It sounds a bit odd to say it right now, but the Dallas Cowboys do control their own destiny and came very close to being two games ahead of any team in their division until the Philadelphia Eagles made a lucky comeback against the woeful Washington Redskins.
The Giants are up next, and like the Redskins, there are dealing with plenty of injuries and team friction to almost knock them out of contention. But don’t be to cocky, Jerry Jones has warned his team. Good advice.
The Cowboys are 8-3 and two games in front of the Giants and one game in front of the Eagles, who the Cowboys have beaten.
After the Giants, the Cowboys face the Chargers, and then the game we all want to see, against the undefeated New Orleans Saints who just rocked the New England Patriots.
The Cowboys may have one of the toughest schedules left in the NFL, but the team is fully capable of sweeping the rest of these five games and having the team’s second 13-3 season in its history.
We’ve seen over 11 games the defense improve tenfold. DeMarcus Ware has heated up and on the opposite side, Anthony Spencer has been doing real well against the run and has come really close to some sacks.
We’ve seen the most problems on the offensive side, but we do know that when Tony Romo plays well, and is throwing the ball accurately, better outcomes happen. We also have seen the Cowboys have better success when either Marion Barber, Felix Jones or Tashard Choice has a solid game running the ball.
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Only way we’ll ever beat the Saints is to run, run, run, run the ball. How do you think St. Louis almost pulled out a win against them? You have to keep the ball OUT of the offense’s hands and keep your defense rested.
I really hope Garrett took notes from last night’s game. An incredible passing attack (which is what the Patriots have) isn’t going to win you the game (which is what Garrett always thinks)
Yes KD you are right run the ball and eliminate Drew Brees I have been telling my friend this for awhile now. I also told him Alanta could beat them the first time they played them if they blitz Brees to pressure him and if Turner runs the ball. Which I came close to predicating, but the Falcons did not quite do it. He is a Saints fan so it will be fun for the both of us come game time. I told him he needs to watch out for Felix because his defense is weak to the outside run. We also can’t under estimate Payton either he is making some crazy plays up. I am sure he will probaly have some new plays just for us.
By the way what is going on with this blog. Where is beomav,davedallasfan, mbarber, steamroller everyone that was on this site everyday. Hell we don’t even hear from landryhat much anymore.
Haha, sorry Tex. I’m getting my own blog set up right now. I’m just trying to get it up off the ground.
There’s a chance that the Saints won’t be playing their starters in that game. If they can clinch homefield through the playoffs by then, which would require the Vikings losing a game, they could conceivably sit Brees.
Even so, I still like our chances against the Saints. They haven’t played many good defenses. In fact, I’m not impressed with any of the defenses that they’ve played against. The Patriots defense is a shell of its former self, most of which is the organization’s fault for dealing a lot of their talent on that side of the ball. Our pass rush is way better, which is a must against Brees. He’ll tear apart defenses if he’s comfortable.
Yea MBIII was becoming kinda dead here lately just wondering where everyone was.
I hope they don’t sit anyone, I want to beat em when they’re healthy. I also don’t think they will.
And how did they draw every difficult team at home this year? Their hardest team away was Miami.
Tex, we haven’t made any big claims to stir up more controversy lately. I have an article in the works that could get some heat going. Stay tuned.
Lol ok MBIII mean while I will check out your blog also. KD I hope they don’t also and if the Cowboys beat the Giants and Charger I doubt they will sit out. There is already a bunch of hype and the game is like 2 1/2 weeks away. Imagine what it will be like if the Cowboys are 10-3 I doubt any of the Saints players will want to sit out of this one.
It’s not really up to the players. But it’s not likely that the Saints will clinch by then. I’ve been wondering if these coaches will go for perfection at the risk of their players. It was never in doubt with Belichick but I wonder if Payton or Caldwell will do it. My guess is the Colts shut it down because they are going to be done with too many games left. The Saints will be in a battle longer for home field. If they get by the Cowboys then they should be able to coast by the Bucs and Panthers.
Some stats I noticed: 2nd in scoring defense with 16.5 ppg
14th in scoring offense with 23.2 ppg
14th in total defense with 327.6 ypg
4th in total offense with 392.1 ypg
We’re doing well with that bend but don’t break defense but we should be scoring more. This is skewed by that 2 game stretch against Green Bay and Washington where we were out of whack. Seems like our defense should be getting more credit in the media with a stat like that though.
Howley,
I would not call those two games out of whack..Those teams sport top ten defenses and we didnt do well against them..I call that a warning sign….
That’s a good point and it’s even more troubling that along with Denver those are the only strong defenses we have played. We only put up 10 in the loss to Denver. Our last 5 games are all decent but not great defenses, I doubt Washington stays top 10, so this our chance to prove that the offense can be better. I hope.
Howley,
I am hoping but my fear has always lied with JG…DC’s has always found ways to stop our offense the last two years..Some of this has resulted in injuries like last year..But the year we were 13-3 I think he did not make many changes and DC’s figured out our offense..
The defense is like 7th in sacks and 3rd to last in interceptions, falling only to the lions and browns. Defenses that are good but not dominating in interceptions, or doing as well as last year in sacks, aren’t going to get the credit they deserve.
I like our guys, they look great.
Our defense is fine the reason they do not get credit is because they don’t produce turnovers. Which I think is not a huge deal because the offense does get the ball the same way when they punt the ball. I consider making the other team punt a turnover to if you think about it. The defense will get turnovers now and then, but the offense needs to make things happen on their own and not rely on the defense all the time.
The defense has been very good bordering on great..They are 2nd in the NFL in the most important stat of all which is points per game allowed…
I agree with you David. It’s not dominating in the glory stats’ categories, like turnovers, for instance, that let defenses like Dallas’ fly under the radar. Flying under the radar is a good thing too =)
In order for the cowboys to win, they need to improve their defense and offense.
If we were better at getting those turnovers then our offense would be better at scoring points. A punt may give us the ball but it’s 50 yards further down the field than a fumble would be. There is also a much bigger momentum swing from a pick or fumble. They’re not that overrated.
I see your point Howleyfan about the momentum and being closer. It don’t help though when our defense gets a turnover then someone gets caught holding and brings us back 10 yards and get nothing out of it anyways. I am hoping this year the offense just is not taking risk until needed. On the Redskin game they did not score really, but when needed they took it down the field easily.
I think our biggest concern is the holding penaltys they are hurting this offense more than anything. They have been down the field plenty of times to get it taking away by a holding penalty. Wade Phillips could be a great coach if he just showed some disipline. Since he is not I fear these penaltys will keep showing up and it might show up in another playoff loss.