At The Turn: Dallas Cowboys Midseason Report
Eight games into the year, the Dallas Cowboys look like a team that could make some serious noise in the playoffs.
After a shaky start, the Cowboys have started to click into place in all three areas of the game – offense, defense and, yes, special teams – and are riding high right now. First place in the NFC East and a four game winning streak has the Cowboys sitting pretty at 6-2.
Take a look after the jump at a breakdown of each position and a revised look at the Cowboys schedule.
ROSTER:
QB: Tony Romo personifies this team probably more than any other player on the roster. After a shaky start to his season with a few clunkers (v. New York, @ Denver), he’s playing great, especially on third down. His QB rating this year is 95.8 – good for 8th best in the NFL. Bob Sturm found this stat on Adam Schefter’s Twitter: Tony Romo’s QB rating on 3rd down against the Eagles was 149.1. That’s just about perfect on the downs when his team needs him the most. Mistake free football goes a long way.
RB: Interesting that the running game hasn’t been quite as dominant in the last few wins as it was when the team was struggling. Felix Jones still looks tentative after his injury, especially on kickoffs. Marion Barber looks great in the 4th quarter, although he looks VERY average before then. An average of 4.6 yards/carry over 98 carries is still great, though.
Tashard Choice is hopefully going to get more carries after the impressive showing of the Razorback (not Wildcat) offense on Sunday. 4.9 YPC for him, and Felix is averaging 7.3, albeit on only 21 carries.
WR: Miles “Gummy Bear” Austin is simply incredible. I mean, I’ve never seen as much pink in one mouth when Big League Chew wasn’t involved. Oh yeah, his stats are good too. 27 catches for 612 yards and 7 TDs. In four starts. No big deal.
Roy Williams finally showed some signs of life on Sunday – if he can get going, the receivers could really be deadly. Patrick Crayton has been fine, Sam Hurd has made a few plays, and every Kevin Ogletree play worked last week, so no complaints from this end of the Peanut Gallery.
TE: An almost underwhelming year for Jason Witten until you take a look at the number of third downs he converts. Now that Romo has found another couple of targets, teams probably won’t be sending too many double teams his way. That might free him up for a couple of big gainers down the stretch. The Certifiably Insane Martellus Bennett has been great in blocking, but his 90 receiving yards this year ranks up on the list for highest disappointments.
O-Line: I refuse to write anything in this category at the risk of jinxing the play of this group. Just know that other than Flozell’s guaranteed penalty a game, I could not be happier with the play and the health of the line.
(Furiously knocking on every piece of wood in sight)
D-Line: You cannot stop Jay Ratliff, you can only hope to contain him. Igor Olshansky has been stellar in the running game, and yet he’s not even the best pickup for the D. (Foreshadowing, anyone?) Marcus Spears seems to have it together. Sometimes. Siavii, Bowen and Hatcher have all heard their names called at various points also.
LB: Man oh man. Faithful readers of this humble blog know how I yearn for a Keith Brooking jersey. I mean, I know the guy’s 34, but how could the Falcons let this guy go? D-Ware has begun to round into last season’s form as he looks to work through a stress fracture in his foot, and Anthony Spencer played maybe the best game of his career on Sunday against Philly. Just like I said before the season – this is the strongest position on the team.
I sure do like Victor Butler too – whenever he’s in there, it looks like he’s around the ball and making tackles.
Secondary: The one area I was truly worried about was the secondary, but right now, this secondary looks to be as strong as any. Gerald Sensabaugh has been fabulous at safety and Mike Jenkins has made a trampoline leap from questionable starter to possibly this team’s best corner. Terence is obviously still #1, but the gap is closer than you think.
Special Teams: I don’t know what it was about the baseball defense analogy that fit about this special teams unit, but somehow it fit. Two punt returns for touchdowns already, David Buehler has had WAY more of an impact than anyone thought possible and Nick Folk is still Nick Folk. Ogletree might see some kick return action this week, so that could be nice to see.
SCHEDULE:
What everyone wants to know – how will the Cowboys do coming down the home stretch?
Week 10 – @ Green Bay
With the Packers’ offensive line a disaster on par of the ones in 2012, I’ve got to think that Ratliff, Ware and even Bobby Carpenter could get into the backfield and disrupt Aaron Rodgers. Lambeau has never been kind to the Dallas Cowboys, but Romo and the rest of the offense should be able to get enough of a rhythm going to score enough. Prediction: Cowboys 27, Packers 14
Week 11 – vs. Washington
This game seems like an easy win, and it should be. But something tells me this game is going to be tougher than expected. Last year’s home game against the Redskins was supposed to be an easy win too… Prediction: Cowboys 20, Redskins 17
Week 12 – vs. Oakland
This game will be an easy win. Prediction: Cowboys 38, Raiders 3
Week 13 – @ New York Giants
If not for an epic Romo stinkbomb, the first regular season game at the Death Star would have been a win. A triumph here would be a huge statement, especially if the win streak is still going. It’s not inconceivable the Cowboys could be 10-2 after a win here. Eli struggles at home, but this could be the Giants’ last stand. Prediction: Giants 31, Cowboys 30
Week 14 – vs. San Diego Chargers
San Diego always plays well in December. I don’t expect anything different this year, but I really don’t think the Chargers are quite as strong as they have been in the past. Dallas cannot afford to lose both this game and the Giants game with the Saints looming. Prediction: Cowboys 24, Chargers 20
Week 15 – @ New Orleans Saints
New Orleans has looked vulnerable over the past couple of weeks, falling behind to both the likes of Miami and Carolina. Where are they weak? The Panthers seemed to get ahead of the Saints via the running game. Could we see the trio lead the way to a win in the Superdome? Right now, I say no. Prediction: Saints 38, Cowboys 34
Week 16 – @ Washington Redskins
Where are we at now? Cowboys at 10-4? That sounds like a nice little run. But there’s NO way they have the division sown up by this game with that record. So the Cowboys come out firing and put the Redskins away early. (God, that felt good to say.) Prediction: Cowboys 30, Redskins 10
Week 17 – vs. Philadelphia Eagles
My original prediction before the year was that the Cowboys would win this game 44-6 to get revenge on last year’s contest. With the road win over the Eagles already in the bag, though, I suppose this game will probably be a bit closer. Prediction: Cowboys 44, Eagles 7
So there you have it. Cowboys finish up 12-4, probably with the third seed in the conference, and play the Eagles in the first round.
A tall task to beat a division foe three games in one year, especially in back-to-back weeks, but we’ll tackle that when the Cowboys get there.
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