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With the Cowboys early bounce from the playoffs, the Cowboys have spent zero time moping around, instead, the Cowboys have been very busy, and as always staying in the news because everyone wants to be a Cowboy at heart…

With Jason Garrett deciding to stay in Dallas, the Cowboys will be plenty ready for another go in 2008, and if anything, this team can only get better. Another year in the Phillips 34 and the Garrett High Octane attack, the sky is the limit. We’re young, and we’re on our way up, we have not peaked.

Jerry Jones, and the rest of the Cowboys Braintrust are in Mobile, Alabama attending this year’s Senior Bowl. The first topic of interest is the re-signing of Marion Barber III. Barber is part of the Quadruplets, he demands the best in his fans, and he fills seats. Jerry knows that Barber is explosive and a main component in this years success, and will be a staple on offense. Barber will be re-signed soon. Jerry has talked with Drew Rosenhaus and the deal will get done soon.

Trade Rumors are always part of the offseason, often these rumors are just that - rumors; however, this does help the average die hard bide their time with interesting rumor topics galore on their favorite blogs and message boards.

The latest rumor has Jerry shopping Marcus Spears and Bobby Carpenter. Trading Spears is good for the team. Its time to get Hatcher in there next to fellow playmaker Jay Ratliff, these two guys on the D-line will be very disruptive. Spears had another typical year, and is now a certified bust, so knowing this, I don’t expect higher than a 3-4th rounder for him.

Carpenter being shopped is risky to me. He’s a solid tackler, he made plays all year long on special teams, and he provides solid depth at LB. If you’re going to trade Carpenter, we better draft another good linebacker on day one because you cannot depend on the health of an aging star in Greg Ellis, and the oft injured Kevin Burnett. This being said, I’d rather trade Spears over Carpenter.

New Coaches

The Cowboys have not wasted anytime in replacing their coaches that have bounced to Miami. The Cowboys have signed Todd Grantham , a former Defensive Coordinator of the Browns (2005) and Coach with the Texans (2002-2004), just seeing these two teams on his resume does not excite me much considering how bad those defenses were during those time spans. He does provide NFL experience, and Wade has always had a strong group of defensive assistants on his squads, so his blessing on this new hire should be ok. We will see.

Condition Guru, Joe Jurasek was also extended a new contract and will remain in Dallas. Good job keeping him here.

Jerry acted fast, and stopped the bleeding by keeping Garrett, and Phillips is staying on top of his staff by hiring “his” type of coaches. We could see an even better defense with his own hirings.

First thing that comes to mind..this is a trap game, and we’re fallin deeper and deeper. The defense is keeping us in the game, but Romo is way off the mark. He looks worse than Rex Grossman right now!!, and Edwards looks like the Anti-Grossman.

We’re in serious trouble right now, there’s no sugar coating this first half. Each pass Romo throws up I feel like its going to be an INT, I haven’t felt that feelin from Romo since he tookover last year… Its scary how bad he’s looking. A staggering (4) INTS!

We have to stick with Romo, he needs to calm down and start over. Phillips and Garrett are masters of adjustments and I expect them to help Romo compose himself. He’s needs help from the line, The line is playing crappy, the running game is completely dead, and the Bills are stacking up the secondary.

This game mirrors the Packers/Bears game last night!

Its as simple as that. Its a proven fact that Rex Grossman chokes under the big lights. I’m sure he’s doubting himself going into week three, he’s probably telling himself: “The Cowboys are for real, I don’t know, I hope I can win the game” or “What if I start throwing dumb interceptions, will my defense pick up the slack?

If the Cowboys rattle Grossman, we will win the game. Unfortunately, that’s the big question, “IF”. So far the Cowboys have been lack luster in getting any significant pressure on the QB. Fans are asking why Ware does not have any sacks in this aggressive Phillips34. I will give you three names: Spears, Canty, and Ellis. None of these guys are on the field playing. We know why Ellis is not on the field, but the other two guys, Canty and Spears are not getting it done. Canty is playing like the 4th rounder we picked him as. The whole “we got a steal” is out the window, he’s not a steal. News gets worse when you talk about Spears. Spears is a half season away from being a full-fledged bust, ok. No help, no sacks. Get behind the “Start Hatcher Now” campaign, and let your voices be heard!As for Ellis, he helped collapse the pocket, and Ware was a benefactor of this pressure. With Ellis out, Ware is getting dominated with double teams, and he’s not getting there.

If the pressure is just average as it has been the last two weeks, Rex will have a lot better chance at pulling out the win. The Cowboys have shown some resilience in the second halfs from the last two weeks, but, this week against the Bears, everyone better bring their “A” game.

These are just my first thoughts on the upcoming mega matchup. I’ll look closer into the game as we get closer to Sunday Night. In the meantime, Go Cowboys!

