Figured it was time to jumpstart the board on the Cowboys/Falcons game on Sunday. Maybe give some us a place to post while the game goes on, rather than the ten different threads we had last game.

Comparisons:

For just about every area, these two teams are really very close in terms of their play. Both teams average about the same in PPG on offense. Dallas moves the ball better, and leads the league in YPA on the ground. The Falcons have twice as many three-and-outs on offense, but they make the most of their opportunities in the red zone, where Dallas often have not.

The same can be said for their defenses. Neither team is in the top 20 in defense. The Falcons rank 23rd against the run, 21st against the pass. However, the Falcons have made up for that with 12 takeaways. Dallas only has 4, the fewest in the NFL. The Falcons make the most of their chances; Dallas does not.


Key Matchups

Jason Witten vs. Mike Peterson - The Falcons may struggle if they can't slow down Witten, and Mike Peterson is their best linebacker in coverage. Atlanta likes to keep their safeties two deep, and may need to protect both corners with Brian Williams done for the year.

Miles Austin vs. Chris Houston - Houston is a defensive version of Austin (even down to their last names)- a gifted, athletic player who sometimes struggles with the mental aspect of the game.

Flozell Adams vs. John Abraham - Abraham is iffy against the run, but he allows Atlanta to go with a four man rush. Adams first three games were stellar; his last two were awful. Adams will need to draw some confidence from their last meeting, when Flozell destroyed Abraham repeatedly in a 38-28 win.

Terence Newman vs. Roddy White - White has shown himself to be a top 5 wide receiver. Newman has been noteworthy only in that he seems to lose sight of the ball just has it's passing by his head- and being caught for a big play.

Gerald Sensabaugh vs. Tony Gonzalez - The Cowboys use Sensabaugh to cover tight ends so they can play with one high safety. This also frees up Phillips into mixing which linebackers he sends after the quarterback. However this turns out, the Boys don't want Bradie James covering Gonzalez...James has been awful covering tight ends.

Jay Ratliff vs. Todd McClure - Matt Ryan has been sacked only twice this season. Ratliff has been the Cowboys best defensive player thus far.

has anyone heard how ware's foot is? heard he a small fracture in his left foot.

I believe he is suppose to play

Is Felix Jones going to be healthy enough to play?

Ware's foot apparently has been fractured about 3 weeks already. He'll play.

Felix has been practicing. Expects to play with a knee brace.

Roy Williams has been iffy. Not sure if he practiced today. May be a gametime decision.


Jerrius Norwood is expected to be out.

Their fullback (not sure the name) may be a gametime decision.

Michael Turner has a chest contusion, but expecting to play.

I think the cowboys will get back on track....I dont know if atlanta can run against us???????? If we can get pressure on matt ryan and not give up them 3rd and longs like we have been doing all year, we should win......

Falcons by 10

Michael Turner will run on, over, and through

I don't see the Boys winning this one. I really hope I'm wrong.

Falcons.....

I don't really see anyway Atlanta can hang with the Cowboys.

Matt Ryan is good but if ware and the boys can get pressure on him and make it a long day........I just hope garrett doesnt get to pass happy today.....

Dallas may get the best advantage if they can keep gashing Atlanta's smaller line. Atlanta slants their D-line almost exclusively, and it's the type of front that Dallas could have a field day with because they run the counter so well.

Besides Cover 2, Atlanta also runs alot of Cover 3 and they try to take away the deep ball.

I dont think that i am going to be able to see the game, i have direct tv, and my networks are out of shreveport, they have the saints and miami game coming on at 3.........really stinks......

while i don't mind the saints at all and i like a few of their players, i would much rather see the cowboys. even if i weren't a huge cowboy fan, the game itself would appear to be a better matchup for viewers. supposedly there was an online vote to decide what game would be televised? chalk it up to another nice job for lowsiana!

If you have the NFL package you will be able to see the game on channel 713 of course the cowboys look like #### right now

Not anymore, they're up 17-7 at the half. Cowboys get the ball 1st in the 2nd half.

Romo is looking good and so are the receivers except for Roys two drops

Some nice hitting went on by the db's tonight. I guess Jenkins will get another fine for the one hit (helmet to helmet). Overall a solid game by the Cowboys. Can't wait for everyone to say how bad Romo did.

Romo had nice game, but you know he's been very inconsistent and the team will also be inconsistent until Tony gets better.

How bout them Cowboys?!

Great win today. The Boys looked good, especially Romo.

Tony Romo and Miles Austin is a deadly combination.

This is the best that I've seen Dallas play all year. It seems like Romo finally has a receiver in Big Head. Austin had a game like this last year, and then fell off the map. Two Games back to back shows me he's the go to guy. Roy Williams is not the man, and he is the worst trade that I can remember the Cowboys ever making. It looks like the boys did some work during the bye week.

a worse trade was for Galloway..TWO 1st rounders

I think people are expecting WAY to much from Williams..he is NOT a speed threat, nor a guy who is going to take a pass 50 yards..WHERE he can be good is at catching 3rd down passes and extending drives.

Ok, the boys looked good today, but i'm not gonna get too excited yet, we've all seen them turn around and lay an egg after an impressive win, until they can get some consistancy i'm gonna hold on to my playoff ticket money. But was nice to see Patrick Crayton earn his paycheck for a change. They should beat Seattle easily, but with team u never know.

