ARLINGTON, Texas -- Trailing 21-7 late in the first half, the Cowboys could have abandoned their running game, as they have so often this season.
However, for once the Cowboys showed a little faith in running backs DeMarco Murray and Lance Dunbar. The result was 144 yards – the second-biggest rushing day of the season – and a 31-24 Thanksgiving win over the Oakland Raiders.
Murray gained 63 tough yards on 17 carries and scored three touchdowns. The smaller, shiftier Dunbar popped a 45-yarder in with his 12 carries for 82 yards.
The ground work allowed quarterback Tony Romo to work the field through the air. The combination led to a string of 24 points before the Raiders could answer with a field goal in the final minute.
The Cowboys have gotten big contributions from Murray before, but this was the first time Murray and Dunbar worked in tandem successfully
"Having a 1-2 punch like him and Murray just allows us to do some different things," Romo said. "At the end of the day you still need some holes sometimes, but the guys up front did a heck of a job doing that and those guys just used their abilities to do everything else."
Dunbar was signed as an undrafted free agent out of North Texas before last season. At 5-8 and 188 pounds, he can zip through holes the 6-0, 219-pound Murray has to bull through.
When both are running well, as they did Thursday, the defense has to constantly re-adjust its tempo to keep up. In this instance, Dunbar served as the so-called "change of pace" back.
"Lance did a nice job," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "DeMarco ran well. Then you put Lance in there and he finds a way to kind of work his way through those holes and make some positive plays for us.
"We've talked about this before. He's quick, he's explosive, but he's small. But having said that, he's still a physical player. Doesn't get knocked around too much in there and seems to always fall forward and make some positive plays for us."
Dunbar started to show some flashes of what he can do in the preseason, but was sidelined by a sprained foot. That injury also kept him out of the opener against the Giants.
He fumbled in the Week 2 loss at Kansas City, then suffered a hamstring pull in the Denver game which cost him two more games.
Garrett said it wasn't the fumble or any other shortcoming that kept Dunbar from being a bigger part of the game plan until now.
"It wasn't so much that, it was more just his health," Garrett said. "He wasn't healthy there for different stretches. We came out of training camp thinking that he could be a big part of what we're doing. He got banged up a little bit, was on the shelf for three or four weeks."
Dunbar suffered another injury late in Thursday's game when he took a helmet to the knee. The injury was originally announced as a sprain, but owner Jerry Jones said it may have been a hyperextension and was hopeful Dunbar wouldn't miss a game.
The Cowboys have 10 days between their next game, a Monday night meeting with Chicago on Dec. 9. So it's possible Dunbar could return for the Bears, depending on the severity of the injury and how fast he heals.
After what Dunbar showed against the Raiders, you can bet they will be eager to see him back soon.
"He's a guy who can come in and give you a little bit of a spark," Garrett said. "He's a good receiver. But again, like you saw today, he's a good runner. He's a good runner on the edges, but also a good runner up inside and seems to fall forward and make some positive plays for us."
Murray, in his third season, had never scored more than one touchdown in a game until he had three Thursday.
The biggest positive about that for the Cowboys is that the touchdown runs were just two, four and seven yards. Punching the ball across the goal line has long been an issue for this team.
"I thought DeMarco ran the ball very well," Garrett said. "A number of different times, it felt like from my vantage point that the play was bottled up and somehow, someway he found some creases and made some positive runs for us."
The Cowboys have seen good games from Murray, but this is the first time since the Marion Barber-Felix Jones days that they've had anything resembling an effective tandem at running back. It's just one game, but other than the Vikings with Adrian Peterson, successful NFL teams these days often employ more than one good back.
"It's probably one of the better running games we've had this year," Garrett said. "When you can do that, all of the sudden you're getting some favorable matchups outside in the passing game… It all fits together."
Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith_Whitmire
