ARLINGTON, TX – The Dallas Cowboys (2-1) are hosting the New England Patriots (1-2) on Sunday afternoon in AT&T Stadium. Kick off is at 3:25 PM CST.
Offensively, this might be a game of runs. Last week New England ran the ball 40+ times led by RB Ezekiel Elliott. This will be Elliott’s first time in AT&T Stadium without a Cowboys jersey on.
“He’s my dog. It’s all love.”, LB Micah Parsons said, “Its always a little different. If you know Zeke, everything is funny to him. We miss his presenece and the joy he brings to the lockerroom. It’s going to be fun to go against him.”
Tony Pollard led the run game last week for Dallas recording his first 100+ yard game. It’s clear that McCarthy likes to run the ball in the red zone and more times than not it’s going to Tony Pollard. Pollard talked after practice on Wednesday about his relationship with Elliott and that he is very excited to see him on Sunday.
“I’m very excited. It’s going to be like a homecoming for him, you know coming back home. I’m looking forward to the challenge. We got to get the dub though but I’m looking forward to it.” Pollard stated.
“That’s my brother at the end of the day. Outside of football and outside of everything. We still communicate and keep in touch so it’s going to be emotions but we are going out there to handle business.” Pollard said.
A difference between these two teams is how they are going to go about protecting the run on Sunday. The Patriots only allowed 38 yards rushing last week to New York and zero passing TD’s. While the Cowboys gave up over 200 yards rushing and three of those runs were 25+ yards. Dallas is going to have to step up their run defense if they want to see a victory on Sunday.
Defensively, QB Dak Prescott is going to have to watch out for no. 9 Matthew Judon. He has recorded four sacks already this season, having recorded at least one per game. Dallas’s offensive line is struggling with injuries this week and will need to hold Judon at bay for their QB. The Cowboys were without Center Tyler Biadasz, RG Zack Martin, and RT Tyron Smith last sunday against the Cardinals. They did not participate in practice on Wednesday but did light work on Thursday. Head Coach Mike McCarthy said it’s day by day with all of them and is not sure at the moment what their game status will be for them on Sunday.
On the Cowboys side, Dallas has one of the best defenses in the league but didn’t show it last week against Arizona. Obviously they took a huge blow after losing Trevon Diggs to a torn ACL for the season but their secondary is going to have to perform and get it together if they want to see wins. Giving up wide open men downfield isn’t going to work in the longrun.
“We were just beating ourselves and obviously the penalties. But everything is getting fixed and we look forward to proving it this week.” Micah Parsons talked about the problems with the defense after practice on Wednesday and stated that all of the problems have been fixed during practice this week and they will have a better outcome this week.
