Will the Cowboys End Favre or Will Favre End the Cowboys?

Here we go again. Back to the Metrodome to revisit the Cowboys house of horrors. The last time the Cowboys visited Minnesota we all know how things ended. 34-3...the game wasn't as bad as the score indicates since the Vikings ran up the score but it was a dominant win for the Vikings.

So what is different this time around? Not really much for the Cowboys except for the fact that they come into the game with no confidence as opposed to being filled with confidence coming off their blowout over Philadelphia last season. The Cowboys still have problems at safety and they still have problems on the offensive line and a kicker who's ability can best be described as questionable.

The Vikings last season were also a team brimming with confidence. Brett Favre was at his best and the defensive line was tough to deal with. This year Favre looks like a man who stayed one year too long. The Viking offense hasn't been good all year and the defense is nothing like what we saw last season.

It is amazing how different this matchup appears this week compared to what we thought it would be when the schedule came out. This was supposed to be the clash of the NFC titans. Instead we essentially have the NFC toilet bowl.

But something has got to give here. Both of these teams are better than they have shown up to this point. And the Vikings have added Randy Moss who seemed to have put a little spark back into their offense last week. The Cowboys haven't shown anything that would make you believe they are ready to turn the corner but they do have possibly the most dynamic offense in the NFL.

It is difficult to predict how this game will play out. If the Cowboys can get some early points they might be able to keep the crowd from becoming such a big factor this time around. And maybe the Cowboys can establish more of a running game this time around to keep the Vikings from rushing the quarterback relentlessly like they did the last time around.

But on the flip side, Randy Moss is like kryptonite to the Cowboys defense. He has always burned them for big plays nearly every time he has face them. And the Cowboys have struggled with allowing big plays in the passing game this season. So that matchup could be a big problem.

I think the game will come down to what happens with Brett Favre. Favre has a tendency to turn the ball over when he faces the Cowboys. And he will be pressing this week and playing with a bad elbow. It seems as though he is one big hit away from the end of his career. But if he comes out hot the Vikings will be very tough to beat.

There is really nothing coming out of Valley Ranch this week that leads me to believe they will win this game. But I just can't allow myself to give up on the season yet. I pick this game with no confidence but my heart tells me the Cowboys will win the game 31-20.

The Cowboys Have to Prove They Aren't a Bad Team

Let me start by prefacing what I am about to say with a few remarks. I have not given up on the team. I still believe the Cowboys can achieve every goal they had set before the game started this year. Every game remaining on the schedule is a winnable game.

With that said, the Cowboys are not a good team right now. In fact they aren't even an average team right now. They are flat out bad. They put up great offensive numbers but they don't score enough points off of all the yards they gain. The defense hasn't been anything to brag about all year. And the special teams have been bad in nearly every game.

They are a 1-3 team. It is really embarrassing to even admit that they have such a terrible record. You can search high and low for answers but the problems of the Dallas Cowboys are a complicated riddle. Here is a brief list of what ails the team: penalties, turnovers by the offense, lack of turnovers forced by the defense, poor tackling, missed field goals, poor kick coverage, big plays allowed by the defense, poor pass protection by the offensive line, missed throws by the quarterback, dropped passes and inconsistent results in the running game. And I could keep going.

There is no way I can sit here and say the Cowboys are really close to being a good team right now. There are way too many problems to correct. They are going to have to improve in every category if they expect to not only win one game but win several games in a row to claw their way back into the NFC playoff picture.

I don't care what anyone wants to say about the Cowboys right now. They do have talent on the roster. That is no mirage. But they don't play as a cohesive unit and they don't fire on all cylinders with any consistency. Until that changes the Cowboys are just a collection of talented players. Look at the players individually and most of them look very good, but the performance of the team is currently less than the sum of the individual talent on the roster.

I have reached the point that I have lowered my expectations for the Cowboys. They are going to have to prove to me that they are a good team. Obviously they haven't been a good team up to this point, but Sunday can be the start of a turnaround.

One win won't convince me that the Cowboys have cleaned up their act. I was fooled by one decent performance in the Houston game and then felt like a sucker watching the game last week against the Titans. It is going to take 3 or 4 good team performances in a row before I start to believe all of the hype that surrounded this team heading into the season.

The Cowboys can't prove they've turned it all around against the Vikings. But they can begin to right the ship. I am a firm believer in the idea that winning is a habit just like losing can become a habit. The Cowboys are in danger of becoming habitual losers this season. The more they lose games the easier it becomes to accept those losses. I think the Cowboys have enough backbone to refuse to go down that losing road. I hope I'm not fooling myself again.

AFC/NFC Championship Games

Watching the championship games this past weekend was painful. Even though the Cowboys were manhandled by the Vikings it was tough to watch the Saints advance to the Super Bowl when only a month ago the Cowboys beat them on the same field. Both the AFC and NFC championships brought a lot of thoughts to my mind about the Cowboys.

1. Peyton Manning and the Colts made great in-game adjustments after having trouble early in the game. I know Peyton may be the best quarterback of all time but it was amazing to see the Colts adjust during the game and then proceed to dominate the best defense in the NFL. It really made me wonder why Jason Garrett and Tony Romo can't seem to make the same adjustments in the middle of the game.

