CowboysBlog.Net

The Cowboys have placed themselves atop the NFC, and are a step or two above the rest of the NFC this year. The Cowboys put on another offensive assault at the Rams expense. Romo Mania is on fire again! Can anyone stop this offensive juggernaut? Right now the Cowboys are on a collision course with NFL Supremacy at stake when they play the Patriots in week 6.

The usual suspects looked solid against the lowly Rams. A couple of Gameballs probabaly get handed out to Tony Romo and the Offensive Line.

Greg Ellis came back and played, and made his presence known. This defense is really coming along each and every week. For the most part, everyone looked good on defense. Hamlin is looking more comfortable roaming around in the secondary, and looks to be the part now.

Anthony Henry suffered some sort of ankle injury, preliminary x-rays came back negative, so Henry’s status for the next game are questionable at this point. We’ll see how the ankle looks this week. We could see Newman back in along with Reeves.

BOX SCORE 

Labeled as a potential trap game for the simple fact the Cowboys are expected to destroy the wounded Rams, this game should be an easy win. But the Cowboys must remain vigilant and focused on the task at hand - domination. We’ve got Aikman’s A-crew for this game. Quick message to Joe Buck, its the “Ring of Honor” not the Ring of Fame! He always finds a way to screw that up, and what’s worse is that Aikman doesn’t correct him, get it right Buck!

Keys to Victory

The Cowboys must not underestimate the Rams offense, mainly the passing game. If the Cowboys do not get to Bulger on a regular basis I will be shocked and amazed. The Cowboys are facing a beatup offensive line that has kept Bulger on his heels all year long. Bulger is listed as probable with broken ribs, so a few good hits and pressures should do the trick. If Bulger feels the pressure, he’ll be quicker to pull the trigger on an errant pass rather than take the sack and risk getting his ribs more broken.

The Cowboys haven’t been a fast start team this whole year, which I attribute to Garrett’s overall game strategy of proding and poking against the defense. As usual, the afterburners will kick in full speed and the butt kicking will ensue. I would like to see us test a few schemes against the Rams. Perhaps a quick start would be something the Cowboys may actually try against the Rams. We’ll see.

Pressure Bulger

I suspect Phillips will want to test out Bulger early by sending in some aggressive blitz packages. With Bulger on the run, we should see him throwing some INTs. Keep the pressure on. We’ll probably test run some new schemes and packages against this beatup Rams defense, and this would be a good time to try other new packages now before we get to the Patriots game in two weeks.

Special Teams

We’ve got a few injuries that will keep some key players out on special teams, so the backups will need to step it up and limit any big plays for the Rams on special teams. Keith Davis is out for this game, as is Courtney Brown.

Running Attack

Same as previous games. We’ll see more running in this game, and we could see another dominating performance from MB3 and Jones. Our offensive line dwarfs the Rams line, and we should be able to tire them out at Texas Stadium. If anything, the running game will take over completely in the 2nd half. No one on the Rams defense will shut us down.

When in Doubt

Throw to Witten. If you have Witten on your fantasy team, you better start him. Witten is going to be money against the Rams. Their LBs are very porous and can cover the big TE. They been known to give up the yards against TEs in coverage, and watch out. Witten could have a huge game!

Injuries
ST. LOUIS: RB Steven Jackson (groin), CB Tye Hill (back), G Richie Incognito (ankle). DALLAS: LB Greg Ellis (Achilles), WR Terry Glenn (knee), CB Terence Newman (foot/knee)

Rams @ Cowboys
Texas Stadium - Artificial Turf
FOX 12:00 PM CST
Analysts: Troy Aikman, Joe Buck, and Pam Oliver
NFL.com Gamecenter
Cowboys Game blacked out in Houston area, Click here for live stream

The Rest of the NFC East:
Eagles @ Giants 7:15PM CST NBC
Redskins BYE WEEK

Browns Watch:
Ravens @ Browns  1:00PM CST CBS

Join us for LIVE GAMEDAY discussion on the message boards!
Madden Forecast: Cowboys 31 Rams 7
My Prediction: Cowboys 41 Rams 23

Rick Herrin of the Star-Telegram has an article right now suggesting CB Anthony Henry is the Cowboys MVP so far. Don’t get me wrong I am all for the success Henry is enjoying right now, and its a great moral victory for himself and the rest of the defense; however, to think he’s the MVP so far is a gross injustice to reality. Pick a player on offense and you will find your real MVP for this team. You can make a solid argument that Terrell Owens, Tony Romo, Jason Witten, or Marion Barber are the MVP of this team.

