Blogging The Boys
The Dallas Cowboys will head to Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sunday to play the Carolina Panthers. The 1995 expansion Panthers put a hurt on the Cowboys early, beating them the first two times they squared off, including once in the playoffs back in 1996. But since then, it’s been all Dallas as the Cowboys have dominated Carolina, winning 12 of their last 15 games, including their last three. Strangely, this will make the third straight season the Cowboys travel to Carolina, with the last two ending up in convincing wins for the Cowboys. Let’s hope for a similar result this week. Here are five things to keep an eye on when the Cowboys play the Panthers on Sunday.
The Cowboys will go against a familiar face in running back Rico Dowdle, who signed a one-year deal with the Panthers this offseason. Fans were conflicted about the team not retaining him after he rushed for 1,079 yards last season after taking over the reins as the lead back in the offense. This season, Dowdle has played second fiddle to Chuba Hubbard, never seeing more than 10 carries in each of the first four games of the season.
However, after a calf injury sideline Hubbard last week, Dowdle took full advantage of his opportunities last Sunday against Miami. The former Cowboys back rushed for a career-high 206 yards on 23 carries at an average of nine yards per attempt. It was quite impressive as Dowdle was not easy to bring down. The Panthers will leverage their running game to keep some pressure off of Bryce Young, and the Cowboys’ defense has shown itself to be gashed against the run at different times. Stopping their old friend from having a solid encore performance will be important for the defense.
Cowboys’ fans aren’t missing Dowdle very much due to the great season Javonte Williams is having. The free agent running back is currently third in the league in rushing yards, second in rushing touchdowns, and nobody has more first downs than he does this season. Expect a heavy dose of Williams in this game.
In typical Cowboys’ fashion, they will attack the rushing defense of their opponent, and Williams will do the heavy lifting, but don’t be surprised if we finally see rookie Jaydon Blue break loose. Last week, he made his NFL debut, and it wasn’t anything to brag about as he only rushed for seven yards on four attempts. While his acclimation into the offense should continue to be a gradual one, all it takes is one crease for Blue to remind fans why they were excited about the pick back in April.
As they will be with every game, the Cowboys’ defense will be on big-play alert as they try to keep opposing offenses from torching the secondary. They were hit hard in consecutive weeks against the...
