This Sunday, two undefeated silver-and-blue juggernauts take the same field to settle the debate over the NFL's best team. What more could a football fan ask for?
Pick your matchup: Tom Brady vs. Tony Romo, T.O. vs. Randy Moss, Jason Witten vs. Ben Watson, and even a tag team match featuring Lawrence Maroney and Sammy Morris against Marion Barber and Julius Jones. CBS's late game this week is a guaranteed fireworks explosion with big-name stars to spare.
So what separates the two teams? Well, a number of things, but the most pressing is defense. In this case, the Pats hold a major edge here as no New England opponent has scored more than 17 points in the five games played thus far. For the Cowboys, they gave up 35 points to the Giants in Week 1 in a memorable Sunday night shootout that marked a new style of Cowboys football (and was sure to make former coach Bill Parcells sick to his stomach viewing powerless from ESPN's studios) .
Coach Wade Phillips has enhanced the team's scoring abilities, while the defense has left a little to be desired. Since then, the 'Boys have played a string of weak teams with inept offenses that does not tell as much about them. The verdict reached: the Cowboys defense is found to be suspect and questionable at best, while Belichick's Pats D remains much the same stalwart it has been.
As for the apparently dead-even offensive units, give the advantage to the Pats here. Bill Belichick's meticulous mind will leave no stone unturned and find more ways to hinder Dallas' passing attack than Phillips will to stop the veteran Pats. The newly rejuvenated Randy Moss (can you say Vince Carter syndrome?) has run wild on every team he's played this year except Cincinnati. When the Bengals threw everything they had at him, Brady simply looked to Ben Watson for two easy scores and the game was not in doubt. Owens has been spectacular, but not quite as dominant, albeit on a very well-balanced offensive attack.
The running game may be tougher to call. While Barber and Jones both have proven steady and consistent over the past two to three years, Maroney still has something to prove. Was he simply a 2006 flash in the pan? With Morris brought in and getting more carries, Maroney has not exactly taken command of the running game. So essentially Dallas knows what they're getting out of their runners. New England, even though they know themselves and their opponents better than anyone, may not.
What about Belichick's hidden camera show, you ask? Well the jury is out on if he has other unknown methods of trickery, but the Pats cannot effectively do to the Cowboys (or any NFC team for that matter) what they did to the Jets. In the now-infamous Spygate contest, the Pats were essentially matching up the Jets' coaching signals with the game situation (down and distance, time on the clock) so they would know what to look for later on in the season in their second meeting or beyond that. Because any given NFC and AFC teams can only meet once every four years, that strategy would not work. With that said, if the Patriots were still cheating at this point, it would be a shame: New England is too talented and Belichick too smart to have to resort to such petty and trivial violations of both rules and trust.
Was the thrilling MNF win for Dallas a significant bump in the road? A chink in the armor? In a word, no. Dallas simply fell asleep at the wheel and woke up in time to slam on the breaks for the red light. No damage was done. They'll be smarter next time. Tony Romo is better than 5 INTs in one game, and he showed it in the final moments of Monday's spectacular finish. Psychologically, the Cowboys should gain more from their narrow escape from that Buffalo ambush more than anything.
And lastly, to the winner goes the opportunity of an undefeated season. So which team would have a better shot at it? Certainly not any team residing in the NFC East. Yes, the NFC is the ugly stepsister and the Giants, Eagles, and Redskins all had have mediocrity stamped on their foreheads at one time or another, and that's being kind. However, in that division, every game is a rivalry game; every team hates each other. Under those conditions, there is no such thing as a guaranteed win. The Cowboys still have five more divisional contests left to play.
The Pats' division is much weaker, and with less animosity. Bills, Dolphins, and Jets? Please. If New England wins, the Pats only have to fear their scheduled games against the Colts on November 4 inside the RCA Dome, and against the Steelers at home a month later. Any other remaining team would have to play the game of their lives just to stand a chance.
In my final analysis, I would pick New England to prevail by a 31-28 score. The game should feature plenty of long TD passes and perhaps maybe an overtime. Dallas' home-field advantage may still loom large and lift the 'Boys that extra score, so stay tuned, folks. This one is guaranteed to be better viewing than Game 3 of the NLCS this Sunday.
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