Anybody's Guess...

Ok, ok... Dallas did win against Tampa Bay and are now 5-3, and I had wrongly figured them to go 4-4 in my 'Scratching Records' post, which was a rundown prediction for the rest of the season (if you didn't read it, scroll down). Maybe being wrong so soon will teach me to stop making predictions and just watch each game for what it is, and take it week to week so I enjoy it more and I won't be disappointed...

Nah!

It's time to redo my 'Scratching Records..." feature, and maybe I'll try to make this a weekly thing, since so much can change at any given second in the NFL.


- Week 9 @ NY Giants -

This is still going to be a tough battle... it doesn't matter that Dallas just beat Tampa Bay... The Giants are arguably the best team in the league and certainly in the NFC. I honestly don't see Brad Johnson being able to put up more points than Eli Manning.

If the defense can play even better than last week, they do have a shot. It may take a defensive or special teams touchdown or two to make this game winnable for The Cowboys, and that's tough to do for any team. Unfortunately I'm going to say Dallas will get knocked down a notch and be 5-4 going into the bye.

- Week 11 @ Washington -

Recently, there has been concerns that some of the injured starters may not be healthy enough to even play in this game.

Will Tony Romo's pinkie be healed and will it have enough strength in just 2 weeks? Will Felix Jones rehab enough from his hamstring injury and will he be just as fast and agile when he returns? Terence Newman has had 3 pretty bad injuries in just 2 seasons, he may not be back and if he is, will he be in top form? Jason Witten is questionable this week with his cracked rib, is 2 weeks enough for him to adjust and heal?

Washington is winning games, but I expect the bye to be beneficial for Dallas. Despite the questions they face, I believe they have a good shot to rest up and better prepare for the final stretch. They should be able to make a statement and go 6-4, splitting the Redskins series.

- Week 12 vs San Fransisco -

San Fransisco is certainly not a team to take lightly, but they have been having many controversies recently. Among the many head coach changes in the league this year, the 49ers head coach Mike Nolan was fired last week and replaced by defensive coordinator and hall of famer Mike Singletary.

In this past Sunday's game, the change of coach didn't provide the spark that St. Louis received from a coach change, and the 49ers lost to Seattle by 21 points. Not only that but Singletary also threw Vernon Davis out of the game for drawing a penalty, demonstrating his coaching style as a tyranical veteran, who is as tough to his players as he used to be with his enemies. They are in a transitional period right now, and as long as more of Dallas' starters are playing, they should be able to advance to 7-4.

- Week 13 vs Seattle -

This game will probably be labeled as Julius Jones' revenge on the team that cut him. I think that Dallas' defense will benefit more from knowing Julius than he will from knowing the defense. Besides all that, it's the Thanksgiving Day game... Romo should definitely be back by now and connecting well with T.O. and also have a nice rhythm with Roy Williams. Dallas 8-4.

- Week 14 @ Pittsburgh -

I would be willing to go as far as say that Pittsburgh is currently the second best team in the AFC. They continue to dominate with their defense and if they head down the same path they're on now, their offense very slowly improves week to week. Their offensive line is not doing the best job, but it's hard to see them getting much worse.

Dallas' offense is explosive when it's firing on all cylinders and I would hope Dallas could win, but it's at Heinz Field, so unless something major happens to either team, I'd have to say that Dallas loses and goes 8-5 here.

- Week 15 vs NY Giants -

I even said it during my last 'Scratching Records,' but it's way to early to even predict 2 weeks ahead, so even doing this breakdown is ridiculous and pointless. I will however hope that The Giants collapse in the final stretch and The Cowboys shine. 9-5 Woo Hoo!!

- Week 16 vs Baltimore -

Saturday game on NFL Network... Cowboys love the spotlight... Baltimore has it's moments, but let's hope that The Ravens can't take the pressure of the almighty Boys. 10-5.

- Week 17 @ Philadelphia -

There may be a lot on the line at this point in the season. Last year we had already earned homefield advantage in the playoffs, so we didn't play the starters much at all.

This year will probably be a totally different story. Going into Philly for the last game of the year, with a possible shot at either a Division title or a Wildcard spot or whatever, on the line... very exciting.

