The Cowboys looked like they had finally put the puzzle pieces together after their comprehensive win over St. Louis in Week 3, but Tony Romo and the defense spent Week 4 methodically taking that puzzle apart and flushing important pieces down the toilet.
After an unexpected loss to a mediocre team, it's always important to get back to basics and make sure one loss doesn't turn into a losing streak. It's unfortunate, then, that the Cowboys will host the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
The Broncos have spent the first four weeks of the season making the rest of the NFL look like your high school's JV team. Peyton Manning is having very possibly the best season by a quarterback ever, and Denver's defense has also been excellent - even though "still breathing" would be good enough to win with Manning under center.
The Cowboys, to their credit, have been very good at some things and frustratingly terrible at others. Their run defense is excellent, allowing just 77.8 rushing yards per game, but their secondary is so bad that teams don't really need to establish the run to hurt them through the air. When your next opponent is Peyton Manning and you just gave up 400 passing yards to Philip Rivers, it's pretty clear that something needs to change in a hurry.
The Cowboys defense wins games when their defense comes up with turnovers, and they'll need to force plenty if they want to keep Sunday's game competitive. San Diego kept the ball for so long last weekend that Dallas ran just seven offensive plays in the third quarter, and that just can't be allowed to continue if the Cowboys want to stay in this game.
This game will ultimately come down to two factors - the Cowboys' ability to contain Peyton Manning, and Tony Romo's ability to execute on offense. If Manning gets into a rhythm early and Romo starts checking down in the second quarter, this is going to be a long afternoon. If the defense can disrupt the Broncos and Romo gets the ball to his playmakers, Dallas has a fighting chance.
Predictions:
Dez Bryant has a huge game - Bryant is Tony Romo's most dangerous target, and it isn't really close. Dallas will almost certainly spend some of Sunday's game playing from behind, and Bryant will have plenty of chances to make plays. Expect him to end up with over 125 yards and at least one touchdown.
Peyton Manning takes the Dallas secondary to school - Will Allen, Barry Church, Brandon Carr, and Morris Claiborne all get a C- for their performance so far this year. Nothing less than an A+ will be good enough against professor Manning, who has no shortage of dangerous targets, and we don't see this Cowboys secondary doing enough to slow him down. Manning will end up with at least 400 passing yards and 3 touchdown passes.
Dallas keeps it close - for a little while - The Cowboys know how important this game is to their season. They had a chance to start 3-1 and avoid falling under .500 with a loss to Denver, but now losing to the Broncos puts them at 2-3 and digs them into a hole in the NFC East. Even if Jason Garrett can't communicate how important this game is, Jerry Jones will, and the Cowboys will come out fighting. It ultimately won't be enough, but we think Dallas will keep this game close at least until the third quarter.
Denver keeps the streak going - We just can't see any scenario where this Cowboys team does enough to beat Denver. The Broncos will win this one despite a valiant effort from the Cowboys, 45-28.
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