Carolina Panthers are licking their chops...

[JonJon]

I said a couple of weeks ago that the match-up between the Cowboys O-line and the Panthers D-line was going to be tough for Dallas to overcome. Now, with Rivera banged up, the match-up just got a little more one sided. With a shot of a first round bye and possible home field advantage, you best believe Carolina will be bringing their A game. The whole world saw last week how Washington blew up the Cowboys O-line and consistently got to Bledsoe. I fear that this week will not be any better. If anything, it will be worse. Pettiti will draw the daunting task of matching up against pro-bowl DE Julius Peppers. Right next to Pettiti will most likely be Ethan Brooks matching up against Brenston Buckner, and on the other side, pro-bowler Larry Allen will match up against Jordan Carstens. We should win that match-up. However, we have Torrin Tucker, playing in another hostile environment, against another pro bowl caliber DE, Mike Rucker, who is banged up, but should be ready to go.

I hate to say it fellas, but we have a TALL mountain to climb in this one, and it isn't looking good. Parcells knows that our O-line will probably fail Bledsoe again, so expect Dallas to stay in the conservative shell this week and try to grind some yards out on the ground. Hopefully our defense can stop somebody this week and generate some turnovers and get us some field position.

My Keys to Victory:

• We must move the ball on the ground. Most of our plays will come from the run in this game. In the occasions when we do pass the ball, Witten, Keyshawn, and Crayton will have to step up and move the chains.
• Cundiff must have a clutch day. In this game, we cannot afford ANY missed FGs or leave any points on the board. Good field position will be hard to come by so we must make the most out of every situation.
• The defense must contain. Steve Smith is Carolina's best weapon, and he can line up anywhere on the field and does his most damage in the slot. Lucky for Dallas, Newman is used to playing the slot on the Nickle D, so he should match-up on Smith for most of the game. Foster is another RB that can run all over us, so we must keep him in check.
• We must get pressure on Delhomme. When he is pressured, he makes poor decisions and Dallas could get some cheap turnovers in this one.

If we can follow those guidelines, we can beat the Panthers, but their will be no Margin for error. This game could easily get out of hand like last week. If we get caught in a situation where we must pass, you can pretty much forget it. Keep the scores close, rely on our defense, and hope and pray that Cundiff has a career day, and we will win.

 

[Kilyin]

Well, first of all, Ethan Brooks got cut, so I doubt you'll be seeing him. It will be Gurode and Procter taking Rivera's spot, most likely we won't even see Procter.

 

[Future]

the only chance we have is the defense getting 2-3 turnovers putting us in really good field position. other than that this offense wont do anything. but if i see a run to the right at peppers and buckner, when they have carstens and a banged up rucker on the other end i will cry

i do realize that we need balance but there is no reason to favor running to the right

 

[JonJon]

Well, first of all, Ethan Brooks got cut, so I doubt you'll be seeing him. It will be Gurode and Procter taking Rivera's spot, most likely we won't even see Procter.

Oh, I didn't know that...man I was hoping he would provide some experience. I'm not too concerned about that match-up any way; I am more concerned about Pettiti vs Peppers and Tucker vs Rucker. I fear those guys will be in the backfield all day in this one, and I am sure Parcells agrees that we won't get much from the pass in this game because of that. The Good news is that the Panthers can be run on and have problems with RBs that can cut back. Hopefully Jones can revert to his former self and Barber can make some nice reads for us to get big runs.

 

[Kilyin]

With the NFL being a copycat league, don't be surprised to see them overload Ruckers and Peppers on Tucker's side after last Sunday's debacle. Tucker is going to have a bullseye on that big head of his.

 

[Eddie]

The drop off from Rivera to Gurode is minimal. Rivera hasn't played all that hot this year.

The match-up between our OT's and their DE's is what's going to kill us.

We need to game plan accordingly.

 

[DLCassidy]

The drop off from Rivera to Gurode is minimal. Rivera hasn't played all that hot this year.

The match-up between our OT's and their DE's is what's going to kill us.

We need to game plan accordingly.

The game plan is cover the punts well and try to score on defense.

 

[kojak]

I kind of feel sorry for the guy. It's going to be a long day, I hope we have a plan to counter attack all of those rushes......

 

[Gaede]

I don't think we have a chance. It sucks, and usually I'm optimistic, but Peppers and Rucker on Tucker and Petitti is going to be ugly.

If the defense can make plays, we might have a good game. But they're not looking so hot lately either.

 

[aikemirv]

The drop off from Rivera to Gurode is minimal. Rivera hasn't played all that hot this year.

The match-up between our OT's and their DE's is what's going to kill us.

We need to game plan accordingly.

I'm not even sure there is a drop off at all!!!! I guess we will see.

Rivera is the biggest dissapointment of the year.

 

[aikemirv]

I don't think we have a chance. It sucks, and usually I'm optimistic, but Peppers and Rucker on Tucker and Petitti is going to be ugly.

If the defense can make plays, we might have a good game. But they're not looking so hot lately either.

If our defense come to play we will have a chance. The RB's have to chip and Witten has to be used in the passing game.

If our defense plays well this is going to be an ugly game - 10-7 or 13-10 - something like that.

 

[Way 'nuff]

I think something you guys fail to mention is lack of momentum headed into the game. Seems likea lot of people ignore momentum when making picks.