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I know we haven’t played the most explosive football in recent weeks, but we have been winning games. We still need to come out as the aggressor, the homefield needs to be rocking, none of that wimpy non-existent cheering we’ve seen in other “big” games this year. You guys better show up for our boys.

One thing that I keep coming back to in this game is that we own Eli Manning, we have his number. We know it, and he knows it. He will come in the clutch and choke it up. I envision a return of our offense from the middle of the season; that of, pure explosion in the 2nd half. T.O. will play, Crayton is pumped, Witten is ready to take his All-pro game to the next level, and Romo wants this game more than anyone.

Romo has set goals to make up for the big let down last post-season, and he’s come full circle to this first game. The job is incomplete and he’s going to take us to the big game.

Get pumped! Go Cowboys!

The Cowboys did not maul the Lions, in fact it was nearly the other way around. The Cowboys looked sluggish on both sides of the ball, and never led the game until the game winning strike to Jason Witten. What a game.

The Cowboys were stiffled most ofthe game, but made some key plays to make up for some keyfoul-ups. In the end, the Cowboys won the game with seconds left on the clock. Jason Witten redeemed himself in a major game winning TD strike from Romo. The legend continues, Romomentum keeps on rolling. The Cowboys have now clinched the NFC East. Phillips take the Cowboys to 12-1. The Cowboys host the Eagles next.

BOXSCORE 

This was a close game, and like last week, we mange to find ways to keep teams in the game. Gurode has his worst game in several seasons, what was all that about? Yes, Jason Campbell looked good, but the defense just floundered around in the 2nd half and let the Redskins in the game, very disappointing. The offense has the killer instinct, but the defense has some ways to go. Newman made a play at the end, but other than that, the 2nd half was too easy for the Redskins.

Don’t get me wrong, I love this win, I hate the Redskins, so let’s take this win and move forward to that “trap” game. The Jets are horrible, and we’re at home… Let’s play with some intensity, crush the Jets and have some momentum for the following week in a game that could be for homefield advantage against the Packers.

Player of the game: Terrell Owens

LVP: Andre Gurode

In a must win game for the Eagles the Cowboys came into the Linc and crushed them from the first play of the game until the end. The Quadruplets, Romo, Witten, Barber, and Owens delivered the knockout punch and never looked back. Fresh off his newly signed contract Romo threw 3 TDs/1INT for 324 yards. Jason Witten is money all day long, tough as nails, and when Romo is in doubt he’ll throw it to Witten. Marion Barber continues to show his skills, and has now entrenched himself as an elite back in this league, MB3=Production. Owens had a breakout game, and had his way with the Eagles secondary all game long.

Besides the Quads, The Defense continued to be disruptive, and they were all over McNabb all night long. Forced fumbles, sacks, and INTs all led to the Eagles further spiral down into the NFC East cellar. Good bye Eagles.

The Cowboys will have their hands full against the much improved Giants next week, but we should be able to set them in their place. The East is going through Dallas, we know it, they know it, and the rest of the East knows it. Tank Johnson will make his debut as well, so that’ll be a welcome addition to the NT rotation. We will show up and take care of business in our own division. Should be a good game.

BOXSCORE 

Rest of the East: Redskins defeat Jets, improve to 5-3. Giants on Bye Week.

The postgame for this game will be all about Romo, let’s put that out there right now. If we win the game, he gets headlines praising his new contract extension; however, if the Cowboys lose against the Eagles fresh off his new contract the media will turn it into some stupid blabber. Ignore it. We have our man, besides that, we are going to win this game against the Eagles. Jason Garrett has had two weeks to prepare the offense against the Eagles and it’s going to be a show, with Romo, Witten, Barber, and T.O as the featured headliners.

Keys to Victory

Penalties have plagued the Cowboys this season, and if the Cowboys plan on winning against the Eagles then the penalties must be minimal. Game management and opening drive defense needs to improve, I’m hoping to see Jason Hatcher in the opening drives.

Slow Down Westbrook and the Screen

The Eagles have a bad receiving corp, and knowing this, the Eagles will try to open up the receiving game by feeding the ball to Westbrook. They will try to execute some draw plays and the screen pass. The Eagles are one of the best teams when it comes to the screen pass. So, if we slow down Westbrook, we shutdown their entire offense, he’s their main cog in their talent depleted offense.

Beat Up McNabb

McNabb has not been the same since his last two major injuries, but he’s still effective. He’s definitely not as mobile, so if we get some pressure on him we should see some errant throws and if Ware should have a field day going against Winston Justice. We need to apply ample pressure on McNabb, if we do, we win this game for sure.

Cowboys @ Eagles
Lincoln Financial Field - Grass
NBC 7:15 PM CST
Analysts: John Madden and Al Michaels
NFL.com Gamecenter

The Rest of the NFC East:
Redskins @ Jets 12:00 CST
Giants on Bye Week

Browns Watch:
Seahawks @ Browns 3:05 CST
Join us for LIVE GAMEDAY discussion on the message boards!

