NFL
By: Greg Rector
The Dallas Cowboys (2-0) travel to face the Arizona Cardinals (0-2) next Sunday afternoon. The problem for the Cardinals is the fact the Dallas Cowboys fanbase will be out in full force as they love to travel to Phoenix. Oh and then add in the fact this Dallas Cowboys team is on fire. Let’s look at this match-up.
Dallas Cowboys Offense
As I predicted the Cowboys’ offense was much better at home and outside of the weather they played in week one against the Giants as they manhandled the New York Jets defense for 397 yards of offense. The Arizona Cardinals’ defense is coming off a huge loss to the New York Giants and looked exhausted. I see Brandin Cooks returning to the Cowboys’ wide receivers room next week after he was out against the Jets. If not Jalen Tolbert was just fine as the Cowboys Texas Coast offense looked exactly like head coach Mike McCarthy wanted them to perform.
Tony Pollard carried the ball 25 times for 72 yards and also added 7 receptions for 37 yards. This worries me as I don’t believe he can last an entire season with over 30 touches in a game. I fully expect to see more of Rico Dowdle and Deuce Vaughn get more carries in this next game.
Ceedee Lamb had a huge game against the Jets secondary and I expect to see him with another double-digit catches coming against the Arizona Cardinals. Lamb is proving he is certainly the number-one receiver for the Dallas Cowboys.
Dak Prescott is quieting the Dallas Cowboys fanbase as well in the Texas Coast offense although he was awfully lucky when Sauce Gardner dropped a sure pick-six. Prescott has now gone two games in a row where outside of that one poor pass attempt no one is coming close to getting an interception off of him.
The Cowboys’ offensive line has protected Dak Prescott so well in both games despite not having Tyler Smith playing left guard. I expect Smith to be playing in his first game for the Dallas Cowboys and that will mean they are finally going to be healthy.
Dallas Cowboys Defense
What more can be said of this group? Malik Hooker made up for a bad attack line against Garrett Wilson the only touchdown the Cowboys have allowed in 120 minutes of football. He made up for that mistake later on with an interception when Trevon Diggs was beaten by Wilson on a play later on. This Dallas Cowboys defense is simply manhandling their opponents and for the second straight game, they caused four turnovers.
Josh Dobbs and the Arizona Cardinals offensive line are in for a really long game. Micah Parsons had two sacks and caused the fumble as the Dallas Cowboys’ defense was amazing for the second game in a row. Breece Hall was limited to just 9 yards on four carries and Dalvin Cook had just seven yards on four carries. That makes three awfully good running backs who have been handled amazingly well by the Dallas Cowboys’ defense. Something that brings sheer joy to this long-time fan of the Cowboys.
With defensive coordinator Dan Quinn using Parsons everywhere on the defensive line and he has him standing up no matter where he puts him opens up the holes for the rest of the defensive line. Four other QB hits for Micah Parsons and he is making his case to be the Defensive Player of the Year in this 2023 NFL season.
James Conner is a very good running back and he will need to be limited in order for the Dallas Cowboys defense to create havoc for Josh Dobbs as he will need to become a passer and that’s the last thing the Arizona Cardinals can have happen to them.
My Prediction
The Dallas Cowboys will go 3-0 on the season as they beat up this Arizona Cardinals team by a score of 38 to 13. I’m thoroughly impressed by the way the Dallas Cowboys have played their first two games and I expect nothing more but more of the same performance out of this team.
As always you can find me on X @GregCowboys