Henry has a long way to go. Fans should not be blinded by the whopping four INTs Henry has right now, and think he’s reverted back to his shutdown days in Cleveland. Henry is Henry, you can be wishful, but I am telling you right now…When Newman comes back to anchor opposite Henry, QBs will target Henry again, and he will get ripped like he has in previous seasons. Henry is enjoying success because QBs are throwing to Jacques Reeves because his man coverage is even worse than Henry’s.

I think some of his team mates still question Henry’s coverage skills with small indirect comments like:

“He’s been the MVP so far,” said Bradie James

“When the ball is in the air, he went to go get it,” Cowboys free safety Ken Hamlin said. “You can’t always coach that. We expect that from him. Hopefully, he can keep going with it.”

You can check out the full article here.

I got together with our Football Rivals Network affiliate site, StLouisRamsX.com and conducted a brief Q&A covering the upcoming game between the Cowboys and Rams.

CowboysBlog.Net: We know the Rams are pretty banged up on both sides of the ball, do you see the Rams having any chance at all in winning this game?

StLouisRamsX.Com: No way, the Cowboys are rolling right now. We have no answer for TO, have perennially had difficulties with good TEs, but we may be able to contain the running game. The Cowboys will get their points, but the old Rams used to be able to match teams point-for-point. No longer. Brian Leonard isn’t too much of a dropoff from Steven Jackson but when your OL is shot to pieces, you need the bull to drive the pile. Those extra 2-3 yards really make a difference and I don’t think Leonard has the same power. The Cowboys defense doesn’t really scare me but this watered-down offense won’t be able to do enough to keep up.

CB: On offense or defense, who could be your playermakers against the Cowboys?

SLRX:  The playmakers on offense should be the usual suspects, but they’re being held back by coaching. Bulger probably can’t go deep without pain, but the OL can’t hold for a seven step drop and no deep plays are called anymore. We can’t even run a slant for double digit yards anymore. I’d watch out for McMichael, some day Linehan will wake up and use him but we’ve been saying that about that position for over a year now. On defense, we have some promise up front but so far no one’s been consistent. If they all pulled it together for one game, it would be something to watch, but various players are taking turns disappearing. Ryan and Carriker have shown promise, at times Hall is great but he has lost contain several times that I’ve noticed, Little can be great but he’s been neutralized a lot lately too. Backers are speedy and no one should outrun them but they will get caught in the wash, CBs are decimated, if you see Vinnett, throw at him, Atogwe is a hard hitter, and Chavous is - I don’t know - sometimes just lost.

CB: With Orlando Pace out for the season, do you think DeMarcus Ware will have an easy time at getting to Bulger, or do you have someone there that can hold their own?

SLRX: Ware can give someone the standing 7 count from flag football and still get to Bulger. Career day in store.

CB: If you were the Cowboys offense, what would you do to score points against the Rams defense, what if any are the weaknesses?

SLRX: Use the run to set up the pass, try to get some hard yards inside, probe to see if Carriker or Ryan are on or off today and let Romo fire at will. Haslett has a lot of blitz packages but rarely uses them. Even when he calls them, they rarely get to the QB. Run blitz seems to be working better, I think he’s calling them to the right holes now. Before, he’d call a run blitz and we’d tip it off or they ran to the other side for a big gain. Haslett has seemed to have fixed that now - finally.

CB: What do you think about Isaac Bruce’s “I will guarentee a win” headliner, do you think he really believes that or is it more of something to get the team pumped for the game or what?

SLRX: I didn’t hear that but it may be a veteran trying to pep up the team. We just don’t have the guns (or the general won’t use them), and the Cowboys offense is rolling. While the Rams D has been improved, we really haven’t faced anybody yet so this is a big test for them. Right now, just hanging with the Cowboys and coming away without anyone else injured would be a moral victory.

I really still despise the Cowboys and a lot of their fans. And in my experience, if you run into a blue star-wearing Cowboy lover anywhere outside of Texas, I’ll lay 10-1 that guy is a complete a*hole. No offense, just an observation. Kind of like all Eagles and Patriots fans.

But Romo is a great story. Undrafted kid from nowhere, living the dream, appreciates the situation he’s landed in, big smile on his mug, etc. And in my pools and fantasy teams you have to appreciate the talent. I’m playing Romo and TO for big points and picking:

Lastly, what is your final score prediction?

