The 2008 Dallas Cowboys road to the Super Bowl....

stylo17 wrote:

I wonder if Dallas is thinking about how to attack Aaron Rodgers. And I don't just mean by blitzing him. I have a feeling that the Dallas D will just rush its front 5 and force Rodgers to read the defense. I also think that Dallas will show blitz with someone like Hamlin, put him in the box, and then send him into a deep 3rd coverage. Hamlin has the skills to get back fast enough. I think they'll do this because although Rodgers has played VERY well these first 2 games, we need to remember that this is only his 3rd career start. Make him work for his yards and don't give the opportunity to just throw to his hot-reads if there's pressure, the Packers will prepare him for that.

I'm not saying we shouldn't blitz, but if the D doesn't get there fast enough, or there's no need to, then why do it? This isn't McNabb this week, and I don't see Rodgers slipping out of Ware's or Ellis' hands.

It should help that this defense has faced Rodgers in real game action.

stylo17 wrote:

agreed. but how aggressive? I don't think we should blitz that much, and when we do, we can't always do it on 3rd down (an example). need to mix things up, maybe even use the athleticism of our lineman to our advantage and let them drop back in coverage in a zone blitz. make it fun
what do you think?

one thing that does slightly worry me though is Green Bay using the play-action hoping to catch one of our more inexperienced players peeking in the backfield and going deep. I did like how the Cowboys blitzed Anthony Henry quite a lot though. I think it would have been more effective if our DB's weren't playing 8 yards off the receiver. I don't expect that to change though, since Greg Jennings and Donald Driver do have exceptional speed, more the former than the latter.

absolutely, mix it up. Its worth it in this game to take some chances, IMO. I look for our offence to be on.

I am thinking:
Cowboys-38
Green Bay-24

ryan198 wrote:

The thing about Aaron Rodgers is that he is just a younger version of Chad Pennington. Pennington was awesome when his suspect arm wasn't a worthless suspect arm, and he only had to throw short passes to the Johnson, Chrebet, Cotchery, etc. of the world, and could occassionally throw the deep ball. Look at Rodgers, the big knock on him coming out of college was that he was accurate but had a weekish arm, and with numbers like 18-22 for 178, and 24-38 for 328 both times less than 9 yards per attempt, whereas Romo has been over 10 yards/attempt both weeks, this criticism hasn't been put to the test.

Granted the Packers offense fits Rodgers strengths well...4-5 quick off the line receivers, but my feeling is that if you jam up his receivers at the line with Pacman and T-Newman it may be beneficial just to see how good he is with the deep ball. Of course last week we were getting burned by the DeSean Jackson's of the world so what do I know.

On the flipside, TO doesn't need to take notes from Plax on how to abuse Al Harris, b/c everyone and their mother abuses Al Harris. Check the game he had last year against that joker.

Disclaimer: huge Packers fan and hate Dallas more than any team; I mean seriously, it should be Mexico's team and GB is the real America's Team

You're right about Harris; he got destroyed in the Pack's two biggest games last year. Woodson shuts everyone down and was injured against Dallas last year. He has been awesome so far this year and should be put on TO. This should be a shootout and hope Rodgers can break the Dallas curse.

OK, earlier I posted the piece about TO and Al Harris. Today the Dallas Morning News Cowboys Blog has another match-up to watch. BTW, highly recommend all of you Cowboys fans read this blog. Very imformative.

http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/

Here you go:


We'll take a break from hyping the T.O.-Al Harris duel to dig down into the trenches.

Packers left DE Aaron Kampman (6-4, 265) leads the NFL in sacks since the start of the 2006 season with 30, .5 more than Shawne Merriman and 2.5 more than DeMarcus Ware. Cowboys RT Marc Colombo (6-8, 318) is an under-appreciated player in a contract year.

Colombo's gutsy performance against the Packers played a significant role in last season's win at Texas Stadium. He had to come out a play after injuring his ankle in the first half, and he still held Kampman without a sack while Tony Romo threw for 309 yards and four TDs.

Colombo did have two false starts, but hey, the dude was battling a Pro Bowler with a bad wheel. And the Cowboys gave him very little help, freeing Jason Witten to have six second-half catches for 67 yards.

Kampman wasn't a factor against the run, either. He had three tackles -- one on a Romo bootleg and another on a 37-yard passing play -- and Marion "The Barbarian" Barber rushed for 81 yards on 17 carries.

Can Colombo handle Kampman again? We'll find out Sunday night, when a whole bunch of screaming Cheeseheads will be on Kampman's side.

Just watched the 95 NFC championship game. Man those were good times.

Dallas is completely capable of beating GB this week and they should do so.

Flagg wrote:

Agreed, but it wouldn't shock me if they lost either. I have them losing 4. This could be one of them.

all 4 are in the regular season right?

reversedarwinism wrote:

GB is completely capable of beating Dallas this week and they should do so.

I agree.

Another thing to consider is that this is sort of a homecoming for Romo. GB is the team of his area and his favorite team growing up. It would be nice to see a great performance by him, may be he will be espcially inspired today.

there is ONE glaring statistic that has really stuck out at me this year. the Cowboys have ZERO interceptions on defense. ZERO. I know we've won and that's all that matters, but this kinda bothers me.

either way, good win tonight. Felix Jones way to spark up the team. good to see Miles Austin make huge plays tonight. T.O. didn't look happy with 2 catches, don't think it'll be a big deal to him as long as the team keeps winning. I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that T.O. has 2 catches in the last 6 quarters of play. Barber is a bear, looked amazing tonight, as well as the O-Line. and Jason Witten, man just can't say enough about him; he's very reliable and as solid as a rock. my 2 cents, GOOD night everybody.