The Cowboys haven't been very good the last few years in Decemeber, so it's time to prove they can turn it around this year. I gotta be pessimistic and say they lose though, 10-6 but they do make the playoffs.


These predictions are biased, wishful thinking and absolutely should not be used for gamblers looking to get action. Maybe I'll do that in another weekly feature... hmm...

Week 8 Recap - vs Tampa Bay

It happened, it finally happened. Dallas fell out of their slump and won a very tough match-up against The Bucs. 13-9 was the final score and that pretty much sums up how the game went.

It was a tough defensive struggle for both teams, but ultimately it was the Dallas 'D' that made the plays when it mattered. It also didn't hurt that Tampa Bay made four very critical errors that led to the only touchdown of the game, which, by the way, was made by newly acquired wideout, Roy Williams on a two yard fade.

Not only was it a good day for Williams, but a lot of newly acquired and newly starting players made a big impact in this game.

Sam Paulescu, who is replacing injured Mat McBriar, set the mood for the game with a devastating tackle to the kick returner which riled up the crowd and The 'Boys.

Rookies Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick, who eventually had to start when Anthony Henry got injured in the 3rd quarter, showed significant improvement this week and allowed only 3 field goals instead of touchdowns. Scandrick, in particular, made such a statement that he's already been given a starting spot, even when Anthony Henry and Terence Newman return from injury.

Which brings me to my next topic, the injury bug that continues to infest this team. Anthony Henry and Jason Witten were knocked out of the game. Witten was out because of a cracked rib. He left in the 2nd quarter and tried to return early in the 3rd but couldn't tolerate the pain and had to stay on the bench. Henry was sidelined because of a bruised quad that he injured in the 3rd quarter. Both players are highly questionable for next week.

And of course, speaking of next week, Dallas will travel to New Yor... oops, I mean, Jersey, and do their best against the 6-1 Giants. It's definitely not going to be an easy task with an offense led by Brad Johnson, but if they play error free football, if the defense can step up like they did against Tampa Bay, and if they can manage a few more plays than The Giants, they might have a chance.

Of course, being 8 1/2 point underdogs, the chances of victory might be more slim than we can hope for. The Giants are Super Bowl Champs and resting at a comfortable 6-1 record for a reason. They are good, damn good.

The one thing we can certainly look at positively is the fact that The Cowboys will go into the bye with at least a winning record of 5-4. If they can miraculously claim victory, they will advance to 6-3.

After the bye week, a large majority of injured players are expected to return, including Tony Romo, Felix Jones and Terence Newman. The full details of their rehabbing isn't known, so time will tell if everyone will be completely ready for week 11 in Washington. Until then, The Giants are the main objective, and you can bet they aren't going to play soft.

Week 8 Preview - vs Tampa Bay

It's time to regroup. Wade Phillips will be taking a more hands on approach to the defense. There may be certain personnel changes, and a 'back to basics' approach to the schemes. The players know they are in an absolute must-win situation with these next two games against Tampa Bay and The Giants. The worst thing would be to fall 4-5 going into the bye week. Hopefully they are going to do everything they can to avoid that fate.

The question now, is it too late? After the loss in Washington, similar things were mentioned about stepping up their game and how important it is to come together. Well, they didn't and they barely beat Cincinnati the next week, and then lost to Arizona the week after that. That was with Tony Romo, Felix Jones and Pacman Jones still playing.

Now without Romo, Felix Jones, Pacman and others, the Brad Johnson led offense coupled with a defense missing some key starters, fell victim to The Rams in a pathetic fashion. Now this week they will have basically the same players on the field and they have to play the 5-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Bucs have been playing great football, and they haven't been playing bad teams either. They managed victories against Chicago, Green Bay and Carolina, and only lost to New Orleans and Denver (barely.) Last week they won against Seattle with Jeff Garcia who threw for over 300 yards. They are definitely hot right now.

It's going to be a challenge for Dallas to come together, despite injuries & miscues and beat this Tampa Bay team, but right now they must. It's crucial that they come out of these next two games with at least 1 win. The Giants game is in New York, so this may be The Cowboys best chance at victory.

