ESPN Dorks Predicting a Commanders win

[JPM]

They played us extremely close with our starters last time?

They need this win to extend their season?

There is huge speculation that our starters may not play much?

I see no problem with the prediction that the Commanders will win.

I enjoyed Hoge's statment that it wouldn't matter if we played our starters or not the Skin were going to win.

 

[Maikeru-sama]

I enjoyed Hoge's statment that it wouldn't matter if we played our starters or not the Skin were going to win.

Yeah, that is a bit much but I really don't know that those comments are way off base.

Folks, whether you want to admit it or not, we are a totally different team without the Great Terrell Owens.

Like a very prominent member of the local media likes to say, "The main reason the Cowboys offense is so great is because we have Terrell Owens and nobody else does."

 

[vaturkey]

Common sense dictates we should loose. This for all practical purposes will be treated much like the final pre-season game.

That said, this is how we win IMO:

Romo plays a series or two so he can have some real playing time with Terry Glenn to work on their timing and such and we score early. The only way he plays longer is if our O-line is dominating the Skins D and they aren't even getting close to him. Then Brad comes in and hands off the ball and works the short passing game to Fasano and our second tier wide receivers.

I'm also thinking this is the game Julious Jones will finally get his chance to prove he is a good running back and he will be auditioning for a nice contract for next year somewhere else. Don't forget money is a great motivator and JJ wants his share as a free agent.

While both our starting corners will probably be sitting out the game I believe but if we can get pressure on Todd Collins and can't make those quick reads and then the Skin's are in trouble. I also think our front 7-8 can negate Portis's running ability as we are much stronger on the ends (outside backers) then the Vikings were.

Summary, is we can win even though I don't think we will. I think it will take some turnover's by the skins and some bad play by their QB.

 

[theebs]

I'm predicting a Commanders win as well. I don't think we'll play starters very long. But they'll be playing for the post-season.

my question is how could they not win? Seriously, How could they not win this game, especially since justin rogers and the courtney browns of the world are going to be trying to stop portis and cooley in the second half.

man if they dont win they should run and hide and not make appearances for a while.

 

[HighTechDave]

oue defensive ends are so going to have a big day....

"Cowboys by 21"

 

[JIMMYBUFFETT]

Dallas wins , and it's not even a close game in my opinion . I think Dallas plays it's starters through the first half and are up by 17 going into the half . Dallas will play the bench in the second half and the Skins may get it to within 10 . Sorry , but the Commanders are a middle of the pack offense and a middle of the pack defense who's team is exactly where it should be .

 

[Maikeru-sama]

Dallas wins , and it's not even a close game in my opinion . I think Dallas plays it's starters through the first half and are up by 17 going into the half . Dallas will play the bench in the second half and the Skins may get it to within 10 . Sorry , but the Commanders are a middle of the pack offense and a middle of the pack defense who's team is exactly where it should be .

So you think we are going to be up by almost 3 TDs at the half without Terrell Owens?

I disagree, but I like the optimism .

:beer2:

 

[Doomsday101]

So you think we are going to be up by almost 3 TDs at the half without Terrell Owens?

I disagree, but I like the optimism .

:beer2:

I think some will depend on how Glenn does. If Terry can stretch the skins secondary I do think that guys like Crayton and Hurd along with Witten can do the job.

 

[Maikeru-sama]

I think some will depend on how Glenn does. If Terry can stretch the skins secondary I do think that guys like Crayton and Hurd along with Witten can do the job.

The guy has not played football since close to this time last year. I doubt he is going to be that big of a factor.

I wouldn't be suprised if he has some swelling in his knee and is limited. Mickey or somebody on the radio last week said that is what was limiting him in Practice.

 

[JIMMYBUFFETT]

So you think we are going to be up by almost 3 TDs at the half without Terrell Owens?

I disagree, but I like the optimism .

:beer2:

Yeah I really do . I just don't think the Skins are a very good team .

 

[Doomsday101]

The guy has not played football since close to this time last year. I doubt he is going to be that big of a factor.

I wouldn't be suprised if he has some swelling in his knee and is limited. Mickey or somebody on the radio last week said that is what was limiting him in Practice.

I think he will be limited in the snaps he gets but during his last practice (Friday) Phillips said Glenn looked good running several deep routs with no problems.

 

[peplaw06]

I would be shocked if the Skins cover that spread. They have won by 9 points or more 3 times this season, and two of those were in the last two weeks. Their games are always close, I don't expect any different here.

If we do keep it close, it's anyone's game. With or without our starters.

 

[big dog cowboy]

"Cowboys by 21"

Major suicide alert over at ES if that happens.

 

[aikemirv]

Boy, if Glenn plays well Sunday there is going to be a DC with one of the NFC teams that is going to be having nightmares in about a week and 1/2:laugh1:

 

[Established1971]

generic East Coast Sports Talk Radio voice, that they think makes them knowledgable sounding.