SLRX: Cowboys 47 Rams 13

Special thanks for StLouisRamsX.com, be sure to check them out!

The Cowboys have been playing at a whole new level this year, and with that success comes some big fat contracts for two if our major stars on offense; Romo and Barber. Romo is expected to get a new deal, and supposedly talks are continueing between Romo’s camp and Jerry. At this point, the talks do not seem deep in discussion, but with every game Romo puts in the bag, he’ll be adding big bucks to his contract. The Cowboys could actually use the dreaded franchise tag on Romo for two straight years if they wanted to, but the Cowboys won’t do that. So far, Romo is putting in some All-Pro numbers and winning games with his decision making on the field and that’s what we need for years to come. Romo is our QB, and it would be wise to lock him up sooner than later. There’s no rush by either side, and by the way Romo is playing, he may not be in any rush either. I’m sure he knows with every win he’s adding another couple of million to his overall contract.

Marion Barber hired Drew Rosenhaus as his new agent, and that means he’s going to get big buck$, and he will get the money he’ll be looking for. Barber is a huge asset and a big contributor in this new offense. Its clear that Barber is featured more as the playmaking back than Julius Jones is right now, and Julius is probably gone after this year. Barber voided the last year of his rookie contract, so that makes him a restricted free agent after this season. I would say extend Barber right now, during the season rather than later.

Jason Garrett is going to be hot on peoples coaching list, and its already been rumored that several teams are looking at him. If I were Jerry, I would extend Garrett as well, and lock him up with some incentives or something to keep him here a few years.

Terrell Owens is another player Jerry may want to consider giving a new contract too as well, its more likely that Owens may get something new done at the end of the season. Owens is our Irvin for this Cowboys squad, and locking him up for his remaining career should be atop that list. He’s a proven player, his teammates like him, and he’s more than effective in our offense. Its a win-win locking up Owens and let him retire a Cowboy. Extend Owens for another 3-4 years. Owens is already hinting he wants to be here longterm, and I say heck yeah, stay here!

“I do feel like a Cowboy,” T.O. said. “At this point in time, I definitely would like to retire here and go into the Hall of Fame as a Cowboy. It’s a lot of fun right now.”

T.O. said he could see himself playing for another three to five seasons. He’ll turn 34 in December, but he’s a fitness freak who definitely doesn’t look his age. But he doesn’t expect to play into his 40s like former 49ers teammate Jerry Rice.

“Jerry had a unique and uncanny love for the game,” T.O. said. “That, that’s the difference between he and I. He grew up with that football mentality and that was his dream. As far as for me, it’s something I fell into. I’m very athletic. I’m able to do a lot of things. I’m very competitive, so that’s pretty much my drive.” (DMN)

So, if you’re looking ahead, Jerry and Stephen Jones are going to be very busy with new contracts for these guys. The Cowboys also have Terence Newman on the horizon too, his rookie contract has one year remaining after this season.

In addition to all these new contracts that could be coming soon, you’ll have another sizable contract for next year’s first round pick, which we’ll be getting from the Browns. And if you’re thinking McFadden, get ready, that dude is going to get paid buckets of cash, whether its from the Cowboys or some other team, he will get paid. I wouldn’t be surprised if McFadden gets the best in the business in Drew Rosenhaus once he officially goes pro after this season.

The latest NFL Power Rankings are out, and the Cowboys remain in the top five in most of the major media outlets. The Colts and Patriots are still the two top main teams atop these power rankings, and rightfully so, these teams are consistent season-to-season contenders, and nothing short of the Super Bowl is their goal. A few have the Steelers above us, which I don’t agree with. They have a good defense, but the offense is nothing spectacular. Here are the rankings from around the web:

FOX Sports: #4
Far and away the NFC’s most impressive team through three weeks of the season, the Cowboys rolled past the defending conference champion Bears 34-10 in Chicago on Sunday night. Tony Romo had his way with the highly touted Bears D, tossing for 329 yards and a touchdown in the win. More impressive than the offensive effort was the Dallas D. The Cowboys picked off Bears quarterback Rex Grossman three times and held the Bears to only 75 yards rushing. Wade Phillips has Dallas at 3-0 and in the driver’s seat in the NFC East. The Cowboys take on the winless Rams next week.