Scratching Records...

After a week of controversy with injuries, suspensions and trades, things only got worse for The Dallas Cowboys as they were devastated 34-14 against The St. Louis Rams. Although having a 4-3 record doesn't sound too horrible, the fact that the 3 losses were in the last 4 games, is troublesome.

Another thing to be concerned about is that Dallas is in the NFC East, which is arguably the best division in the league and are now trailing the 5-1 Giants and the 5-2 Redskins.

It's time to start calculating the possibility of a wild card berth, and with the upcoming schedule The Cowboys face, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

- Week 8 - vs Tampa Bay

Not going to be easy at all. Tony Romo, Felix Jones, Terence Newman and a few other starters are expected to be absent, which won't help things at all. Tampa Bay is hot right now, and will certainly bring everything they can to Dallas. Unfortunately, I see 4-4 after this match-up.

- Week 9 - @ NY Giants

A win here will be a miracle. If the starters are still out, and if The Giants are healthy, I'm afraid Dallas will go 4-5 heading into the bye.

- Week 11 - @ Washington

A lot of injured players are expected to return this week, including Tony Romo, Felix Jones, Terence Newman, Kyle Kosier and Pat Watkins. If Dallas can tighten up the mistakes and execute like an NFL team, they could get to 5-5.

- Week 12 - vs San Fransisco

San Fransisco could go either way depending on how they continue their season. It sounds like an easy win, but so did The Rams. I'll be optimistic and say 6-5.

- Week 13 - vs Seattle

Thanksgiving Day is usually a good game for Dallas, and barring any further injuries, everyone should be back in and hopefully the team will strengthen by then. I'm still having the most wishful thoughts and saying 7-5.

- Week 14 - @ Pittsburgh

This is a rivalry game of sorts and begins the December games, which haven't been very pretty the past two seasons. The Steelers are one of just 3 AFC teams with only 1 loss so far, and they seem to have the winner's mentality that Dallas has lacked recently. I predict 7-6.

- Week 15 - vs NY Giants

It's probably far too early to continue predicting these late games, but if everything continues how it is now, I see 7-7 after this.

- Week 16 - vs Baltimore

A Saturday, NFL Network game. Hopefully Dallas will put together the pieces and be ready to roll for this game. 8-7.

- Week 17 - @ Philadelphia

The final game of the regular season, it could very well be a a do or die match-up to get into the playoffs. I really can't even come close to guessing how this season will end, but I'll be optimistic again and say 9-7 and Dallas will just barely get into the playoffs (pending on a lot of other teams failing majorly.)

That's about as positive a spin I can put on this. There's a lot that would have to happen for this scenario to play out. The coaching needs improved, the players need discipline, they also need to execute better and avoid mental mistakes.

One thing they can't control are injuries, and we'll just have to cross our fingers that no more key players are lost. This team needs to get really hungry if they want to keep playing in January, and I can only think that going 3-1 in 4 weeks will get these players hungry again.

Week 7 Recap - @ St. Louis

Dallas was absolutely embarrassed on Sunday. Nothing went right, everybody made mistakes and the crucial penalties were the only consistent thing from The Cowboys. The final score was 34-14, but probably should have been 34-7 if it wasn't for a garbage time Dallas TD by rookie Martellus Bennett in the final 2 minutes of play.

The Rams came to play, and new head coach Jim Hasslett helped these guys get revenge on Dallas. It was payback for Steven Jackson not being drafted in 2004 and for Dallas routing St. Louis even worse last year (35-7.) It was ugly, and The Rams showing up to play was only half of the problem.

Dallas didn't show up to do anything. It's not even fair to blame the injuries, because the simple mistakes all around were more than enough to lose this game.

Sure, everyone wants to blame Brad Johnson for throwing the 3 interceptions, but we can't forget Marion Barber's fumble and Anthony Henry getting beat on that deep ball, and the O-Line's recent inability to protect the quarterback, and newly signed punter Sam Paulescu's short punt, and Nick Folk's missed field goal in the 3rd quarter which would have brought Dallas within 10 points. Add all that together and it spells L-O-S-S.

