Baltimore Ravens Win Over Dallas Cowboys in Last Game at Texas Stadium

The Baltimore Ravens defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the final game ever at Texas Stadium despite a stand out performace from rookie running back Tashard Choice. With a number of former Cowboy greats on hand including Roger Staubach and Emmit Smith, the Dallas Cowboys were handed a bitter defeat to close out Texas Stadium for good.

The game started with the Baltimore Ravens kicking off. Dallas Cowboys running back Tashard Choice, who got the start over Marion Barber, had a couple of nice runs, but the drive was cut short with an Ed Reed interception on Tony Romo.

Demarcus Ware and the Dallas Cowboys defense quickly responded with his twentieth sack of the season on rookie Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, who fumbled, which the Greg Ellis of the Cowboys recovered. Several plays later, Tashard Choice ran in for the touchdown, followed by a Nick Folk conversion to give the Dallas Cowboys a 7-0 lead.

On the next drive, Dallas Cowboys free safety Keith Davis gave up a major pass interference penalty to bring the Ravens to inside the 10-yard line. Luckily for the Cowboys, the Ravens were only able to come away with a field goal.

Led by Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, the Baltimore Ravens defense was able to hold the Cowboys scoreless for the remainder of the half, while the Ravens offense was able to score on two more field goals, one coming off a second Ed Reed pick on Tony Romo.

Tony Romo had an extremely forgettable first half, but Tashard Choice showed weaknesses in the powerful Ravens defense. The Dallas Cowboys defense, led by Demarcus Ware and Terrance Newman, both of whom had impressive first halves, were certainly holding the Baltimore Ravens offense, but the Cowboys needed a better offensive performance if the Cowboys were to send Texas Stadium off on a high note.

The second half did not start will for the Cowboys with the Ravens defense still holding the Cowboys offense scoreless. The Ravens increased their lead when Joe Flacco connected with Derrick Mason for a touchdown. The Baltimore Ravens wide receiver was injured early on in the game, but managed to tough through a painful shoulder injury to keep Baltimore in the first half, and build on their lead in the second.

The Dallas Cowboys began to build some momentum at the end of the third quarter with the impressive running of rookie running back Tashard Choice. Tony Romo also began to pick up his game connecting with Roy Williams several times to keep drives alive. The Cowboys were finally able to score again with a Nick Folk field goal early in the fourth.

After the Dallas field goal, Joe Flacco was able to lead the Ravens offense on a critical drive that ran a significant amount of time off the clock. Willis McGahee made several critical runs, but a Bradie James late hit on McGahee, along with several other penalties, brought the Ravens into field goal range, which the Ravens were quick to capitalize on and increase their lead by 3 to bring the game to 19-10 Ravens with 6:30 left in the fourth quarter.

Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys offense took the field with six and a half minutes remaining and with all three timeouts. After several good runs from Tashard Choice, Jason Witten made an excellent and critical catch to bring the Cowboys to the Baltimore 21-yard line. Patrick Crayton followed this with another critical catch to keep the drive alive with the Cowboy at first and goal on the 7-yard line. After an incompletion, Tony Romo was able to connect with Terrell Owens for a touchdown. With the Nick Folk extra point, the Dallas Cowboys trailed the Baltimore Ravens by two with 3:50 left in the fourth quarter.

On the ensuing kick off, the Ravens fumbled but recovered and Joe Flacco took the field with a two point lead and 3:42 left in the game. Willis McGahee broke for a 77-yard touchdown that took the energy out of Texas Stadium.

The Cowboys, down by nine drove down to respond, a Patrick Crayton catch brought the Cowboys into Ravens teritory, but Tony Romo was sacked on the next play, which brought o the two-minute warning.

On the other side of the two-minute warning, Tony Romo completed to Terrell Owens, with Tashard Choice, who had an excellent game all day, converting the first down. Two plays later, Jason Witten was open in the end-zone and Tony Romo connected to bring the Cowboys back within two with three timeouts left.

Before the Cowboys kicked off, John Harbaugh, head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, called a time out to determine the Dallas strategy. Nick Folk kicked the ball deep, and Joe Flacco again took the field with a two point lead and no time outs. On the first play, Le’Ron McClain then went 82 yards for a touchdown.

Adam “Pacman” Jones, who came back from a possible career ending injury, took the kick off to the 50, where Flozell “I could not get the snap count right if you put a gun to my head” Adams was called for a false start, as per usual in these situations. Tony Romo was unable to lead the Dallas offense to another score, and the Baltimore Ravens remain the only team that the Dallas Cowboys have never defeated, albeit only in three tries.

While the Baltimore Ravens now have control over their playoff destiny, the Dallas Cowboys will travel to the Philadelphia Eagles for a must-win game next Sunday.

While Dallas does not control it’s own playoff destiny, there is one positive coming from the loss. Tashard Choice has certainly proven himself in the absence of Marion Barber and should grow to be an excellent running back in the years to come. That being said, every true Dallas Cowboys fan will be sincerely disgusted with the embarrassing loss that does not do justice to the Cowboy greats in attendance. If only Texas Stadium could be sent off in a more deserving way.

Dallas Cowboys Blog