I agree Coach, Roy Williams is not a no. 1 reciever, they are expecting way to much out of him if they are expecting that, but he is a good no 2 or 3, somebody else has step up, maybe Austin can, if not they are gonna have to add or draft a no. 1 reciever. What has happened to Whitten? he has almost disappeared, are defenses focussing on him that much or what? just seems like he's been taken out of the game plan.

i think this is a good thing...if defenses are focusing on witten, then it opens more lanes up for guys like austin who have more speed and can score anytime he has the ball...witten of course is the best possession reciever dallas has, but if he is doubled or being payed too much attention too, it certainly isn't a bad thing considering he's a tight end after all.

crayton finally had a punt return for over -2 yards...still not convinced that he should be doing it...i mean, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then.

Maybe romo will stay hot as november and december gets here........

Just a few game notes:


- Atlanta really tried to mix things up with the blitzes. They often tried to overload the left side and threw in some zone blitzes to boot. They constantly played with 8 in the box and were overall very aggressive.

- Dallas' luck started to turn a bit when they began mixing up zone coverages and dropping 8 while rushing only 3. Atlanta expected heavy blitzes at times and were often caught with extra blockers and Ryan had trouble getting anyone open. This shows me that this Dallas D has grown quite a bit from last year; there were many times last season where Dallas looked lost on anything that wasn't simple man-to-man. Phillips really mixed it up today.

- Unsung hero for the offense is Flozell Adams. No penalties, butchered Abraham most of the game, and constantly handled the overload blitzes that came to his side.

- Unsung hero for the defense is Bobby Carpenter. Dallas used Carpenter to jam Tony Gonzalez quite a bit, and it allowed the Cowboys to not use an extra defender on him. Gonzalez was quiet most of the day because of this. Without him, Ryan couldn't navigate the 5 underneath zone.

- The officiating got ridiculous at times. They don't see Roddy White's pushing off Newman for a touchdown with his arm fully extended, but they call Roy Williams when all he does is roll a shoulder. They called a Falcons defender for pass interference when it seemed he and Miles Austin just accidentally bump each other trying to get upfield. They flag Stephen Bowen for moving his foot despite him getting it back before the snap.

- I'm actually surprised they called a chop block against Jay Ratliff. Seems like I see him get chopped 3-5 times a game since last year and this is the first time they've called it.

Romo is still terrible.....

I actually predicted the upset and almost got the score correct. Great game by the Cowboys, probably there best by far all year. Now they just need to continue to play that way and I think they will be fine. Prblem is, we haven't played 2 good games in a row yet, maybe now is the time.

Romo had a great game moving i n the pocket and keeping drives alive. Defense started slow but recovered well. I like Jones as the starting RB and using Barber as a pounder in the second half and short yardage situations. Austin looks great did you see his teeth while he was laughing, reminded me of Francis the talking mules for a second...lol

good win against the falcons...dallas has seattle next which is a very winable game...then a grouping of division games that they need to win. dallas all of a sudden is side by side with the giants. time to make their move

Didn't get to see the game (thanks a lot Shreveport), but sounds like it was their best of the year. Finally a victory over a quality opponent.
Miles Austin making a name for himself (how could coaches keep him as a 4th receiver so long---are they blind?).
I agree with the Roy Williams trade comment. I hated it when it happened & it's worse now. I like Roy Williams, but he will never be #1 receiver and we paid premium for him.

Now that they have finally won a big game this season i would really like them to come out next week and dominate the seahawks. They have to be consistent and they have not done this the past couple of years and especially after a big win such as yesterday. It would be nice to see them come out and just stick it to the seahawks and build up some momentum going into Philly. As for Roy Williams i believe that him and Tony think they have to be as good as Romo and TO were but that takes time. I think its all a mental thing and that Romo and Roy will have some huge games in the upcoming future. Also if the defense can keep playing at this level then this could be the begining of a good strech of games for the Boys, but they have to start it next week by not having turnovers, penalties, no break downs on special teams or defense. I hope Romo keeps this level of play up because he has not thrown a pick in two straight games so I think that gives him a huge confidence boost. Overall a very dominant TEAM victory.

Bayou Bengal still irrelevant.......

I'm hoping for three with Oak coming after Sea. How did Oakland beat Philadelphia last week ???

Regardless, The Cowboys and Giants made me very happy yesterday.

Roy Williams may still be a little gun-shy after being hung out to dry on that high pass across the middle in Denver...

I don't think that qualified as an upset

I think they play Philadelphia after the seahawks....

It seems to me that Tony is playing more relaxed and relying on his instincts. His decisions to escape and pass or escape and run were very quick without hesitations. That shows confidence in his choices. He seems to be seeing the field a little better.

I missed the first 1.5 quarters because they were having video problems at the Buffalo Wild Wings I was at in Chicago. So I did not get to see the slow start. I thought the defense looked good and I am still disappointed in the lack of running plays. Also was there anything wrong with Tashard Choice? I saw him catch a pass and then nothing after that. We need to use him much more.

I could've been relaxed playing QB against the Falcons.......

how about making choice the starter? get him going in the first half, mix in a little felix and barber to finish them off in the second half. miles is just palying out of this world right now. keep it up.

Romo is terrible

we need to draft garrett lee, russell jefferson, trade for jamarcus russell. we would be set at qb for years.

Now you're talking!!!!!!

Jamarcus Russell is one of the biggest draft busts ever.

sarcarsm folks.

Romo is terrible

I would choose Romo over "any" of the QB's from LSU...past or present.

Have fun cheering for an 8-8 football team...at best.