Another solid game from the offense. The similarities between this offensive squads of the ’90s is eeriely similar. Under Jimmy Johnson, the Cowboys took a good half to get going, and these Cowboys are the same. Garrett has been surgical with his play selection and Romo has been pinpoint accurate; and, the combination of the two will be deadly effective against our opponents. If anyone has any questions about Romo’s mental strength after that fumble in Seatlle, you can put that to bed. Romo is back, and better than ever. The defense looked average in the first half, but picked it up in the second half. Each unit was feeding off each other today. Players were pumped and it showed on the field. The Cowboys whipped up the Dolphins 37-20.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME

Tony Romo had another solid game, and continues to be a playmaker at the QB position. Jerry, give Romo the combination to the vault and pay this guy! Man he’s the real deal. Amazing pocket presence, all-pro vision, and a great field general. These upper echelon QBs are hard to find, and Romo is undeniably in the upper tier

MBf’ingIII is a boss. Yes, we use a two back system, but each game we play, Barber is clearly setting the bar high, and Jones is not the same caliber. We need both, neither is a clear everydown back, and that’s not a knock on Barber, but Barber is clearly the man in charge, just a better back.

Jason Witten is money all day long. The Dolphins did an ok job defending against Witten, but as I said in the key’s to victory, Witten will get his touches and he did. Good job by Witten.

Terrell Owens is a force, and he gives defensive coordinators fits all game long. Owens is playing some solid football, and running his routes great under Garrett. Owens has been embraced, and is a fan favorite by many. Great game by Owens.

The Secondary in the second half played good enough for me to get a mention. Hamlin redeemed himself from last weeks stupidity, and Reeves did a little better, still getting burned from time to time.

QUESTIONABLE PLAY
Patrick Crayton is going to hurt us in the return game. He’s reckless with the ball, makes poor decisions, almost fumbling the ball, and once he does get the ball, he does not tuck the ball away.

The Defense is still playing like crap, missing tackles, not getting pressure. Spears and Canty are not getting it done, the pressure is falling completely on Ware, and teams are double teaming Ware and shutting him down. I’ll say it again, GET JASON HATCHER in there!!! You are naive if you think today’s game means the defense is back, because it doesn’t. Green made some very poor passes and the DBs made easy INTS. There’s no pressure from the front seven.

GAMEBALL

Tony Romo gets the Gameball in my opinion. Can you imagine Bledsoe back there? There was several instances where Romo exhibited some amazing athleticism out there. That juke and jive on Taylor was classic. Romo is at the top of his game right now.

BOX SCORE

The Cowboys square off against the Dolphins in what should be a relatively close game despite some blowout predictions I’ve been reading on the web. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for blowouts, and its not out of the realm as a possibility; however, the Dolphins have a good defense which could keep them in the game. As you read in our Phinfever.com Q&A session, Dolphin fans are concerned about their banged up secondary and their young offensive line. This is where we’re going to hit them.

Keys to Victory

As it was last week, the Cowboys must limit dumb penalties, and limit turnovers to nil if possible. Hydration is another key in this game, because Florida’s humidity is unforgiving. I’m not too concerned about it though, Coach Jurasek is a conditioning master.

Let’s try the Fast Start and Strong Finish again. Last week, it took the Cowboys awhile to get going on both sides of the ball. We need to come out and score a TD on the first drive, and make the Dolphins go 3 and out.

Cowboys D

3rd Down defense needs to step it up. Phillips emphasized how the Cowboys would do several things to improve their 3rd down stoppages. It didn’t happen against the Giants, let’s hope Phillips has made the adjustments needed to get those numbers up.

Pressure. The Cowboys need to get after Trent Green, I want to see him running for his life, I’m talking Pamplona’s, Spain Running of the Bulls scared. Get in there and dominant that young inexperienced Dolphins offensive line. I look for us to throw in some stunts and confuse their rookie center. Ratliff should have a coming out party and teams better take notice, this guy is no joke.

Bring out the Hatchet already. Again, Spears and Canty are looking average at DE, stop wasting time and get Jason Hatcher out there. You want swarming defensive line play, you got that with Ratliff, and you will have that with Hatcher in there chasing down the QB. This player is the real deal, and its time. The Cowboys want to make defensive adjustments, and Hatcher starting should be atop that list.

Tackling must be as solid as possible. Watch out for the draw and the delayed draw, this was something the Giants had success with towards the end of the game, and the Dolphins will probably try this as well.

General Garrett

On offense, you’ll probably see more Hoyte and Fasano on the field if Flozell has problems with Jason Taylor, they will be there on assistance. The middle of the field is bread and butter for Witten; however, the Dolphins will be looking for that, but in turn, this will open up the running game and one-one matchups at WR. The Dolphins are in trouble in the secondary if they cannot rush Romo. Witten will still get his touches.