Besides the score, S Roy Williams was lost again, this time for the season. Williams was returning for the first time since breaking his forearm, and early in this game broke the same arm, in a different spot. This time he'll go to I.R. and Dallas will need to scour free agency for a safety real quick.

Next week against Tampa Bay, things don't look much better. There is a possibility that Romo, Felix Jones and Terence Newman will still be out. Couple that with the fact Dallas' defense just allowed 34 points and the offense barely reached 14 points. Not to mention the coaching staff is now seriously making people question their leadership.

The sky really might be falling this time and if Dallas doesn't get some kind of divine intervention and go at least 5-4 heading into the bye, the final stretch of the season will be near impossible...

The Name Game

I told you it was early in the day when I last posted, as The Cowboys did do something notable and signed free agent LB Carlos Polk, who spent his career as a San Diego Charger but has barely completed a whole season due to various injuries. He is a special teams... umm... specialist, and will hopefully play a big role in solving some of Dallas' special team woes. He will fill the empty spot in the roster left by Sam Hurd being placed on I.R.

The signing of Roy Williams and now Polk, has also brought to my attention a very interesting but insignificant bit of trivial fact. The Cowboys this year have a multitude of players with the same or similar names (thankfully they have numbers on their jerseys, or this would be one confusing organization.)

Let's see, they have Leonard Davis and Keith Davis... Brad Johnson and Tank Johnson... Felix Jones, Adam Jones (pending,) and Jerry Jones... Carlos Polk and Nick Folk... Wade Phillips and Wade Wilson and of course, Roy Williams and well, Roy Williams, and that doesn't include all of the family members of Jerry Jones, Wade Phillips and Jason Garret that work for this team.

Does this mean anything? No, just thought it was funny.

I'm guessing there won't be too much more news for the day except Thursday's practice, which I don't post about on here anyway, so I'll try to post a Dallas/St. Louis Preview later, but if I don't get around to it, I'll see you at the Recap. PEACE

UPDATE:

Another pointless observation that proves I have too much time on my hands are the interesting names of the NFL teams themselves. There are 6 teams that begin with "B", there are 5 that begin with "C", there are 4 "R's", 3 "S's" and "P's" and 2 "J's", "F's", & "T's". There's also a "D", "G", "E", "L" and a "V", but really, who cares about them.

14 teams are named after animals, 12 teams are named after certain groups, gangs or races of people throughout history, 1 is named after the team's first coach and GM, 1 is named after a group of mythical humongous people, 1 is named after an airplane, 1 is named after its' city's main export, 1 is named after the packing company that first sponsored them and as for The Chargers, I have no clue where they got that name.

Wild and Wacky Week

It has certainly been a dizzying week. Most of the week was filled with losses. Sunday, the loss was to The Cardinals in overtime. On Monday, the loss was Tony Romo for 4 weeks, Felix Jones for 2-4 weeks, Sam Hurd and Mat McBriar for the season and Anthony Spencer for at least a week. On Tuesday, the loss was Adam "Pacman" Jones, for at least 4 weeks of suspension because of his off-field antics.

Tuesday, however, also marked the beginning of a new era for The Cowboys as they just barely made the trade deadline and acquired WR Roy Williams and a 7th round pick from Detroit. In exchange Dallas will hand over a 1st, 3rd and 6th round pick. Roy Williams will provide a very suitable complement to Terrell Owens and will make defenses think twice about how to handle this offense.

Along with Williams, another new Cowboy joined the 53 main roster on Tuesday. To replace punter Mat McBriar, Sam Paulescu was hired. Paulescu was around for last year's training camp and spent this past summer with The Saints and The Vikings, but remained a free agent so far this season.

Wednesday brought news that Brett Favre had called Tony Romo, and encouraged him to play through the pain. Romo must have taken his advice and is telling his coaches that he is willing to play on Sunday against The Rams. That decision will ultimately come from Wade Phillips and the medical staff. The Cowboys have gone forward and had Brad Johnson under center during practice, and more than likely, Johnson will get the start.

