For the first 28 minutes or so of the first half, the Cowboys were clearly the better team in Dallas.
The Steelers were better in the final moments, though, and that was enough to send the game to halftime tied at 10. Ben Roethlisberger added to the long reel of passes made thanks to uncanny sack avoidance on a 30-yard touchdown pass to Heath Miller with 34 seconds to go in the half. It was a great play by Roethlisberger and a breakdown by the Cowboys secondary after the pass rush couldn’t complete the sack.
Up until that final Steelers drive, things were firmly in the Cowboys’ grasp. Tony Romo found mismatches -- Miles Austin covered by Josh Victorian thanks to Cortez Allen’s absence and tight end James Hanna isolated on linebackers -- and moved the team on three lengthy drives in the half. They only got 10 points out of them because of a fumble on inside the Steelers’ 10-yard line by DeMarco Murray and a third down incompletion to Dez Bryant.
It looked like Bryant could have caught the ball, but his injured finger might have hindered him. He caught one pass, but he did it by letting the ball hit his chest before securing it with his left hand. That approach wasn’t possible on the incompletion and the Cowboys had to settle for three.
Thanks to Roethlisberger’s big play, those missed opportunities loom large.