Recap Cowboys vs Redskins

The Cowboys have learned that coming back to win games is not their specialty. This was almost a repeat of the Browns game, down big in the first half, and then make a come back in the second. But this time they lost. The Cowboys only scored 3 points in the first half, while RGIII put up 28 points. In the second half, Romo lead the Cowboys to get 28 of his own points, but RGIII got 10 more and the Cowboys failed to get closer to the Giants in the standings. Here is what happened in the game.

When looking at the stats from this game, and comparing the 2 teams, the Cowboys did better in almost every category. They gained more yards and had more third down conversions then the Redskins, but the Cowboys lost in the most important category, turnovers. Once again the Cowboys shot themselves in the foot by turning the ball over and allowing RGIII and the Redskins to get up big. The only way the Cowboys will ever make the playoffs is if they stop the turnovers and play football. If Romo hadn't thrown half of the interceptions he did this year, he would be considered one of the best quarterbacks. He is second overall in pass yards per game, the only problem is his turnovers.

There are 2 more main things I said the Cowboys needed to do in order to win this game, one was to watch out for the deep ball. And they did exactly the opposite. 2 of the 4 touchdowns passes from RGIII were over 50 yards, and one of the others went for 29 yards. The Cowboys can not allow big plays like those to happen, it puts the offense in a huge hole.

The other thing was having a balanced offense. And yet again, the Cowboys did exactly the opposite. Romo threw for a career high 441 yards. Unfortunately, it was from 62 pass attempts. The Cowboys only rushed 11 times the entire game. A reason is because the Cowboys got down by so much they couldn't waste any time. But when they have too throw it 62 times, bad things will happen. Romo threw 2 costly interceptions, with out them the Cowboys could have won. One thing is for sure, the Cowboys need Murray back as quickly as possible. Without him the playoffs look far out of sight.

Now there are 3 other smaller problems that can affect the game greatly if the Cowboys don't fix them.

Offensive line
The offensive line only allowed 2 sacks the whole game, but Romo was still under pressure and took 9 hits. And then the run game couldn't get going behind the blocking from the offensive line. The line needs to at least protect Romo if the run game isn't there so that he has more time to throw and make the right decision.

Penalties
The Cowboys each week are going in and getting too many penalties, they keep hurting the chances of winning and need to be stopped. This is yet another example of the Cowboys shooting themselves in the foot.

Defense
In the second half the Cowboys defense arrived to the game, in the first half they were very late. They allowed RGIII to put up 28 points. Then they only allowed 10 in the second half, this is just like the Browns game. The defense needs to show up for the whole game in order to get the win.

And then there are the very few good parts of the game.
Dez Bryant produced the third turnover by fumbling the ball. The only reason why he wasn't critiqued so much is because he made up for it by getting 145 yards and 2 touchdowns. While on the defensive side of the ball Spencer showed why the Cowboys placed their franchise tag on him. He had 10 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and 2 sacks. And Peprah got the only turnover of the game for the Dallas Defense by picking off RGIII.

Over all it was the second game in a row that was very sloppy. Luckily the Cowboys play the Eagles next, who hurt themselves even more then the Cowboys in games. The Cowboys should be able to get the win and try to make a run to the playoffs.

Go Cowboys!

Preview Cowboys vs Redskins

On Thanksgiving the Cowboys defense will be facing one of its biggest tests of the season. RGIII and the Redskins is one of the best rushing offenses in the league, and with the Cowboys pass defense already secure, the run defense will be key. Here is what the Cowboys need to do to win this game.

Romo needs to do what he has been doing the past 3 games, no interceptions thrown. He has been great and with that the Cowboys have won 2 of those 3 games. So the Cowboys just can't shoot themselves in the foot, a lot of the games were lost because of too many turnovers. If Romo has another no interception game the Cowboys should be able to win.

Luckily, the Redskins have one of the worst defenses in the league. And for a lot of games this season, the Dallas offense has been slow to start games, they always have to come from behind to win games. The Cowboys need to take advantage of the Redskins defense and get the lead early on and keep it. If they want to beat RGIII they need all the momentum they can get.

The run game has been absent for almost the whole year. Murray was looking good in the beginning but got hurt and is doubtful for yet another game. The reason why the Browns game was maybe a bit to close is because the Cowboys weren't having any success on the ground. A balanced offense is very important and Jones really needs to start stepping it up. He needs to be there to keep the drives alive and find the end zone if the passing is not there.

