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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

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.

Do you really want to know why Jerry Jones decided to build the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington? The reason is simple…Dallas/Irving fans are lame, and the lack of support for the Cowboys on gameday is a complete embarrassment. Anyone who saw the game against the Patriots saw and heard the lack of crowd noise from a supposedly sold out game.

The fans at Texas Stadium are pathetic. You could hear the play calls from home, and there was not enough people pumped up and getting rowdy in the stands. Several times in the game the camera would pan over to some lousy sap just sitting there, and next to him, hundreds, thousands more of the same figures. Get up and make some f’ing noise Dallas!!

The real reason Jerry is building the new Cowboys stadium is partly for this reason. We do not have home field advantage, local fans are lame, and the current capacity of 65,812 at Texas Stadium is not getting it done. Jerry is hoping the new stadium which will hold at least 80,000 will help the team just because of the shear numbers of fans. The stadium can be configured upto 100,000 as well. If I were Jerry, I would configure the stadium to the maximum size. At least with more “fans” in the seats, the noise would have to increase. What a very sad state of affairs. Its pathetic. You look at similar/smaller stadiums like Lambeau and Soldier Field and those fans get very loud and disruptive. Even in Buffalo, the noise factor was apparently alot for our team to handle on the road. What the hell is wrong with this picture, when you have two undefeated teams squaring off, in a playoff type atmosphere and the fans at the stadium barely register a few decibels above a whisper.

Jerry needs to import the real True Blue fans from outside cities, like San Antonio, Houston, Austin, El Paso, the Rio Grande Valley and get them in the seats. These are where the majority of the real fans reside anyway.

The new stadium completion cannot come any sooner. Dallas fans should be ashamed. Will you guys show up for the Vikings game? I’m willing to bet not, so prove me wrong.

The Patriots are who we thought they were and we let them off the hook. We beat ourselves with the penalties, plain and simple. We fall to 5-1, but remain atop the NFC. Let’s regroup and look forward to the Vikings.

Barber looked good, the defense was ok, but just gave up at the end. Sloppy tackling reared its ugly head, and with a team like the Patriots, you will lose that battle everytime.

We need Terry Glenn back to give us the deep threat. That would have helped out in this game. Terry, help us!!

Overall, I’m very disappointed in our lack of concentration. We should have won this game, but we can’t win them all, can we?

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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

I need time to enjoy this unbelievable win, so I will keep this short!! Tony Romo had his worst STATISTICAL game ever, BUT, his determination and focus is unmatched. As Romo piled on the INTs, he looked deflated to me, but no one really knows what goes on inside Romo’s head. I think its something special, something at another level. To gather yourself, and take the team down the field in the do-or-die drive and pull out the TD, and the game winning drive to setup the field goal is what champions are made of!

Aikman had a record 5 INT game in his Hall of Fame career, and Romo tied Aikman with his horrific 5 INTS.

Take your hat off to this whole team. The defense could have crumbled, but they did not, they wanted to give Romo more chances on the field, and they held up their side of the ball. Most impressive.

With all the pregame hype, looking ahead to the Patriots, all the pressure, and all this in-game adversity, this team as a whole came together collectively and did not die, they literally kicked the nails off the coffin, crawled out, and won the game.

Heart and Soul, this team is just amazing. I know I’m ranting now, but you will not see many games like this in your lifetime.

Drafting Nick Folk was genius. Period. Dick Jauron tried the whole last second time out BS, but Folk stepped up and nailed the 53yrd field goal twice. Eat that Jauron!

What does this win mean? It means alot, the Cowboys have alot to work on, but these guys have heart, something the Cowboys have not had in years. The experts ask whether or not the Cowboys are in the same league as the Pats and Colts..I emphatically say hell yes. Never say die baby, we fight until the last second. This team will never give up. That’s what we know about this team. Go back a season or two ago, and this team would have crumbled.

Bring on the Patriots! Get Ready, its on!
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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!

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

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.

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