It may be preseason football, but the NFL is back. Throw out the statistics; at this point it is all about hearing from the Hall of Fame inductees and the sight of your favorite teams. The Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys had the honor of untying the bow to the 2013 NFL season. Cowboy fans enjoyed their part of the gift with a 24-20 win over the Dolphins in the 50th Hall of Fame game.
Rookie DeVonte Holloman’s 75-yard interception return off a tipped pass sealed the Cowboys’ victory Sunday night. With Tony Romo nursing his back on the sidelines after removing a cyst, the Cowboys controlled most of the game one night after their former offensive lineman Larry Allen, and former coach Bill Parcells, were inducted into the hall.
Allen, Parcells and the other five inductees Cris Carter, Jonathan Ogden, Warren Sapp, Curley Culp and Dave Robinson were in attendance and were honored again before the game. Parcells, who coached Dallas and was an executive for the Dolphins in his final two NFL stops, walked through a line of players from both teams before kickoff, pointing and expressing his gratitude with smiles.
Miami fans viewed their team’s new uniforms in action, which are closer to the original aqua color of the 1960s, and have a slightly different logo on the helmet. The Dolphins invested 98 million dollars in guaranteed money in the offseason. Miami’s mistakes were evident from the first possession. Ryan Tannehill botched a handoff to Lamar Miller on the Dolphins’ first offensive play and Nick Hayden recovered. The Cowboys were set up at the Miami 9. The Dolphins struggled most of the night against Dallas’ new defensive mastermind Monte Kiffin, the man who designed the Tampa 2 scheme so prevalent throughout the NFL.
Although top running back DeMarco Murray was held out, the Cowboys were dominant grounding it and pounding it. Phillip Tanner did the bulk of the early work and finished with 59 yards and a touchdown. Joseph Randle handled the late duty and had 70 yards as Dallas piled up 170 yards rushing.
The Cowboys now are 2-3 in the Hall of Fame game, while the Dolphins are 0-4. Head to head, the Cowboys lead the preseason series 6-2. Miami is at Jacksonville on Friday night, while Dallas visits Oakland.