 

[AsthmaField]

They played us extremely close with our starters last time?

They need this win to extend their season?

There is huge speculation that our starters may not play much?

I see no problem with the prediction that the Commanders will win.

Yes, they did play us close last time... but that is the nature of this rivalry. Just like our one win in 1989 was against a much, much better Commanders team in DC.

Our last game saw us as heavy favorites... I wasn't surprised one bit to see the Commanders hang close. I fully expected it.

And I expected it because we were favored and they had little to lose in that game. The pressure was on us to win. Not a whole lot, but we were supposed to win.

Now, they are pretty heavy favorites. We truly, truly have nothing to lose. Nothing changes if we show up and barely play.

So, now... they have the pressure. And not pressure like we had last time... but the pressure of knowing their SEASON is on the line. Plus, they have the pressure of knowing we're playing our backups a lot and if they lose at HOME to the Cowboys backups... all heck will break lose in Washington.

In other words... the mojo of our rivalry has turned into their worst enemy instead of their alli, like it was in our first game this year. They should win. We should lose. They're fighting for their season and we're on vacation until three weeks from now.

They have every reason to win and we have nothing. We're the big underdog with nothing to lose.

We are a talented team with a lot of talented backups who has won the NFC outright and only lost twice... and we are big underdogs at their house.

The pressure will be enourmous to win.

The way this rivalry is... it wouldn't surprise me to see Dallas go in their and ruin their season.

Either way... as a Cowboy fan it'll be fun to watch because we have nothing to lose.

 

[khiladi]

Cowboys played a hell of a lot of soft-zone that game, and only came with the pressure when they needed to force a turnover by Jason Campbell. Dallas went a lot of soft-zone during Green Bay once Favre went out.

It seems to be a trend with Wade Phillips. I really don't think he goes aggressive unless he is playing an opponent he believes is strong.

 

[kmd24]

What is the line?

The spread is Skins -9. They should certainly be favored, but they've only won 3 games by more than 9 points all season, including wins against some teams that probably couldn't beat the Dallas 2nd string.

More interesting are the money lines: Cowboys +390 and Skins -430 which means that if you bet 100 on the Cowboys to win outright, you win 390 if they do, and you have to bet 430 on the Skins to win outright to win 100.

Basically, this means that the bookies expect the Skins to win this game 4 out of 5 times.

 

[AsthmaField]

Plus... not only will the pressure to win be all on them... but we have some pretty decent players as our second string guys.

The entire backup DL is good. Bowen, Tank and Hatcher can play, and they're nearly as valuable to the team as the starters. I can't see those three taking the entire second half on their own. I think the DL rotation stays about the same. Canty, Tank/Ratliff, and Spears on most running downs with Bowen and Hatcher coming in on pass downs.

Ware and Ellis will rest a good bit I'd think... but Rogers and Spencer can really get after the QB too. Rogers isn't Ware, I know... but he's smart, aggressive and can play.

James and Ayodele will play some, but I think James might get a little more rest. Burnett and Akin might keep a similar rotation as they've had... not expecting Kevin to take on a bunch of blockers or Akin to be in coverage a lot. Both are equally important to our defense, IMO. Carpenter will probably play more for James and that might not be all bad.

In the secondary, those guys will rest a good bit... particularly Henry and Newman... but Reeves can play and Jones and Oglesby might be able to hang on enough against Collins to be OK.

Brad Johnson is no slouch and won't make stupid mistakes to throw the game away. He's no Romo, but he should move the offense.

Jones will play full tilt to audition for free agency and Barber might play a little.

On the OL, that might be where we suffer some breakdowns as inexperienced guys don't play as a unit, together. Still, McQ can play. Procter can play. Free was a real find and is pro ready as a pass blocker. I doubt all the starters come out as a unit. It should be more Procter playing the whole game with McQ and a couple of others coming in to rest some of the guys. McQ probably would have been our starter at LG had Colombo not had to have his knee scoped in camp and made McQ have to replace him instead of compete with Kosier.

Hurd, Austin, Stanback, and Glenn just might surprise some people who are expecting the passing game to fall apart without TO. This is their chance to shine.

And Witten should see a lot of the bench this weekend... but Fasano and Curtis are very nice players. We probably have the deepest and best TE corps in the NFL... and it should show in this game.

In the NFL, when you play your backups... it isn't take the whole first team out and put in the entire second team... there just aren't enough players to do that. We've used most of our reserves a good bit all season. Most of those guys can really play. It will be many of our guys chance to show what they can do... it will be big for them and they'll come to play. They will likely have more enthusiasm than most of our starters will.

So, while the Commanders should be favored in this game... I think we'll have a chance to shock all of DC and knock their butts out of the playoffs with our backups. A chance. I don't expect it neccessarily... but it can happen, IMO.

 

[StrandedCowboy]

Hodge said it wouldn't matter if we played our starters or not the Commanders will win the game.

I agree. They are playing great football right now in washington.