Thursday has been relatively calm in terms of Cowboys' news, which is a much needed break after such a rollercoaster of a week, but hey, it is still early.

Sunday at 1 p.m., Dallas will travel to St. Louis and it doesn't matter if it's Romo or Johnson, they will be shooting for a win anyway they can. St. Louis has just defeated The Redskins, and they may be hunting for NFC East teams, but if Dallas can pull it together, they should easily sail to 5-2, of course I said the same thing for the Washington and Arizona games, so who knows. After this week, I'm just sitting back and watching this soap opera develop.

Positive Tailspin

I have to admit that it's tough to spin this loss in a positive way. Not only have The Cowboys fallen victim to 2 of the last 3 teams they played, they have also fallen victim to the injury bug, and apparently, when it rains... it pours.

- Tony Romo broke his pinky... out 4 weeks.

- Felix Jones and Anthony Spencer strained their hamstrings... 2-4 weeks.

- Mat McBriar fractured his foot... IR.

- Sam Hurd re-injured his ankle... IR.

- Terence Newman's sports hernia problems... 3 weeks.

- Roy Williams, Kyle Kosier & Pat Watkins... 2-3 weeks.

- Pacman's suspension status... undecided.

The question now: Is there a silver lining in these dark clouds?

If all these problems don't put the much needed spark under this team's ass, I don't know what will. The camp cupcake, cocky Hard Knock superstars are learning the hard way that it takes much more than great odds in Vegas to actually get to The Super Bowl.

Dallas now has to put together all that talent, bring some furious hunger and dig out of the quick-sand that they let themselves slip into, and they have to do it with all of those key players sitting on the bench.

Brad Johnson will now lead the offense with his west coast flavor. Definitely not a bad veteran backup to have, he knows this offense well, and although he prefers to dink and dunk there are a lot of playmakers on this team that have YAC up the Ying Yang.

I have confidence that all of the players can step up and finally prove to themselves that they can pull together as a team when they truly need to. There is no better time for it to happen.
Before the season even started, this team was expected to go 16-0, and even in their early wins, they were not doing it impressively enough. The fans' tune will drastically change and now every win, no matter how ugly, will be a miracle.

4-2 is ok for now, and if they can somehow squeeze out 6-3 going into the bye, then they're in pretty good shape. This once thought "easy" stretch of Arizona, St. Louis and Tampa Bay sure looks a lot different up close.

Week 6 Recap - @ Arizona

First of all, I now regret my 'tongue in cheek' post about how The Cowboys are God's favorite team. If that's true, God can take away even more than he can giveth. Hmm, maybe God is a Tennessee Titan fan the way their season is going.

Anyway, I am going to be brief in my recap of this game, not because it was a heartbreak of a loss (it was) and not because it is hard to re-live (it is,) but I will be brief because I already have about 3 more blog entries mapped out in my head that I'm ready to start writing.

So, here we go. The Cowboys lost 30-24, and became the first team in NFL history to lose a game in overtime from a blocked punt returned for a touchdown.

Patrick Crayton, Miles Austin and Marion Barber all got in the end zone, with Barber's 70 yard catch and run being the most impressive score of the afternoon (it was mostly YAC.)

T.O.'s biggest moment of the game happened on the sidelines, when he was very vocally critizing Andre Gurode for allowing a lost fumble

Felix Jones rushed for just 22 yards before he had to take a seat on the bench with a hamstring injury of some sort.

Marion Barber led in receptions and receiving yards with 11 for 128 yards and only 45 yards in 17 carries.

Nick Folk had the worst game of his career with a kickoff returned for a touchdown, a missed 37 yard field goal and a kickoff out of bounds. He did make up for his woes by kicking the 52 yarder that sent the game into overtime.

All in all, it was an ugly loss and all of the ugly wins should not have been taken for granted. The mistakes have finally caught up to them. Sure, Dallas is 4-2... which is a lot better than 21 other teams in the league, but it's only week 6, and with all of the injuries that happened in Arizona (which I'll get to in detail in my next post,) it's not going to be as easy as many once predicted. Stay tuned... anything can and will happen in the NFL.