ESPN: #3
Who knew the Oct. 14 matchup against the Patriots might be the Super Bowl preview? Facing the Rams and Bills (a Monday nighter) the next two weeks, the Cowboys should be 5-0 going into the game against New England.

MSNBC: #4
Last week: Led by Anthony Henry’s two INTs, the Cowboys might have ended Rex Grossman’s starting career with a 34-10 win in Chicago.
Cold, Hard Football Facts: Marion Barber (40 carries) and Julius Jones (38) are splitting time, but not production — Barber has 256 yards and four touchdowns, Jones has 124 and no touchdowns. But Jones did save a bunch of money on his car insurance.

SI, Peter King: #4
The more I see Tony Romo, the more I say to Jerry Jones: Pay the man.

USAToday: #3
The win in Chicago announced that the Cowboys are the class of the NFC … for now. With the Rams and Bills on the schedule next, Dallas could be 5-0 when it welcomes New England on Oct. 14.

I have the Cowboys ranked at #3 Overall, and nothing drastic should change over the next two weeks; however, in week 6 the Cowboys will have a TRUE measuring stick against the highly vaunted Patriots squad. The Patriots are a complete team on both sides of the ball, they have a great defense, and a highly explosive offense. This will probably be billed as a preview to the Super Bowl, and ratings for this game will break records.

The Cowboys have managed to roll out three wins, and there should be some more solid wins coming from this monstrous offensive juggernaut in the coming weeks. While the news is great in Dallas, the news in Cleveland is somber and bleak. The Browns are still a horrible team. The Browns made a trade with the Cowboys to get Brady Quinn, and in doing so, we own their first round pick. We want as many loses as possible from the lowly Browns. The outlook for the Browns looks bad.

Right now the Browns are reeling at 1-2, and the defense was supposed to be their strong point but the defense is giving up tons of real estate in their past three games.

The Browns made Oakland look like the Indianapolis Colts. At least, they allowed 396 yards - Peyton Manning’s juggernaut is averaging 398.3.

For the year, the Browns are giving up a staggering 430.7 yards a game.

Only the Bills (458.3) are worse. (Cantonrep.com)

You simply will not win a lot of games like that; moreover, a horrible offense makes it that much more depressing for Cleveland fans. Its good to see the Bills are even worse on defense than the Browns, our offense should be able to kick their teeth in and more.
Let’s look at the Browns upcoming match ups and see if we can predict what they will do.

Baltimore (L)
@New England (L)
Miami (L)
Bye week

@St.Louis (W)
Seattle (L)
@Pittsburgh (L)
@Baltimore (L)
Houston (L)
@Arizona (L)
@NY Jets (L)
Buffalo (W)
@Cincinatti (L)
San Francisco (L)

I have the Browns winning two more games, putting them at 3-13. They really do have a tough schedule. They’re in a tough division that has improved while they have remained the same. The games against Miami and Arizona could be wins, so that would put them at 5-11, still a horrible record.

Who else may be at the bottom towards the end of the season? Right now you have to say the Saints are on their way to a disastrous season, they have a very suspect defense, and the offense did not evolve. You can see the same old Reggie Bush screen coming a mile away, and teams are snuffing that out, and Brees is playing bad. They could be on their way to a 5-11 type season. The Raiders will be in the bottom ten, the Bills are horrible right now too, and the Falcons are right there as well.

Its not hype, its not luck, it is Dallas Cowboys Football, and we’re back. We are a juggernaut in the NFC, and the sky is the limit with this new found power on offense. The Rams are 0-3, so the storyline will be, Let’s keep it going full speed and don’t lose in this potential trap game.

The Cowboys should have a relatively easy task hosting the Rams this upcoming Sunday. In addition, NFL.com is reporting that Steven Jackson has a slight tear in his left groin, he suffered the injury last week in the 4th quarter - he is OUT for week 4. Makes the Cowboys job much easier. We might just kill the heck out of the Rams now.

