Blogging The Boys
It is normal to feel a little nervous about a road game when you’re only 2-2-1. Dallas is favored by three points despite CeeDee Lamb still being out, but Dallas has shown both the good and bad this year, and you never know which one will show up.
Carolina is 2-3, but they’ve yet to lose a game at home this season, beating the Falcons and Dolphins. Does that make anyone more nervous about this one? Let’s see what our writers think.
Bring the seatbelts
Former Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle went off last week in his first start of the year, topping 200 yards on the day, and proceeded to tell his former team to “buckle up” for this week. Brian Schottenheimer then jokingly said his team would bring their seatbelts.
They’ll need to, though. Carolina is one of the better rushing offenses in the league right now, whether it’s Dowdle or banged-up starter Chuba Hubbard. And while Dallas has been generally decent against the run this year, they gave up several huge plays last week after Jack Sanborn went down. They’ll need to be on their best against the run to keep this Panthers offense from doing what they do best.
Run, run, run
The Cowboys are firing on all cylinders right now, offensively speaking. Dak Prescott is building a strong MVP case with the numbers he’s put up with CeeDee Lamb on the sidelines. But this week should be an outlier. The Panthers are undefeated at home for a reason: their field conditions are downright painful for visitors.
That makes everything harder on opponents, but cutting and running routes are especially difficult. That’s not to say the Cowboys shouldn’t throw the ball at all, but if I were calling plays, this is one game where I’m leaning on Javonte Williams more than normal. And, thankfully, the idea of leaning on Williams is actually a really good one.
Now onto the predictions from your BTB writers…
Tom Ryle (3-1-1):
It’s hard to call a game a ‘trap game’ for a 2-2-1 team, but this one worries me a tad. I still think the Cowboys will take care of business on the road.
Cowboys win, 31-23.
Matt Holleran (4-0-1):
When the schedule first came out, I always thought this could be a troublesome game for the Cowboys. I still think that today.
The Panthers aren’t a playoff team, but they are better than the Jets. I think their defensive front will give Dallas fits in the run game and it will be a battle to move the football on the ground. In the end, I see Dallas’ offense making one more big play than Carolina to give them the win.
Give me the Cowboys, 23-20.
Mike Poland (2-2-1):
The Panthers defense have managed to rack up a grand total of 5 sacks this year on defense, that ranks...
