times in the second half when they had a chance to cut into the Cowboys’ lead.

Judging by the statistics, it was a dominating performance by the Cowboys, even though the scoreboard indicates otherwise - 405 to 216 in total yards, 25 to 12 in first downs, 39:00 to 21:00 in time of possession.

That dominance could have translated on the scoreboard if not for a few missed opportunities for Dallas, but in the end, it’s not about the opportunities you miss, but the ones that you convert, and the important thing is that the Cowboys converted more than the Panthers, and thusly, Dallas is a Packers loss (or a win at Washington next week, if the Packers beat Chicago tomorrow) away from having home-field advantage in the NFC, while 6-9 Carolina is eliminated from playoff contention.

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…