Dallas

Cardinals 28, Cowboys 17: Whitt Watch Top 10

10. Kyle Orton, all is forgiven? I didn’t expect Tony Romo-esque numbers from Brandon Weeden, but he was excruciatingly hapless. Before garbage time his rating was under 30.0. And, remember, the Cardinals were the only pass defense allowing 300 yards per game. Weeden was so bad he was reminiscent of Brad Johnson. Vomit.

9. James Hannah blew a block but Jason Witten saved a touchdown, somehow chasing down the speedy Patrick Peterson on a blocked field-goal return to end the first half. Turned out to do nothing, other than add another highlight to the Hall-of-Famer’s resume.

8. I keep wanting Brandon Carr to be an elite cornerback. And I keep being disappointed. You can count his impact plays on one hand and he regularly seems uninterested in tackling.

7. Cowboys had been resilient under Jason Garrett, but they fell to 17-8 after a loss. And, in Garrett’s four-plus seasons, the Cowboys have never had a three-game losing streak. They play the one-win Jags in London next Sunday.

6. Knew it would be different kind of day without Romo, but never expected the Cowboys’ only meaningful touchdown to be scored by Tyler Patmon.

5. The main criticism of Weeden had been his stubborn habit of locking in on a receiver, covered or not. That was on display today as he missed an open Cole Beasley several times on underneath crossing routes.

4. Cowboys are now 3-3 at home and 3-0 on the road. It is Nov. 2 and Dallas has only two more home games.

3. Weeden was bad, but Bryant was exposed as a human for the second consecutive game. Last week it was Redskins’ rookie Bashaud Breeland and today it was the Cards’ Peterson. Before garbage time, Dez had only three catches for 30 yards over the last eight quarters. I do give Dez props for not “throwing up the X” after his late, meaningless touchdown. Dare I say, a selfless display of maturity?

2. Facing Weeden, you knew the Cards would stack up to stop the run. But I felt like the Cowboys were good enough to run it anyway. Wrong, wrong and wrong some more. Murray gained only 79 yards and Arizona stuffed him on the game’s key play – a 4th-and-1 early in the 4th quarter. Perhaps we underrated the absences of Doug Free and Ron Leary?

1. Everybody chill, even though the roof was open today the sky ain’t falling. The Cowboys lost to the best team in the NFC with a backup quarterback. No shame. No panic. Beat the horrible Jags in London and head into the bye at 7-3. Every Cowboys’ fan would’ve taken that back during training camp.

A native Texan who was born in Duncanville and graduated from UT-Arlington, Richie Whitt has been a mainstay in the Metroplex media since 1986. He’s held prominent roles on all media platforms including newspaper (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), radio (105.3 The Fan) and TV (co-host on TXA 21 and numerous guest appearances, including NBC 5). He currently lives in McKinney with his wife, Sybil, and two very spoiled dogs.

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