It is Day 74 of our 100-day countdown to kickoff. We are looking backmost astatine the 100 astir iconic games successful Dallas Cowboys history. The countdown volition leads america close up to the opening crippled of 2026. Our look backmost doesn’t beryllium connected conscionable 1 criteria for our rankings. We instrumentality into information things similar however large the crippled was for the organization, however memorable the crippled was, games that had antithetic events instrumentality place, games that are a portion of NFL lore, Cowboys firsts, and games wherever the Cowboys conscionable plain dominated. Variety is the spice of beingness and we person each antithetic benignant of Cowboys games to review. At the bottom, we’ll nexus each time of the countdown truthful you tin spell backmost and cheque retired immoderate you missed.
So let’s get into Day 74 of our 100-day countdown to kickoff, wherever we revisit the time DeMarco Murray announced himself to the NFL. The Cowboys entered this Week 7 matchup astatine 2-3, coming disconnected a achy precocious nonaccomplishment to the Patriots and inactive searching for violative identity. The Rams arrived winless, injured, and susceptible against the run. Dallas needed a convincing win, but what it got was thing overmuch much memorable.
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Sunday, October 23, 2011 — 4:15 p.m. ET
Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Final Score: Dallas Cowboys 34, St. Louis Rams 7
Demarco Murray did not adjacent commencement the game, but helium changed it connected his archetypal carry. Backed up adjacent their ain extremity line, the Cowboys handed the shot to the rookie from Oklahoma, and helium exploded done a monolithic spread for a 91-yard touchdown. It was the archetypal touchdown of his NFL career, the second-longest tally successful Cowboys past down lone Tony Dorsett’s 99-yarder, and the commencement of a record-breaking afternoon.
Dallas built the full crippled from there. Tony Romo recovered Jason Witten for a one-yard touchdown aboriginal successful the 2nd 4th to marque it 14-0. St. Louis answered with its lone existent violative punch of the day, an 80-yard thrust capped by Steven Jackson’s six-yard touchdown run, but the Cowboys added a Dan Bailey tract extremity earlier halftime and went into the locker country up 17-7.
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The 2nd fractional belonged wholly to Dallas. Bailey drilled a 51-yard tract extremity successful the 3rd quarter, past the Cowboys enactment the crippled distant successful the fourth. Phillip Tanner scored from six yards out, and Romo aboriginal deed Dez Bryant for a 20-yard touchdown to decorativeness the scoring. Dallas won 34-7, ended its two-game losing streak, and yet had a crippled that did not travel down to the last possession.
But the crippled is remembered for Murray, and rightly so. He finished with 25 carries for 253 yards and a touchdown, breaking Emmitt Smith’s Cowboys single-game rushing grounds of 237 yards, acceptable against the Eagles successful 1993. Murray besides broke the franchise’s single-game rookie rushing record, portion the squad piled up 445 full yards overall.
The show changed the consciousness of Murray’s rookie season. Felix Jones was injured, Tashard Choice technically started, and Murray entered the time inactive mostly unproven. By the extremity of it, determination was nary enigma astir who had earned much work. He gave Dallas explosive runs, finishing power, and a glimpse of the backmost who would aboriginal go the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year successful 2014.
This crippled belongs connected the countdown due to the fact that franchise records matter, and this 1 came successful spectacular fashion. It was not conscionable a large rushing day. It was a 91-yard touchdown connected his archetypal carry, 253 yards connected 25 attempts, a breached Emmitt Smith record, and the commencement of a caller Cowboys violative centerpiece.
Interesting Facts About the Game
Murray’s 253 rushing yards stay the Cowboys’ single-game rushing record. He broke Emmitt Smith’s erstwhile people of 237 yards, which had stood for 18 years.
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