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Nichols: Cowboys QB Jon Kitna does a lot, just not enough
12:43 AM CST on Monday, December 13, 2010
COLUMN By BILL NICHOLS / The Dallas Morning News
brnichols@dallasnews.com
Bill Nichols
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ARLINGTON – Since Tony Romo went down, Jon Kitna has exceeded the expectations of a backup quarterback.
He hasn't lost games with mistakes. He has kept the Cowboys' offense rolling with numbers similar to Romo's.
On Sunday night, Kitna pretty much matched the NFL's hottest quarterback, too, but in the end couldn't rescue the Cowboys.
Kitna completed 24 of 35 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw two interceptions and was sacked once.
The mobile Michael Vick finished with 28 more yards passing, but he was out-rushed by his 38-year-old counterpart. Kitna had 27 yards on three carries; Vick had just 16 yards on eight attempts.
Kitna rallied the Cowboys much like he did against the New York Giants the night Romo was injured.
With Dallas trailing by 10 points, Kitna drove the Cowboys 80 yards, scrambling for 19 of them.
On fourth-and-7 at the Eagles' 49, he kept the drive alive. He eluded the rush and ran around left end for 10 yards. He then hit tight end Jason Witten for a 22-yard touchdown pass that cut the deficit to three points with 4:22 left.
But that's as close as the Cowboys would get. Kitna never got another chance, as the Eagles ran out the clock.
"I thought Jon did a real nice job," interim coach Jason Garrett said. "I thought he handled some of the situations really well.
"We didn't run the ball as well as we'd hoped. Unfortunately, he carried most of that burden."
After rushing for 217 yards against Indianapolis, the Cowboys rushed for 110 against the Eagles. But only 18 of those rushing yards came in the second half.
"They were pretty much doing the same thing the whole game," Kitna said. "In the first half, we had a couple of big runs, and that seemed to kind of hurt them. But we just weren't as effective as we wanted to be."
Kitna spent much of the night trying to get the ball out of his hands as quickly as possible. In addition to avoiding Philadelphia's rushers, he struggled to get passes over the Eagles' strong front.
"You hope that by effectively running the ball, you can bring people down to the box and throw it deep," Cowboys receiver Miles Austin said. "But that's the nature of the game. Sometimes they bring people down, sometimes they don't."
With receiver Dez Bryant out for the season, Kitna relied primarily on tight ends Witten and Martellus Bennett.
They were targeted 12 times. Witten finished with seven receptions for 69 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 9.9 yards a catch. Bennett had four catches for 30 yards.
"We turned the ball over twice, and you can't do that," Kitna said. "I think we should have had a pass interference on the first one, that's for sure.
"I think they had 10 points off of turnovers, and it was the difference in the ballgame."
Kitna was a major reason the Cowboys entered with three wins in their previous four games. He threw for seven touchdowns with only two interceptions in those games.
But this one, like the Giants game, ended in defeat.
"I think if we played well enough to win, then we would have won," Kitna said. "That's the way I always look at it.
"There were a lot of unforced errors that we put on ourselves. You can't do that, not in this league and not against a good football team."
• • •
12:43 AM CST on Monday, December 13, 2010
COLUMN By BILL NICHOLS / The Dallas Morning News
brnichols@dallasnews.com
Bill Nichols
Archive | E-mail
ARLINGTON – Since Tony Romo went down, Jon Kitna has exceeded the expectations of a backup quarterback.
He hasn't lost games with mistakes. He has kept the Cowboys' offense rolling with numbers similar to Romo's.
On Sunday night, Kitna pretty much matched the NFL's hottest quarterback, too, but in the end couldn't rescue the Cowboys.
Kitna completed 24 of 35 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw two interceptions and was sacked once.
The mobile Michael Vick finished with 28 more yards passing, but he was out-rushed by his 38-year-old counterpart. Kitna had 27 yards on three carries; Vick had just 16 yards on eight attempts.
Kitna rallied the Cowboys much like he did against the New York Giants the night Romo was injured.
With Dallas trailing by 10 points, Kitna drove the Cowboys 80 yards, scrambling for 19 of them.
On fourth-and-7 at the Eagles' 49, he kept the drive alive. He eluded the rush and ran around left end for 10 yards. He then hit tight end Jason Witten for a 22-yard touchdown pass that cut the deficit to three points with 4:22 left.
But that's as close as the Cowboys would get. Kitna never got another chance, as the Eagles ran out the clock.
"I thought Jon did a real nice job," interim coach Jason Garrett said. "I thought he handled some of the situations really well.
"We didn't run the ball as well as we'd hoped. Unfortunately, he carried most of that burden."
After rushing for 217 yards against Indianapolis, the Cowboys rushed for 110 against the Eagles. But only 18 of those rushing yards came in the second half.
"They were pretty much doing the same thing the whole game," Kitna said. "In the first half, we had a couple of big runs, and that seemed to kind of hurt them. But we just weren't as effective as we wanted to be."
Kitna spent much of the night trying to get the ball out of his hands as quickly as possible. In addition to avoiding Philadelphia's rushers, he struggled to get passes over the Eagles' strong front.
"You hope that by effectively running the ball, you can bring people down to the box and throw it deep," Cowboys receiver Miles Austin said. "But that's the nature of the game. Sometimes they bring people down, sometimes they don't."
With receiver Dez Bryant out for the season, Kitna relied primarily on tight ends Witten and Martellus Bennett.
They were targeted 12 times. Witten finished with seven receptions for 69 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 9.9 yards a catch. Bennett had four catches for 30 yards.
"We turned the ball over twice, and you can't do that," Kitna said. "I think we should have had a pass interference on the first one, that's for sure.
"I think they had 10 points off of turnovers, and it was the difference in the ballgame."
Kitna was a major reason the Cowboys entered with three wins in their previous four games. He threw for seven touchdowns with only two interceptions in those games.
But this one, like the Giants game, ended in defeat.
"I think if we played well enough to win, then we would have won," Kitna said. "That's the way I always look at it.
"There were a lot of unforced errors that we put on ourselves. You can't do that, not in this league and not against a good football team."
• • •
