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Wild Card @ Seattle: What to Watch

Let's cut to the meat of what you need to watch for this Saturday night as we goto Seattle. First off, in the games that we have lost there's one thing in common and that's how the first series on offense and defense do. I guarantee that you will know if we're going to win this game by what we do with the ball on our first offensive series and how we defend the ball on our first defensive stand, its been a domino effect between these two units. If the defense starts the game and gets torched, the offense comes out discouraged and too conservative. If the offense goes 3 and out with minimal gained yardage the defense will come out and give up the score...and then here we go again.

If we go out and do a 3 and out on our first series and then our defense let's them score a td, forget it. The opening drives will show who REALLY wants this game, bar none. This is it, this is the last game for one of these teams. You either play like a champion or you go home. Who's going to have the heart to take this game.

Secondly, the Cowboys will need to watch the dump off passes/screens to Mack Strong, I think Strong has the potential to do some damage like Karney did for New Orleans. Obviously Alexander has the same potential to do damage, but I think a lot of success could come from the unexpected from the Seahawks, clutch plays from the lesser knowns like Strong and the Tight Ends. Holmgren may also utilize the reverse or some sort of trick play against us. We have been horrible in defending the reverse and trick plays.

Thirdly, the middle of the field could be money for the Seahawks. New Orleans, Eagles, and Detroit exploited this in our coverage.

Lastly, the team with the most turnovers WILL lose this game. That means Romo needs to know where the pressure is coming from if he starts to scramble around in the pocket. Throw the ball away don't force passes.

So those are the guts of what needs to happen: First Series on Offense/Defense, Mack Strong and the tight ends on dump offs/screens, reverses, defending the middle of the field, and turnovers.

If we come out move the ball and score and defend the field then I predict the score will be:
Cowboys 27 Seahawks 20

If we come out and everything I discussed gets exploited, then I predict the score will be:
Seahawks 31 Cowboys 17