Dallas Cowboys Blogger

The St. Louis Rams and Dallas Cowboys are two teams going in different directions.  The Rams are a beat up team that is 0-3 while the Cowboys are 3-0 having won each game by 10 or more points!  This game really has the look of a massacre!  With Marc Bulger playing with broken ribs, Steven Jackson out and possibly Isaac Bruce too….the Rams appear to be in deep, deep trouble.  The Rams have offensive line issues as they are only averaging 3.5 yards per carry running the football and Bulger has already been sacked 8 times this season.  The Rams will likely try to attack the Cowboys in the air as they allow 250.3 yards passing per game…..but they also have 8 interceptions so Bulger has to be careful.  The Cowboys will undoubtedly put cornerback Anthony Henry (4 interceptions, 1 TD return) on Torry Holt (18 rec, 210 yards, 2 TDs) so the Rams might be forced to look to other receivers this week.  With Isaac Bruce likely a game time decision, Drew Bennett and Randy McMichael will be asked to step up.  Both are capable receivers so the Rams should be able to get something going through the air as long as they give Bulger time.  That will be hard to do against the Cowboys who will likely turn OLBs Anthony Spencer and DeMarcus Ware loose to blitz often and that’s bad news for the Rams.  The Cowboys have a solid run defense as they only allow 86.7 yards per game on the ground so don’t look for the Rams to waste much time running the ball with rookie RB Brian Leonard. 

The Cowboys will likely lean on the running game a little more than usual against a Rams’ defense that is allowing 152.3 yards rushing and 4.7 yards per carry so far this season.  Marion Barber will likely get the bulk of the carries as Julius Jones has had some concussion problems this season.  Barber should have a great game as he is a bulldozer that has 256 yards rushing on 40 carries (6.4 ypc) with 4 TD runs this season.  Don’t think for a minute that the Cowboys won’t throw the ball often, especially with the Rams hurting at cornerback.  Look for Terrell Owens to have another monster game this week and pad his stats (16 rec, 329 yards, 3 TDs).  Also, Tony Romo (111.9 QB Rating) is looking for TE Jason Witten as his #2 receiver (14 rec, 233 yards, 2 TDs) and he should also have another good game.

PREDICTION:  This has all of the makings of a severe blowout at the hands of the Cowboys.  The Rams would be smart if they started Gus Frerotte in this football game…..but they aren’t!

 

Something has to give in this ballgame on Sunday Night. The Bears are only allowing 12.0 points per game and the Cowboys are averaging 41.0 points per game this season. It will be interesting to see how this football game plays out. The Bears will likely try to keep the ball on the ground to control the clock. To do that though, Cedric Benson (143 yards rushing, 3.3 ypc) and Adrian Peterson (47 yards rushing, 5.2 ypc) must hold onto the football. The Cowboys do give up 293.5 yards passing per game so the Bears will likely try to get the ball down the field to Bernard Berrian (10 rec, 148 yards) and over the middle to TEs Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark. Rex Grossman must be careful with the ball because the Cowboys already have five interceptions this season.

When the Cowboys have the football will be the funnest thing to watch in this game. They will try to run the football against the Bears defense that is only allowing 73.5 yards rushing per game and 2.5 yards per carry. So look for some high impact collisions between RBs Marion Barber (154 yards rushing, 3 TDs) and Julius Jones (98 yards rushing) and DT Tommie Harris and LBs Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs. The Bears will blitz often to try to get to Tony Romo before he gets the ball off, but the Cowboys have only allowed 2 sacks this season. TE Jason Witten (8 rec, 143 yards, TD) will likely challenge the Bears safeties often and that is a weakness of the Bears defense. WR Terrell Owens (8 rec, 184 yards, 3 TDs) will put big time pressure on the corners of the Bears to make plays.

PREDICTION: The Cowboys will score early in this game and Rex Grossman will make a few big mistakes that will turn the game in the Cowboys favor. Because of that the Cowboys will win this game by about a TD.

 

The New York Giants enter this football game a little banged up and they don’t even match up well with the Cowboys when everyone is healthy.  The Giants will have to try to establish a running game with Brandon Jacobs and Reuben Droughns and that will be easier said than done against the rough front seven of the Cowboys Defense.  The Cowboys will try to match power vs. power in the running game as NT Jason Ferguson is hard to move in the middle of the defense and MLBs Bradie James and Akin Ayodele are very active against the running game.  The Giants offensive line is average at best and they will have problems keeping the Cowboys out of their backfield on Sunday.  OLBs DeMarcus Ware and rookie Anthony Spencer will be blitzing like mad men trying to pressure Eli Manning into making mistakes.  It’s not good for the Giants that WR Plaxico Burress is banged up because he’s Manning’s go-to guy.  Amani Toomer and rookie WR Steve Smith will have problems getting open against CBs Anthony Henry and Terence Newman.  It will be fun to watch TE Jeremy Shockey compete against SS Roy Williams and FS Ken Hamlin who also bring the hammer to the football field.

The Cowboys should be able to move the football easy against a Giants’ defense that has a lot of weak links.  The Giants will need their defensive line to keep their linebackers clean because they are the best playmakers on the defense.  OLBs Mathias Kiwanuka and Kawika Mitchell must contain RB Julius Jones when he runs around the corner and they have the talent to do that.  MLB Antonio Pierce will need to be accounted for if the Cowboys hope to attack the middle of the field with Marion Barber.  DEs Jason Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan must put pressure on Tony Romo or he is going to pick the Giants secondary to the bone.  WR Terry Glenn injured himself and he will miss this football game but the Cowboys will still be explosive.  CBs R.W. McQuarters and Sam Madison will have huge problems trying to keep up with WRs Terrell Owens and Patrick Crayton.  Also, the Cowboys have a huge advantage with their TE Jason Witten against the safeties (James Butler, Gibril Wilson) of the Giants so look for Romo to throw to him more than usual.

Both of these teams have shaky kicker situations that will bear watching.  K Lester Tynes of the Giants barely held onto the job in the pre-season.  Rookie Nick Folk of the Cowboys won the starting gig when veteran Martin Gramatica hurt himself.

PREDICTION:  The Cowboys are going to paste the Giants on Sunday.  Think 31-17.