2. Brett Favre and the Vikings paid the price for running up the score and celebrating like they won the Super Bowl against the Cowboys. I have to say I enjoyed watching Brett Favre get pummeled after what he did against the Cowboys. He may not have called the plays that resulted in touchdown passes late in the game against Dallas but he sure acted like it was the greatest moment in his career. He and Brad Childress got what they deserved. Some of the calls in overtime that went against the Vikings were highly questionable but I felt like it was payback for their bad sportsmanship against Dallas.

3. The Saints ran a lot of the plays against the Vikings that I expected Jason Garrett to run when the Vikings were generating a great pass rush. Screens and quick passes will beat a team overcommitting to rushing the passer, but Jason Garrett didn't call many of those plays when Romo was getting eaten alive by the pass rush.

4. The Vikings are a different team at home. Their pass rush was a lot less effective when they didn't have the advantage at the snap from the crowd noise. I really wonder if things would have been different if the Cowboys had been playing them at home.

5. Kickers are terrible this season. I don't know what is going on this year but the majority of the playoff teams are having trouble making field goals. I'm concerned that there will be a lot of teams in the market for a new kicker and not a lot of good kickers available. The Cowboys are aggressively pursuing kickers now and that is probably a smart move.

6. The Brett Favre interception at the end of the Vikings game scared me. He and Romo play a similar game and when the moment got big Favre reverted to his instincts. I hope were aren't watching a similar play from Romo in a big game in the future. Romo can play smarter football throughout the regular season but I hope he forms a habit that will continue when the moment gets big and he has to be smart.

How to Beat the Vikings

The Cowboys and Vikings appear to be two evenly matched teams on paper heading into the game on Sunday. With that said, you would think that the game will be a tough battle that will be won in the fourth quarter. I'm not so sure that is how things are going to play out. Let me explain why. A closer look at the matchups appears to give the Cowboys advantages in most areas.

The Vikings have a tough run defense primarily because they have massive defensive linemen in the middle of the line. But the Cowboys have Felix Jones to counter that strength. He can run effectively in the middle of the field but his real strength is his speed. He can run outside as well as any back in the league. When he is on the field the Vikings will be forced to respect the outside run which will help open up the inside of the field as well. I don't think the Cowboys will have a consistent running attack but they will be able to break off a big play here and there against the Viking defense.

The pass defense for the Vikings is completely reliant on Jared Allen applying pressure to the quarterback. With the fans going crazy it is going to force the Cowboys into a silent snap count. That works to Allen's advantage because he will get a step on Flozell Adams at the snap. The Cowboys may have to give Flozell some help to keep Allen from having a big day. The good news for Dallas is that the secondary is below average. If the Cowboys can protect Tony Romo then he will have time to find open receivers. The Vikings run a cover 2 scheme which usually results in high catch games for Jason Witten. After a five or six throws underneath to Witten the safeties may get tempted to cheat up and that is when the big plays will come.

The strength of the Dallas defense matches up with the biggest weakness for the Vikings. The offensive tackles for the Vikings have trouble pass blocking so the Vikings will need to run to keep Demarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer honest. If the Cowboys can get a big lead to eliminate the running game of the Vikings then I believe the Cowboys will hit Favre repeatedly and possibly even knock him out of the game.

The Cowboys run defense has been one of the best in the league this year. But they haven't faced a running back as dynamic as Adrian Peterson. He can take any play the distance so the Cowboys will need to wrap up and gang tackle. But they can't over-commit to the run or Favre is going to kill them with play action passing. I believe the running of Adrian Peterson is the only chance the Vikings have to control the game and win. Limiting the carries Peterson gets is going to be vital to the success of the Dallas defense.

Another strength for the Vikings is the return game of Percy Harvin. Well, the Cowboys have the antidote for that too. David Beuhler has been forcing touchbacks all year long. And kicking in the climate controlled dome should work to his advantage. Harvin may get a returnable kick or two so the coverage teams will have to be on their toes, but Harvin's chances will be limited by deep kickoffs.

One advantage I can see for the Vikings is the playmaking ability of Brett Favre. If he gets hot he can be unstoppable. He has the ability to turn a broken play into a big gain. He gets rid of the ball just when you think he is going to be sacked. And he has some big targets to make plays when he throws up a jump ball. But sometimes he makes silly mistakes under pressure. The more times the Cowboys force him into his freelance mode the higher the probability that he will turn the ball over. The pass rush has to force Favre into mistakes.

Obviously Tony Romo will need to protect the ball. He has the same tendencies as Favre so the offensive line will need to give him time. The Cowboys need to control the clock with long drives. A fast start by the offense will force the Vikings into a pass mode and that will play into the strengths of the Dallas defense while also limiting the impact of Adrian Peterson.

I believe the Cowboys will get off to a fast start. A fast start will quiet the crowd, limit Adrian Peterson's touches, and allow the Dallas pass rushers to attack Favre. I keep envisioning the game ending in a big Dallas win with an injury to Favre ending his season. Maybe I've been "drinking the kool-aid" too much this week but I see the Cowboys winning big. It just seems like the Cowboys match up well with the Vikings. I predict a 33-17 win for Dallas.