Garrett is a smart, savy, tactician, and you’ll see a whole new set of offensive calls. No more of the predictable play calls from yesteryear. Expect Owens to decimate the secondary with more frequency. The Cowboys just have too many real weapons for the Dolphins to cover at once; if they concentrate on covering one or two players, someone other weapon will get open and punish them.

Special Teams

I still don’t like how the special teams are performing. The Cowboy are giving up too many yards. Where is Keith Davis? This needs to improve or we need to make a changes with Bruce Read. Thompson better not be fumbling around back there, and can Crayton PLEASE-PLEASE tuck in that ball on punt returns, that guy scares me in the return game.

Ted Ginn, Jr. could have a solid return game like Jacoby Jones did in the preseason. Everyone on special teams better play like an allstar.

Cowboys @ Dolphins
Dolphins Stadium - Grass
FOX 3:05 PM CST
Analysts: Kenny Albert, Moose Johnston, and Goose
NFL.com Gamecenter

The Rest of the NFC East:
Packers @ Giants 12:00PM CST FOX
Redskins @ Eagles 7:00PM CST ESPN

Browns Watch:
Bengals @ Browns 12:00PM CST CBS

Join us for LIVE GAMEDAY discussion on the message boards!

Madden Simulation: Cowboys 31 Dolphins 24
My Prediction: Cowboys 30 Dolphins 20

When the schedule came out, I knew week two would be an interesting game. Its not just the Dolphins we’re playing on Sunday; but, in essence it’ll be ourselves we’ll be playing against . Basically, we’re playing against an offensive system the we employ in Dallas as well - Norv Turner offense. Cam Cameron ran it quite effectively in San Diego; however, he now inherits a very average group of guys on offense, and a virtual bust at RB, his bread and butter in San Diego. The Phillips 34 should not be a major surprise to Cameron; moreover, he should know it quite well as he practiced against the best defense in the league while Phillips was the Chargers Defensive Coordinator. This game is going to be a chess match, and every penalty and turnover will ultimately be the deciding factor.

Play calling wise, the teams that will take the field are virtual clones; but, the main difference is the pedigree of  players on the field. The Cowboys clearly have the better offensive unit, the defensive units of the Cowboys and Dolphins are very suspect going into week 2. The Dolphins could not stop the running combo of Portis and Betts; conversely, the Cowboys could not stop the passing attack of Burress and Toomer.

As it was last week, the offensive coordinator that can get past the opposing defense will win this game, so it’ll be on baby. Cam Cameron vs. Jason Garrett

Garrett comes into this matchup as the new young gun on the street, and Cameron has been running the Turner schemes for awhile now, and has had proven success. For this reason, I give the slight edge to Cameron, but I like Garrett’s chances. I kinda see this as the game where Garrett (the student) has the chance to show up Cameron (the master), (not that Garrett coached under Cameron, I’m just giving an example, since they come from the same offensive school of thought)

Or, if you want to look at it another way; defensively, which ever team can stop the opposing offense will win this game, so It’ll be on. Dom Capers vs. Wade Phillips

Looks like a dead heat, its amazing how close these two teams are. Capers is a defensive guru, and so is Phillips; however, at this point, the edge goes to Phillips. His style is more aggressive and has had solid proven success. Ellis and Newman are practicing more, and could bolster up the D for the game, so watch out. Jay Ratliff is very underrated at NT, and will be a menace up the middle, and what’s this?…do the Dolphins have a rookie starting at center? Samson Satele. Our boy Ratliff is gonna tear that up. Ah shhh…

Point is, the Cowboys will be quite prepared against a mirror image of a lesser self. Go Cowboys, Get Pumped!

I’ve  been trying to figure out who Jay Ratliff plays like. He’s been a solid pick for us since we drafted him in 2005. Ware, Spears, Burnett, and Canty were the other defensive players drafted that year. Ratliff is getting a lot more attention these days since starting NT Jason Ferguson is out for the rest of the year. So in watching him play against the Giants you can see he really does go after the QB.  It hit me during the game, Ratliff has this same high motor, explosiveness off the snap that another solid defensive tackle we had during our Super Bowl runs, Jimmie Jones. Jones was drafted in  the 3rd round back in 1990, and played exceptionally well. Ratliff plays like Jimmie Jones, same build, and similar size at 6-4. Jimmie Jones still shares the most fumble recoveries in Super Bowl history:Jimmie Jones, Dallas vs. Buffalo, 1993 (2 opp.) Man, the memories, there’s definitely a lot of ’90s nostalgia going around Cowboys Nation, and I’m a main proliferator.
I think we can expect the same type of play from Ratliff, this guy is a beast up and down the line.