Madden Forecast: Cowboys 13 Eagles 34
My Prediction: Cowboys 44 Eagles 27

Let me preface this by apologizing to my avid fans, its been busy at work and home, so the blog has not been updated as much as I had hoped this past week. We’ll back to the normal article load this week. Now, back to the state of Cowboys Nation… The fans showed up against the Vikings this week, so that’s a positive. The Cowboys defeated the Vikings, but it was not a very convincing or dominating win, and this brings me to the big controversial question:

Are We Overrated?

Yes, I’m asking it, I did not studder. I’m posing the question. If you want to throw down your two cents post your response in our fanpacked message board. For now, I will take a look at our recent “body of works” and you can be the judge.

Personally, I would not say we’re overrated per se; however, I don’t think we’re as good as our record (6-1) would indicate. This version of the Cowboys has a supercharged offensive scheme with Garrett at the controls, and the defense has improved somewhat since week 1. If you look at ALL of our games, we have faced some sort of adversity, mainly penalties. Penalties have throttled down our scoring potential immensely, and its going to catch up to us sooner or later.

We have been a 2nd half team all year long and we’ve kept teams in the game up all year. The Patriots played well, but we clearly beat ourselves, so this is somewhat encouraging. Meaning, if we didn’t commit so many dumb penalties, we could have won this game, it didn’t happen, and the end result was a large helping of rancid Clam Chowder.

The Buffalo game, was just a miraculous game, but we played horrible. A mix bag of penalties and tons of turnovers. With some luck, and bad defense by the Bills, we pulled out the win, but we looked bad.

Same thing with the Rams. We did not win the game until the second half. For a brief time, I thought we were going to get upset. I felt it, you felt it too, but we won the game.

The game at Chicago and at Miami was close until the 3rd Quarter.

Point is, we’re not the completely dominating team that our record indicates. When you think 6-1 you think we’re just kicking people’s ass all game long, you think we have a dominating defense and dominating offense. We have a really good offense, but the defense is still catching up.

Then this game against the Vikings was good, but not dominating. Yes, I know we cannot dominate every team and I know we cannot win all the games; however, when you think about our Super Bowl teams in the past, we won in dominating fashion. The Colts and Patriots are winning in dominating fashion. We’re winning right now, but its not very convincing to me. Call me spoiled, call me a pessimist, but I’m being honest. We roll into these games, and let all these teams in the game. The Bills exploited both sides of the ball, the Patriots did the same thing, the Vikings stayed in the game despite having a crap passing game. The Rams, Dolphins, Buffalo, and Vikings are bad teams, these are teams we should have destroyed early in the first half. We failed to do that. Fix that stuff!

Penalties and lack of discipline are keeping this team from being a completely dominating team. Right now, we’re the cream of the crop in the NFC, but the rest of the East is hot on our tails. There is no room for error, and no room for floundering down the stretch. We have a stretch of games that will test our innerself. Two straight games on the road with divisional rivals - the Giants and Eagles. But we do have some help with three straight home games as we host the Redskins, who always play us hard. Then we host the Jets in a “trap game” Then a possible preview to the NFC Championship game against the Packers. The rest of the season is not any easier: @Detroit, Philly, @Carolina, @Washington which could have major playoff positioning implications.

We are very capable of winning all these games. I don’t see any of these teams slowing down our offense, but the penalties need to be cut down if we’re going to get to the big game. If we keep playing the way we’re playing, teams will use our slow, sloppy starts and beat us up. Championship teams get into the postseason with convincing fashion and they peak when the time is right. Will we be that team? The second half of the Cowboys season is coming, get ready!
Enjoy the bye week, we have ALOT of work ahead.

The Cowboys have gotten in sync on both sides of the ball, especially the offense. Garrett’s ingame adjustments will carry over into the 2nd half. The defense needs to hunker down, as they are giving up 3rd downs.

Marion Barber has been the man in the first half. Romo is on track for another solid game. Witten was snuffed out in the 1st Quarter, but has gotten open, and punishing the Patriots. On defense, Ellis is making his presence known, and Ware is terrorizing Brady.
The Cowboys have had success in slowing down Randy Moss; however, Wes Welker has been hitting us hard. We need a better showing on defense in the 2nd half.

We are very much in this game, and the Cowboys have seen what the Patriots are doing, and Garrett is figuring it out. Look for the game to stay close, but we need to cut the penalties out completely if we’re going to win this game.

Let’s go Cowboys@

The Cowboys have been tested early and often this year, and have become a battle
hardened team in my opinion. From Week one until last week, each of those games have posed some sort of issue, and the common denominator in all those games has been halftime adjustments. I will reiterate how awesome Phillips and Garrett have been at the half. In EVERY single game, I knew the Cowboys would turn it up and fix problems posed in all the games this year. This time will be no different. Like I said before, play Cowboys football like we’ve played all year. Don’t force the quick pass and get burned like last week. Play smart and we will win this game.

