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The Cowboys must make a statement at home, and they must attend to some unfinished business on the field - slow starts. The marquee matchup will be Peterson versus our defense. The Vikings passing game is a joke, they have really bad receivers that can’t catch. We should be able to destroy the Vikings at ease.

Keys to Victory

Penalties have plagued the Cowboys this season, and if the Cowboys plan on winning against the Vikings and beyond, then the penalties must disappear. Concentrate and keep the drives going

Slow Down Peterson

Slowing down Adrian Peterson should be a deal sealer, and give the Cowboys a win; however, if Peterson runs all over the defense, then the Vikings will be in the game. Stop Peterson, Win the game

Concentration

The Cowboys need to do a better job on the offensive side of the ball. There’s been way too many stupid penalties from every position on that side of the ball. Illegal shifts, illegal motion, false starts from the line and receivers. Concentrate, please.

Vikings @ Cowboys
Texas Stadium - Artificial Grass
FOX 3:15 PM CST
Analysts: Kenny Albert, Troy Aikman, and Pam Oliver
NFL.com Gamecenter

The Rest of the NFC East:
Cardinals @ Redskins 12:00 CST
49ers @ Giants 12:00 CST
Bears @ Eagles 3:15 CST

Browns Watch:
On Bye

Join us for LIVE GAMEDAY discussion on the message boards!

Madden Forecast: Cowboys 24 Vikings 28
My Prediction: Cowboys 34 Vikings 20

Number 82, Jason Witten, is Romo’s closest teammate. Last season, fans thought Witten would have a dominating season; but, this did not happen. Witten was used in a predictable conservative offense that did not allow Witten to showcase his catching and route running skills. Witten scored just one TD in 2006. During the preseason, Witten looked to be Novacek reincarnated; and, further support of this rejuvenation came last week against the Giants. Romo to Witten was money all night long, and the Novacek comparisons are back. Witten had 6 catches for 116 yards and a TD. Are we short changing Witten though? Witten has had solid receptions since he arrived in Dallas, but this year, I think Witten will officially break out from Novacek’s shadow. Statistically speaking, Witten is on schedule to shatter all Cowboys TE’s records. No more of this, “he is the next Novacek” business. Witten is Witten and better than Novacek at this point in his career. We just need to get some Super Bowl rings.

Romo and Witten will shatter records together and have become the closest of teammates, and Romo acknowledges this fact:

“I doubt if I’ll ever be as close to a teammate again in my career for sure,” quarterback Tony Romo told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram of Witten. “It’s a special relationship where I feel like I know where he’s going to be on the field. I feel like we’ve practiced and done it a million times, we’ve talked about it a million times.”

Witten signed a new contract in July of 2006, worth about $29 million, and it included about $12 million in guarantees, so, Romo to Witten will be a staple in our offensive attack for years to come. Romo is the real deal and should be getting a new deal of his own this season.

Rototimes.com has this on Witten’s fantasy football value this year:

The aw-shucks kid from Tennessee has always been talented, but he now has numbers on his side as well. For his career, Witten is averaging 4.0 catches per game for 46.2 yards. However, in games started by his buddy Romo (by the way, you’ve gotta love when the guy on your fantasy roster is bff with the quarterback) those numbers shoot up to 4.5 catches and 57.5 yards per game. Even better, since Witten’s first Pro Bowl season in 2004, he’s averaged 5.7 catches for 70.6 yards and scored five times in the 12 games Glenn has missed. So even if Glenn returns later and Romo finds a new pal, Witten should at least continue his productivity for a few more weeks.

Many years from now, when Witten is retired, Cowboys fans will be saying, “is he the next Witten?” when we search for his replacement. Witten is quietly writing his own legacy in Cowboys Lore.

Remember that movie “The Number 23“, that starred Jim Carrey, in which he posed the question, “What is 23?” If you saw the movie you know what I’m talking about. Basically the movie is about His obsession with the number 23 starts to consume him.

In my boredom this evening I’ve created my own obsession with the number 9. And like Jim Carrey in his movie, I found my self asking, “what is 9?”

I ran with it and came up with these numbers based on Romo’s #9 and our WR’s, and it all relates to our teams of the ’90s. Eerie, yet strange and extremely fascinating.

9+81=90

9+82=91

9+83=92*

9+84=93*

9+86=95*

Romo’s current age, 27 divided by 9 = 3, the amount of Super Bowls* won in the ’90s

Super Bowl XXVII MVP was Aikman 8 + 9 = 17, Jason Garrett

What does all this craziness mean? It means whatever you think it could mean, it could mean nothing, or it could mean everything. Is this unit destined for the same success that we enjoyed in the ’90s?

Spread the word! You heard it here first.

If you missed the Fox Season Preview Special webcast a few days ago, you missed some great football talk. I must say, our boys, Aikman, Moose, and Coach Johnson are the most cerebral analysts of the bunch, and well versed on the current state of NFL teams - they represented.

So, the juicy part of the webcast was when Terry Bradshaw asked about Terrell Owens and whether or not he anticipates a “blow up” under Phillips. Aikman basically said that Owens will get the ball alot more than in his previous outings, and less likely to blow up. Terrell will be the featured receiver in this new X receiver offense that Garrett has installed in Dallas.
Aikman went on to give a very insightful look at things to come from T.O. He said that Terrell Owens is the X receiver in Garrett’s offense as opposed to the Z receiver (flanker) in the West coast offenses in SF and Philly.

Aikman also said that when T.O. was in single coverage in SF/Philly, they would not take advantage of that single coverage. Conversely, in the Norv Turner lineage, under Garrett, the X receiver is the playmaker, the one that WILL get the ball all the time in single coverage. Aikman said that Irvin was their X receiver under Turner/Zampese, and it was their goal to always get the ball to their X receiver in single coverage. When the Cowboys run the ball well, this opens up the X receiver’s opportunities for more single coverage.

Expect Terrell Owens to be the Irvin of this new offense under Garrett. Check out the Fox Season Special, Here.