The Cowboys were out to prove the 2007 NFC divisional playoff loss to the Giants was a fluke. After wrapping up home field advantage with a 13-3 record, Dallas started flat and fell 20-17 to a New York squad they had beaten twice in the regular season.
"That wasn't just a fluke year," receiver Patrick Crayton said. "It was a bad game by us, good game by the Giants that day. And that was that and let's keep going. Let's get back to work."
The NFL schedule-makers had the Cowboys back to work Week 1 on Sept. 7, 2008 at then-Cleveland Browns Stadium. The Browns, coached by Romeo Crennel in his fourth season, were not taken lightly by Dallas.
The Browns finished 10-6 in '07. A series of tiebreakers and the Colts resting their starters in Week 17 against the Titans, providing Tennessee with an assured victory, prevented Cleveland from postseason play. They too were out to prove the body of their 2007 work was who they were.
"We might go around and people say Cleveland sucks," said guard Cory Procter, a Cowboy from 2005-09. "But they stay in games, just like a lot of other teams."
Procter was a reserve guard Bill Parcells brought to Dallas late in the 2005 season and only started two games at center for an injured Andre Gurode in 2007. In 2008 during his third training camp with the team, Procter walked in the office of offensive line coach Hudson Houck and asked to be put in the mix for the swing guard spot competing against Joe Berger and Pat McQuistan. Procter won the job the Monday before the Cleveland game when head coach Wade Phillips told him he was "going to get a shot."
Swing guard was a critical position in the 2008 preseason as starting left guard Kyle Kosier struggled to stay healthy with a hairline fracture in his right foot. Kosier would miss the season opener, which meant Procter would take his place in Week 1. The undrafted lineman out of Montana had the support of the entire offensive line room.
"They had your back and you knew that," Procter said. "Playing between Flo [Adams] and Andre, who were some pretty badass players, and did well."
Procter and his teammates had their hands full in Cleveland as they were staving off pressure from outside linebackers Willie McGinest, Kamerion Wimbley, and nose tackle Shaun Rogers.
"Big ol' body," Procter recalled of the three-time Pro Bowler with whom he was once brief teammates in Detroit in 2005. "He's just a massive dude."
Filling in at left guard for Kosier, Procter drew Rogers most of the afternoon, but he won an important battle against the 350-pound nose tackle on a first-and-goal from the Cleveland 1-yard line on the Cowboys' first drive of the afternoon.
Said Procter: "I always liked getting those short-yard, goal-line situations where it's just straight ahead. We got like an ISO play. And we had one on the goal line where it was just him and I and I get in a four-point stance, which is rare for a guard, but I get in a four-point stance and put him back about five yards into the end zone. That was one of the highlights of Monday's film Hudson was watching. The spotlight was on me. He goes, 'Check this guy out. This guy is supposed to be a Pro Bowler, 350 pounds, and you got Cory Proctor pushing him five yards into the end zone."
The Cowboys looked as unstoppable as the previous year with quarterback Tony Romo going 5-for-5 for 56 yards with all day to read the Browns' 3-4 defense.
Cleveland responded with a touchdown drive of their own that went 78 yards in 17 plays. Quarterback Derek Anderson found tight end Kellen Winslow, Jr. for a 2-yard touchdown to even the score 7-7.
But the Cowboys quickly scored four plays later when Romo hit receiver Terrell Owens for a 35-yard touchdown to pull ahead 14-7. They later went up 21-7 with 29 seconds before halftime with another Barber 1-yard touchdown run, though this was a stretch to the left with Procter pulling, a strength of his.
"You have Andre and Leonard who are excellent at double-teaming with their big massive bodies," Procter explained. "And you would have Andre and Leonard who would take the nose and the first backside backer and just smash him, and I would come right off of Leonard's ass on the inside track and smash the outside linebacker."
Unable to stop the Cowboys' run and failing to pressure Romo with their rushes straight off the edge with Wimbley and McGinest, Cleveland came out of the locker room ready to drive the sixth-year signal caller off his center with different blitzes.
Said Procter: "In that second half I want to say they got into a little more of a nickel-type package where they would get down in their four-down look and put big ol' Shaun Rogers down in a two-line or something and try to use his big ol' body to get some push on the inside."
One of those plays was a frightening one for Cowboys fans watching on television. After getting smashed by Rogers and McGinest, Romo lie on the grass with his eyes closed and a grimace on his face indicating he had suffered any one of a myriad of terrible injuries that could jeopardize the season. Thankfully, it was just a busted chin for which he had to have stitches.
The Cowboys front office swapped out a Jones for a Jones at running back with four-year veteran Julius released in favor of drafting rookie Felix out of Arkansas. Jones' scat back abilities were a change-up to the pounding from Barber the Browns weren't used to.
"Felix would hit the hole and he would make one cut, gone," Procter said. "He had some really great, deceptive speed on him."
The deceptive speed is partly why Jones' first ever NFL carry was an 11-yard touchdown with 6:30 to go in the third quarter and gave Dallas a 28-7 lead. The Browns were only able to chip into the margin with a 34-yard Phil Dawson field goal with 10:13 to play in the game.
Afterwards, owner, president, and general manager Jerry Jones made his typical visit to the postgame locker room to celebrate with the players.
"I remember Jerry Jones coming down in the locker room being all jacked and saying great job to the O-line and everybody feeling good about getting a solid win under your belt, good performance," said Procter. "We kicked the season off right."
So "jacked" were the Cowboys after the win in Cleveland that Romo helped Bill and Sharon White fix their flat tire on the side of the road back in Dallas-Fort Worth. Noticing the white bandage on Romo's chin, Bill begged Romo not to tell him the outcome of the game as he had it recorded and was going to watch it as soon as he got home.
"That's just a reflection of Tony, right," Procter said. "We need more of that giving mentality where you're putting preference for other people. We need something where you're sitting on the side of the road and somebody says, 'Oh, shoot, let me help that guy out.' And the great thing about that is Tony is in such an influential position to do that. He has made tons of other people think twice about passing someone who might be on the road stuck."
Dallas was stuck on the side of the road this preseason with Romo breaking his back, but another nice young man in Dak Prescott has filled in well for the Cowboys and has them cruising down the road to the playoffs with a 6-1 mark, the best in the NFC. Just as nine seasons ago when the Cowboys went to the shores of Lake Erie, they are not discounting the Browns, no matter their record.
What are your memories of the 2008 contest in Cleveland that opened the season for the Cowboys? Share them with Mark on Twitter @therealmarklane.