Week 5 Preview - @ Arizona

Dallas goes on the road again, traveling to The University of Phoenix Stadium for Sunday's 4:15 p.m. matchup against The Arizona Cardinals. With all that has been going on this week, the game itself has been almost forgotten.

Of course, I'm referring to all of the media hype about Adam "Pacman" Jones and a fight with his own security guard at an upscale Dallas hotel. Police were called to the scene, but nobody pressed charges and so far, it appears that The Cowboys will not take any disciplinary actions.

The official word from Jerry Jones himself is that it was a friendly 'back and forth' between Jones and his bodyguard that took a wrong turn, a little fight broke out but just as quickly was resolved. It was not a big deal and it was overblown because of Pacman's past history of trouble.

That story may be true and it was just a minor incident between friends clowning around, or it may be strickly a PR spin since Dallas is worried about the ever-thinning depth at cornerback, which now could be without Terence Newman for 4-6 weeks.

Regardless, it appears as though Pacman will play this game against The Cardinals. If the Commissioner decides to take any action, it won't be until next week, at least. Roger Goodell would like to take his time and get all the facts before he decides on anything. Jerry Jones is very influencial in all things NFL, so hopefully Goodell will take Jerry's word and let it slide... until the next problem arises, that is.

Anyway, there is a football game on Sunday, and hopefully all these off field incidents will not distract The Cowboys. Kurt Warner is leading The Cardinals offense very well, and I believe that they are rated 3rd or 4th in the league in overall offense.

As long as The Cowboys don't get distracted, can attack with an effective pass rush, and don't make mistakes, they should win this game. Let's go Cowboys, C'MON!!

Week 5 Recap - vs. Cincinnati - Heaven on Turf

If there was any doubt that The Cowboys' biggest fan is the one and only God, it was evident on Sunday as The Cowboys hosted The Bengals. They said that the hole in the roof of Texas Stadium was there so God could watch his team play. They also say God has quite the sense of humor. I will attempt to break down all the divine interventions in this game which ended, Dallas 31, Cincinnati 22.

Exhibit A: Fans have been utterly baffled by the lack of interceptions this season and people were starting to worry. The prayers of Dallas fandom were miraculously answered on the first play from scrimmage when an overthrown pass from Carson Palmer landed directly into the hands of Greg Ellis. It was almost embarrassing that Dallas and Detroit were the only two teams not to have an interception this year, but fate stepped in and resolved that problem.

Exhibit B: The 33 yard touchdown run by Felix Jones on a 4th and 4. He looked like he was walking on water. Need I say more.

Exhibit C: God's sick sense of humor came out when The Bengals scored 16 unanswered points and brought The Bengals 2 points away from the lead. Throw in a surprise onside kick attempt by Cincinnati and things looked dreadful for a while.

Exhibit D: Terrell Owens, who had even less catches and throws than last week, caught a pass and ran for a 57 yard touchdown, keeping 'The Boys in the lead, 24-16. After the game, T.O. claimed that it was God's glory that was working through him to make that play. Interesting...

Exhibit E: After The Bengals scored a touchdown late in the 4th quarter, they attempted to tie up the game with a 2 point conversion that was beautifully broken up by 3rd string SS Keith Davis, who is playing for Roy Williams and Pat Watkins, both out for injury.

Exhibit F: There was 1:59 left in the game, Dallas is at the Cincinnati 15 and it's 3rd and 11. The score is 24-22 and if they only managed a field goal, it would still give The Bengals a slim shot at victory. The same kind of miracle that began the game also ended the game, as Romo passed to his left trying to hit Miles Austin. Patrick Crayton was coming from the other direction and when the ball came at Austin it bounced off his fingertips, right over the two corners' head and into the arms of Crayton. Touchdown! Cowboys 31 Bengals 22 and with 1:52 left to play, that spectacular catch pretty much put the game away.

It wasn't a pretty win, but God likes drama. Ocho Cinco's wishes were denied, as he finished with just 3 catches for 43 yards, no touchdown and no kissing of the star. His romantic affair with Dallas will have to wait for another day.

Chris Perry and newly acquired Cedric Benson were held to about 30 yards a piece, proving that Dallas' run defense is back to top form after slipping and allowing Washington to rush over 150 yards last week.

