Dallas Cowboys vs. Miami Dolphins
The Dallas Cowboys come into this football game on a high not after beating the Giants 45-35 in a thriller last Sunday Night. The Dolphins played hard in their opener at Washington but they suffered a tough loss 16-13 in OT. The bad news for the Dolphins in this football game is that the Cowboys will likely attack them on the ground just like the Redskins did last week. The Redskins rushed for 191 yards on 41 carries (4.7 ypc) last week against the supposed rugged defense of the Dolphins. You could just see Julius Jones (66 yards rushing) and Marion Barber (65 yards rushing) licking their chops as they were watching game film of the Dolphins game last week. LB Zach Thomas better be ready for an all-out running assault. The bad thing for the Dolphins defense is that the Cowboys are well equipped to burn them in the air this week too. Look for the Cowboys to attack the safeties of the Dolphins by throwing to TE Jason Witten (6 rec, 116 yards, TD) who had a field day against the Giants. Also, look for Tony Romo (128.5 QB Rating) to take some shots deep to Terrell Owens (3 rec, 87 yards, 2 TDs) off of play action.
The Dolphins must run the football to keep time running off the clock and keep the ball away from the Cowboys high powered offense. To do that they will need their offensive line to block much better than they did in the season opener when they only rushed for 66 yards on 20 carries (3.3 ypc) as a team. Ronnie Brown will likely get the bulk of the action in the running game with Jesse Chatman banged up and he has to do better than last week when he only rushed for 32 yards on 11 carries (2.9 ypc). The Giants were running at will on the Cowboys last week as they rushed for 124 yards on 22 carries (5.6 ypc) and most of that was with backup running backs. The offensive line must keep OLBs DeMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer out of their backfield to give QB Trent Green to throw the ball down the field to Chris Chambers and Marty Booker as the corners of the Cowboys didn’t play too well last week.
PREDICTION: The Dolphins won’t be able to keep up with the Cowboys this week. It will be because of the offensive line which likely will have trouble all season long.
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