The defense needs to be all around good. I mentioned the fact that the Redskins have one of the best rushing attacks with RGIII and Morris. But that doesn't mean RGIII can't throw. Last week he only had one incompletion and had a ton of deep balls against Philadelphia. What the Cowboys need to do is make sure they don't get too drawn in to defending the rush, because then RGIII will catch them off guard and throw it. What the defense needs to do is just not give up big plays, they need to try and slow down this offense and let the Dallas offense get up front. If they can do that the Cowboys will win their third straight game.

My predictions over all is that the Cowboys will win but it will be another close one. Romo will not throw any interceptions and lead his team to score 32 points, but RGIII will make a come back in the second half to get to 28 points. But the Cowboys will hang on and win the game.
Cowboys 32-28

Go Cowboys!

Recap Cowboys vs Browns

A win is a win, but this one was bit too close. The Cowboys were held score less the entire first half and it looked like the only thing they could do to get the ball moving was punt it. But they came back, and scored 17 unanswered points. The Browns then got a touchdown and then Bailey tied the game to force over time. The Cowboys successfully went down the field on their second try and won the game 23-20. Many are saying this is just another game to prove nobody knows how good the Cowboys really can be, they can have great games, and horrible ones, they just aren't consistent. But some good things did come from this win.

Well really, when looking at the stats not many good things appear. The only one being the 30 first downs they got, there are maybe 2 things that went well for the Cowboys.

Defense
This one is in the middle, they gave up early points but stopped them for almost the whole second half and over time. They also did great on stuffing Trent Richardson at the goal line that maybe saved the game. And they only gave up 2 first downs from penalties. The defense needs to improve though, when teams jump out ahead it is always hard for the offense to comeback.

Coming Back
The Cowboys have been known to give up points in the fourth quarter and end up losing the game. For once it was the other way around. Romo did great in leading his team back in the second half, proving that he can be a leader and the starting quarter back. The first half was very sloppy, but thanks to the second half play they made up for it.

Now here are the bad parts, if you ask me, I would say the Cowboys are lucky to have won this game, they really played one of their worst games of the season.

Offensive Line
This was maybe why the offense couldn't get going, Romo was sacked for a career high 7 times, and always had to scramble to find his receivers. And then the rushing was yet terrible again with out Murray, only gaining 63 yards. This offensive line needs to step it up, they can affect who win the game easily.

Penalties
The Cowboys had a whopping 9 penalties for 92 yards. This is terrible, this takes aways chances to score and get the first down. Luckily the Browns weren't as good and had 12 penalties, and 10 of those went for Cowboys first downs. But these are still easy yards and the penalties need to stop.

Turnovers
Now yes the Cowboys only had one turnover the whole game, but the reason why I am saying this is because of the time it happened. In the fourth quarter, Romo fumbles the ball and gives the Browns great field position to score. Fortunately for Romo the defense stopped the Browns, but that may not happen every time, Romo needs to be more careful of the ball so he doesn't lose the game.

On Thanksgiving the Cowboys look to get even with the Giants in the division standings, but first have to stop the mighty Redskins offense.

Go Cowboys!

Injury Update

Heading into the game there are a few injured players that will not be making appearances.

Demarco Murray is listed as doubtful, which to me, not playing him is a great idea. The Browns have a struggling defense so him being out will probably not be a deciding factor of who will when the game. And since he doesn't have to play, resting is great, this way he won't hurt himself more, and he can be at full health for next week.

Both Mike Jenkins and Sean Lissemore our out for the defense, I also do not see this as to big of an impact since the Browns have been struggling on offense this year.

And then Vickers, Connor, Ratliff, and Philips are all listed as probable for the game and should be able to play.

So injuries this week do not look like too big of a concern and hopefully they will be back next week.

Go Cowboys!

Preview NFC East

This week both the Redskins and Eagles will try to make a come back and get back into the race for the playoffs. While the Giants get a much needed bye week and the Cowboys look to get 1 game closer to the Giants in the standings, here is what to look for.

New York Giants
The Giants unlike the Cowboys are in a bad position, they are only 1.5 games up, and still have to play the Packers, Saints, Falcons, and Ravens. While the Cowboys have one of the easiest records. Luckily for the Giants they have a bye week to prepare for them. There biggest problem is Eli Manning. He started off good, but he has slowly becoming a problem, he is isn't completing passes and is turning the ball over a ton. He could probably blamed for last weeks blow out lost to the Bengals because of his turnovers. In the bye week the Giants need to do what ever they have to do in order to get him back to his Super bowl self. Or else the Giants might not even make the play offs.