Keys to Victory

Same as always, limit turnover, limit stupid penalties, sustain drives, create pressure and earn some take aways. Composure on both sides of the ball will be vital. The Cowboys will be tested early in the secondary. Knowing this, the Cowboys better get to Tom Brady. Phillips has had great success in containing Brady each of the times he’s faced him, and with rejuvenated defense, it’ll be a battle. Romo must play smart, no risky or off the range stuff this time.

Contain Randy Moss

The defense kept us in the game last week, and they continue to show great improvement. The defense will have another big task at hand in containing Moss. BUT in stopping Moss, they better have Welker and Stallworth covered, the Patriots are very capable of winning game with those WRs.

Cover Watson 24/7

Second to Moss, Ben Watson has become a big weapon for Brady, and Watson has speed and will catch the ball all over the field. The Cowboys will need to have a hat on Watson at all time, or he will punish us. The Patriots will try to matchup Watson on Roy Williams, and we could get beatup there. Control Moss and Watson, and we’re in business.

Blocking and Execution

The Cowboys can short circuit the Patriots defense with effective blocking schemes and
execution. Garrett will unleash some very pinpoint calls this week, and everyone will need to execute to near perfection for some of these plays to work. The offensive line, TE, WRs, FBs, will need to block effectiveluy to help the running game this week. We have to pickup the blitz as well.

Play two or three steps ahead

The Patriots will want to shutdown our most effective weapons offensively. To me, the Patriots will cover TO man to man, and help with a saftey, but they will try to shutdown Jason Witten. Witten has been our number one offensive playmaker, and he keep drives alive. If the Patriots shutdown Witten, it’ll be up to TO and Crayton. We can still hit them
there, but it’ll slow us down considerably and the effects can snowball.

Look for the Patriots to try to shutdown Marion Barber III, the Bills showed how to slow down the running game most of the game, and if we have any success we need to get the running game going with Barber or Jones, preferably with both. So, the Cowboys job will be to make the right calls to offset the Patriots plans on defense. I’m confident in Garrett.

Patriots @ Cowboys
Texas Stadium - Artificial Turf
CBS 3:15 PM CST
Analysts: Jim Nantz and Phil Simms
NFL.com Gamecenter

The Rest of the NFC East:
Redskins @ Packers 12:00 CST
Eagles @ Jets 12:00 CST
Giants @ Falcons 7:30 CST ESPN

Browns Watch:
Dolphins @ Browns 12:00 CST

Join us for LIVE GAMEDAY discussion on the message boards!

Madden Forecast: Cowboys 10 Patriots 41
My Prediction: Cowboys 38 Patriots 24

The Cowboys go into Buffalo as the last undefeated team in the NFC. The Packers dropped one to the Bears. It seems like forever since the Cowboys last game, but fans remain pumped over this upcoming game. A win over the Bills will further solidify their supremacy atop the NFC. The Cowboys cannot take the Bills lightly, they do have some strong points in their game despite being banged up. They have a solid running back in Marshawn Lynch and he’ll be the first good back the Cowboys have faced this season and their special teams are also solid with McGee and Parrish.

Keys to Victory

Same as always, limit turnovers, limit stupid penalties, sustain drives, create pressure and earn some take aways. If we do all this, we will win the game. The Bills cannot double team all our offensive weapons. Romo knows this, and his quick throw will punish the Bills defense.

Go for the fast start this week. The Patriots come to town next week, and these guys have been very consistent with the fast start, so the Cowboys need to see if we can execute a fast start in a real game. So, let’s do what we do in the 2nd half, and smother the Bills for 4 quarters.

Pressure Edwards Early

The Cowboys defense is feeling confident, and resurrected with the return of Newman and Ellis. This defense will be looking for blood early and often. Edwards had success against the Jets, but we now know that the Jets are a horrible team on both sides of the ball. The Bills will have their hands full with Ware, Ellis, and Spencer bringing the pressure at any given time. Phillips wants to whip the Bills, and the defensive playbook will drop down on the Bills.

Special Teams

Special teams has also improved over the last few weeks, and this week the Cowboys will have to contain Roscoe Parrish, he’s speedy and elusive. If the Cowboys contain Parrish like we did against Hester, then we should be fine. Mat McBriar should have another great game. We’ll see how Folk does at this stadium. Ralph Wilson Stadium is one of the windiest stadiums in the NFL, so we’ll see how he responds to those variables.

Feed the Quadruplets

Romo will lead the way, as the head of this four-headed beast, but the Cowboys will be looking at a fast start this week, its been talked about all week. We’ll probably see a good dose if it early, and that means feeding the Quadruplets early and often. I think we’ll see TO, Witten, and Barber fully involved on the opening drive.

Cowboys @ Bills
Ralph Wilson Stadium - AstroTurf Gameday Grass
ESPN 7:30 PM CST
Analysts: Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Tony Kornheiser
NFL.com Gamecenter

The Rest of the NFC East:
Redskins defeated the Lions (3-1)
Giants defeated the Jets (3-2)
Eagles BYE WEEK

Browns Watch:
Brows lost to Patriots (2-3)

Join us for LIVE GAMEDAY discussion on the message boards!

Madden Forecast: Cowboys 26 Bills 24
My Prediction: Cowboys 30 Bills 20

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.