By Zachary Walker

Not much about the 19 to 14 victory over the Carolina Panthers resonates in my head. The impressive return of Anthony Spencer helped upset rhythm for Cam Newton by supplying constant and timely pressure throughout the game. Brian Moorman’s punting continues to be impressive, not that Chris Jones hasn’t, it’s just a healthy balance of solid punting from both punters. The sudden ability to put together long and draining drives is something to tip the cap at. But only coming up with three points on an 18 play drive won’t be enough to win most games. Mainly it comes down to a lack of production from the running game.

It would be excellent to give Felix all the carries, because there’s probably a chance he’ll take one to the house, but he isn’t a back you can even give twenty carries to. He’s always been the Two back. Phillip Tanner is solid as the Three back but that is what he is. Between the two of them, they had 28 carries (15 for Jones, 13 for Tanner) and only managed to get 74 yards (44/30 yard respectively). Those averages are terrible. We need some speed, some burn. We need a play-maker, while DeMarco Murray is banged up.

We have an ace up our sleeve, and it’s time to add him to our hand. Lance Dunbar, a running back from UNT, has the explosive play-making ability that has been missing from this team since Felix’s rookie year. He has only one career rushing attempt, but it went for 11 yards against the Ravens. In the preseason, he blew through a hole, broke two tackles and housed it from 58 yards. Look, I like long drives, it gives the defense time to rest (good or bad thing), but scoring on a big run, that’s different. It’s even better than a long pass touchdown. It stirs it up, gets the crowd going, not to mention, when you control the ground, you can control the game. And versus the Giants, and Eli “Makes a Career out of the Fourth Quarter” Manning, controlling as much clock as possible is how the Cowboys need to secure their first win against the Giants in their own stadium. And in the end, isn’t beating the Giants the most important of season victories these days?