Washington Redskins vs Philadelphia Eagles
Both of these teams have not been able to find a grove this season. The Eagles have been turnover masters and Vick has not been producing. While the Redskins have one of the best offenses in the league, their defense can't stop anyone. The Eagles just need to stop those turnovers, they would be great if they hadn't turned the ball over so much, and with Vick out, there is a lot of pressure on Foles to get the win. As for the Redskins, RGIII has to produce, if his defense can't do anything, then he can at least try and out do the Eagles offense. And with Alfred Morris I think they will be able to. Nick Foles will be lost and turn the ball over and RGIII will destroy.
My Prediction Redskins Win 24-21

And I just talked about how I predict the Cowboys to win 38-10

Go Cowboys!

Preview Cowboys vs Browns

The Cowboys are in yet another great position to gain some ground on the Giants. They play one of the worst teams in the league while the Giants have a bye week and can't do anything but watch. Getting the win over Philly last week was huge, they are back in the race for not just a wild card, but the East champions. Here are the keys to win the game.

Offensive line
If the offensive line produces, then everything else will start clicking too. It is simple, if the offensive line gets good blocks, Tony Romo will have time to throw. If Romo has time to throw, it will lead to better decision making, which will stop turnovers. Also if the blocks are there, the run game will produce. Murray may be back for this game which will be great for the run game. But if he isn't, then Jones should be able to carry the team if the blocks are there. This Browns defense has been known to give some teams trouble, so the offensive line needs to be there in order to secure this win.

Turnovers
Romo has been improving greatly since his 4 interception and 5 interception games. He hasn't thrown 1 interception in the past 2 games. If he doesn't throw any interceptions again, this game will be a secured victory.

Run defense
Brandon Weeden has not been spectacular this year and shutting down the Browns wide receivers will not be a problem for the Cowboys secondary. But the Dallas run defense has been giving up too many yards on the ground. They need to be able to make sure they can shut down Trent Richardson. He is a big running back that can get those 3rd and 1s every time. Making sure he doesn't find the end zone is very important for the Cowboys to win this game.

The Browns gave the Eagles plenty of trouble in week 1, and even beat the Chargers in a great defensive battle. The Cowboys need to just take this game easy. Make sure they don't get over confident, they are in a great position to make a run to the playoffs, losing to the Browns is not an option.

My prediction is the Cowboys dominate the Browns in Dallas, they show why they are real play off contenders and they get the win.
Cowboys 38-10

Go Cowboys!

Recap Cowboys vs Eagles

This week by far is one of the best for the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys dealt with the Eagles in Philly while the Giants got destroyed by the Bengals. This now puts the Cowboys 1.5 games back in the race for the NFC East champions. This is exactly what the Cowboys needed, a good win to get them back on track. Before this the Cowboys had lost 4 of the last 5, and a coaching change was coming into to question. But the Cowboys prevailed, and scored on offense, special teams, and defense in the game Sunday. The whole game seemed to go the Cowboys game, it started off with a 11 yard pass to Jones when he plowed through 6 defenders. And then a great throw and catch from Romo to Bryant. Next came Dwayne Harris, simply running to the edge and returning a punt straight to the end zone. Then Brandon Carr had a interception returned for a touchdown. Finally to seal the deal, Hatcher recovered a fumble by Foles in the end zone to end the game. Here is what the Cowboys did great on to win this game.

Turnovers
Coming into this game I said who ever won the turn over battle would win the game, and I was right. The Cowboys defense got 2 touchdowns from turnovers which really helped the team. Then Romo didn't turn the ball over once in the entire game.

Balanced offense
The run game has been pathetic since the Ravens game, but this game they seemed to step it up a little. Jones had 71 yards then Vickers and Dunbar combined for 30 to finally get the Cowboys over 100 yards rushing in a game were able to help out Romo quite a bit.

Special Teams/Defense
I really only have to say 3 touchdowns and that sums it up. The Cowboys defense only allowed 1 third down conversion on 10 attempts by the Eagles. The defense and Harris also really helped win the game thanks to their touchdowns they got in the fourth.

Here is what the Cowboys need to work on

Penalties
This was the biggest problem for the Cowboys. They had 13 penalties, 5 alone from Morris Claiborne and 6 that got the Eagles first downs. Plus Claiborne had a hold when the Dallas defense got a touchdown on the play, although Harris returned his punt soon after, those are things that shouldn't be happening. Claiborne is just a rookie though, he needs to learn more along with his team in order to stop these penalties.

Offensive line
Romo was sacked 3 times and had 5 hits, it is not a terrible stat but the Cowboys still need to keep improving that line to give Romo time.

Third down conversions
The Cowboys were only 5-13 on conversions on Sunday, these definitely need to be improved in order for the Cowboys to keep drives alive and win games.

Next week the Cowboys play the Browns, where they look to become 5-5.
Go Cowboys!