2nd Half Superiority

I’ve been writing about this for awhile, and everyone has finally caught up. Media outlets are noticing that Jason Garrett is the boss with his methodical game planning and his mastery of slicing up opposing defenses like an emergency room doctor, he’s just surgical, and when he finds the weakness in the defense he’ll make the defense pay and put them to sleep. Like I said before, there’s a goal at hand with the slow starts, and the strong finishes. Wade Phillips talks about the strong finishes:

“I like they way we finish now,” Phillips said. “We have finished three games and we have been the dominant team in the fourth quarter.”(DMN)

Size and Conditioning the Key

This is not your garden variety Turner offense we’re running in Dallas, this is Garrett’s own scheme with his twist on the Turner offense, and its the new and improved edition. When you talk about domination on offense, we’re the team right now in the NFC that scares people. We’re fast, we’re loaded with offensive weapons, and we have the best conditioning coach in the NFL in Joe Jurasek. On top of that, Coach Sparano has helped develop one of the biggest, toughest offensive lines in the league. Witten describes how the offensive line is dominating people:

“Our offensive line plays pretty physical. We’ve been able to wear teams down.” (DMN)

A very big piece of that puzzle is the addition of Bigg Davis. Davis has been the answer at RG we’ve been looking for. He’s a mountain of size and muscle, and at RG, he will punish the defense and just wear them down. The combination of size and conditioning has been a major problem for the last three defensive lines we’ve faced, including the highly vaunted Bears D-line. The offensive line has just validated to the rest of the league what we’ve already known…we’ve got some bad dudes up front!
The future at offensive line just makes this line even bigger. The sky’s the limit at the offensive line. Garrett wants size at the line, and he got two players that are huge, James Marten and Doug Free.

Quietly Increasing Takeaways

Don’t look now, but the Cowboys already have 8 INTs in just (3) games ~2.6/game. In 2006, the Cowboys had 18 INTs in (16) games ~1.1/game. Not bad for a secondary that has played most of the season without Terence Newman.

Cowboys Nation is on fire, after a dominating showing by the offense against one of the elite defenses of the league. The Cowboys may not have a dominating defense, but we do have Championship conditioning. Our huge offensive line tired out and out hustled one of the best defensive units in the league, take notice. The Cowboys can play anyone in this league and go toe-to-toe and put on a show on offense. Our offense is just bad to the bone right now.

Slow Starts, Strong Finishes

That’s our M.O. on offense, I’m convinced that Garrett’s gameplans for each game is designed for proding and poking. Once Garrett finds the weakness, its on; and, its attack mode at full speed. Terrell Owens has been virtually unstoppable in this rejuvated offensive scheme, and Tony Romo is leading the way with solid numbers. I said it last week, but I’ll say it again: Jerry, give Romo the combination to the safe and pay him like the bigtime QB that he is!

Special Teams

I’ve been dogging the special teams play all preseason and all throughout the regular season; however, I have to give some props now. Special teams gets a gameball, their coverage was spot on, and Keith Davis had another good showing on special teams. Sam Hurd was also exceptional tonight, he had a complete game in every aspect too.

Love me some #6

That’s right, its official now, Nick Folk is a boss at the kicker position. After years of having instability and inconsistency, we now have a solid place kicker in Folk.

The Defense

The Cowboys defense is starting to mirror the offense as far as how long it takes for them to get on track. The defense has been pretty good in the 2nd half as well. Against the Bears, the defense had good coverage and had Grossman rattled. Rattle Gator Arms, Win the game, I said it all week, and that’s what happened. Stephen Bowen looked good in the lineup tonight, along with the rest of the unit. I like what I saw from everyone on the line tonight.

Here’s the Beef

Our Offensive Line means business, and we’re imposing our will upon the best defensive lines in the league. We are out playing, and out hustling some of the best in the NFL, very impressive. The critics of Bigg Davis can take a back seat and come along for the ride to the Pro Bowl. Bigg Davis was a great free agent addition, and we’re reaping the rewards. Can you imagine if Rivera was still at RG? Davis is just mauling people on a regular basis.

The running game

Julius Jones had a good game, and helped moved the chains. Marion Barber continues to run like a man possessed. With Barber in the backfield you always get the filling he will break a tackle and take it to the house. Barber is a bad dude! The running attack had a slow first half, but Garrett’s second half adjustments had them running through and over the Bears defense.

We have the lowly Rams next, and need to be focused and not fall in this potential trap game.

BOX SCORE

Rest of the NFC Updates

Giants defeated the Redskins. The Giants are 1-2, Redskins are 2-1

The Eagles crushed the Lions. The Eagles are 1-2

Brown Watch

The Browns lost at Oakland. The Browns are 1-2

Boo-yah!! Special teams coverage tonight has surpassed all my expectations, they get a gameball tonight. The defense just delivered the knock out punch we needed. Henry has two INTs again, and we’re in business baby!

Cowboys Nation…We’re Back!