It was far from the prettiest of wins, but it is a 'W' and it puts the Cowboys in a good position at 4-1 and there are only 4 other teams in the NFC with records as good. Unfortunately 2 of those 4 are in the NFC East and we've already lost to one of them, but 'The Boys are still in a good spot.

The skeptics will cast doubt that although winning, it isn't enough. They will shout about the fumbles and interceptions. They will cry about how Dallas only picked the ball once in 5 games. They will criticize the off field comments of players & coaches and they will continue to expect perfect games every time.

Unfortunately, this game of football is not very predictable and it's probably more wise to hope for the best and expect the worst. Although not pretty, they are winning, and wins are what gets you in the playoffs. Remember that God backs this team, and that's a 12th man I can have faith in.

Last Minute Updates

- Terence Newman's groin injury from pre-season is bothering him again, and he is now listed as questionable on the injury report.

- Andre Gurode rolled his ankle in practice earlier this week but is expected to start.

- Montrae Holland, who was supposed to get some action in last week's game, before it became a game of catch-up, should make his first appearance against The Bengals, relieving Cory Proctor at left guard.

- Roy Williams is still not healthy and Pat Watkins is doubtful for Sunday, which means they'll be rotating Keith Davis and Courtney Brown at safety.

- The Cowboys are still yet to intercept the ball. In fact, in the entire league, Dallas is only better than The Detroit Lions in turnovers.

- Carson Palmer fully participated in practice Friday and is expected to start.

- Recently re-signed wide receiver Chris Henry is also expected to play, which could create more problems in The Cowboys lackluster secondary.

- Chad Ocho Cinco seems dead set on scoring a touchdown and kissing the star as a, "sign of respect." If this goes down, not everyone will be entertained and I can almost predict a scuffle and penalty flags galore.

- The Bengals have also recently signed Cedric Benson, as Kenny Watson is now released and Chris Perry is dealing with a hamstring injury.

Cincinnati Preview

On Sunday afternoon, Dallas will welcome the struggling Bengals to Texas Stadium. Now it's true that Cincinnati is an 0-4 team, having fallen victim to Baltimore, Tennessee, The Giants and Cleveland, but they can't be overlooked.

Baltimore and Tennessee have amazing defenses, so that's a tough start for any team. The Giants game came down to the wire in overtime, they easily could be 1-3... as a matter of fact, they could be 2-2 if Carson Palmer wasn't on the bench for the Cleveland game.

Ocho Cinco even gave reporters some fodder as he declared (in jest, or not) how they will throw everything they got at The Cowboys and finally show the world that they aren't an 0-4 team. He went as far as to claim that when he makes a touchdown he will take off his helmet and kiss the star on the field, happily taking the penalty yards and fine.

In a sense, it is frightening to play an 0-4 team. They are due a win and they are definitely better than their record. They also have the capable firepower to ignite at any moment, all they need is some rhythm.

I'm hoping they don't get their groove back in Dallas. Sure, it'll be sad to see such a good team go 0-5, but at the risk of being 3-2, I won't feel that bad. The rest of Cowboy Nation wouldn't be able to take it either.

To some of the fair-weather and/or die-hard fans, it seemed like it was the end of the world after Sunday's loss to The Redskins, imagine 2 loses in a row!! The sky would surely fall and all civilization would be wiped out. The flames of hell would erupt and consume the earth from the north pole to south pole while demons would inhabit the souls of any living thing that could still breathe, causing a never ending purgatory of distress, fear and agony.... Or not.

Dallas let one slip away against Washington, but these Cowboys are still one of the best in the league. The play-makers are there, the coaching (with the exception of last week) is there and the hunger is there, and if the 3-0 start filled their stomachs, the 26-24 loss to our arch rival has made them hungry again, and I expect nothing but high octane action on both Dallas' offense and defense.

They won't take Cincinnati lightly, and they will be better prepared for battle. They don't like that foul taste of defeat in their mouth, so it's time to spit it out and take a sip of victory again. It's on! Let's go Dallas, Let's go... LETS GO!