Sunday Countdown (ESPN) picks........

[Pacopete4]

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nflnation?tag=audibles%20nfc%203

Audibles: NFC East Week 3 preview

September 19, 2008 4:20 PM

Posted by ESPN.com's Matt Mosley

Dallas Cowboys (2-0) at Green Bay Packers (2-0), 8:15 p.m. ET


Make no mistake. The Cowboys are going to come after Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers early and often. For the past two games, defensive end Greg Ellis has been asked to drop back in coverage a lot more than usual. That's not going to happen against Rogers. It also helps the Cowboys that Terence Newman appears to be close to full strength. The Packers' receivers are the best in the league at running after the catch.

The Cowboys will try to put pressure on the Packers' secondary from the opening snap. This might sound like NFC East bias, but I smell a blowout. On paper, this is an unbelievable matchup.

But there's no way the Packers can hang with the Cowboys in a shootout, and that's what's going to happen. The Cowboys have some tape on Rodgers now. They played against him last season, and Rodgers played well in relief of an injured Brett Favre. Cowboys roll in this one.



that alone should piss Arod off enough to win this game

[mission]

I think a lot of people in here are so worried about being thought of as homers that that are in denial about how good the home team is.

Myself, I'm conflicted between TWO "home teams"--my favorite against my second favorite. I see Dallas as super strong, too, and this as a battle of probably the two best teams--with possibly, home field advantage the only clear reason to choose one over the other.

I tend to agree with this, but dallas is the "sexy" pick...which is why you would expect all the pundits to go with them.

But that is countered by the fact that GB is the home team and Dallas has never won there. When two teams are as close as GB and Dallas are, pundits go with the home team.

i don't think they're that close. they have us at every position except defense. our only hope is if we can keep their offense off the field as much as possible. we need to get first-down after first-down, eat up the clock, and get points every possession. if it's a three-out-fest our defense will get tired and then toasted. MM can't have another brain-lock in the play calling department.

Oh, just defense? LOL!!!

So which is it? Do they have us or not?

If the offense is CLOSE (which it is! period!) and our defense is better and ST lets just say negligible then um... yeah... nvm.

[gbgary]

i edited my post before your response posted. reread. they have us on offense, by a good margin, and i think we have a slightly better defense but it won't hold up if the offense is hindered by MM's conservative (at times) play calling. as i posted in another thread i think dallas will win 28-20. i'd love to be wrong.

[mission]

i edited my post before your response posted. reread. they have us on offense, by a good margin, and i think we have a slightly better defense but it won't hold up if the offense is hindered by MM's conservative (at times) play calling. as i posted in another thread i think dallas will win 28-20. i'd love to be wrong.

well then i guess i just disagree with your assessment about their offense versus ours in general... after TO, im not worried about anyone at WR and I can count on Romo to turn it over ...

and if our defense is better... man, i dunno...

MM is never conservative in a close game, only when we have the lead and he's tryin to run down the clock. because we CANT run out the clock. we arent that type of team.

[gbgary]

i edited my post before your response posted. reread. they have us on offense, by a good margin, and i think we have a slightly better defense but it won't hold up if the offense is hindered by MM's conservative (at times) play calling. as i posted in another thread i think dallas will win 28-20. i'd love to be wrong.

well then i guess i just disagree with your assessment about their offense versus ours in general... after TO, im not worried about anyone at WR and I can count on Romo to turn it over ...

and if our defense is better... man, i dunno...

MM is never conservative in a close game, only when we have the lead and he's tryin to run down the clock. because we CANT run out the clock. we arent that type of team.

they have a better pass rush but i think we're better at linebacker and especially in the secondary. as for not being able to run out the clock you're right but that's because we're running all the time. it's all about piling up first downs. short passes get first downs too. MM just has to call them...and not just on third down. mix in a pass on first down for crying out loud. i bet it would catch the defense totally by surprise.

[SnakeLH2006]

I can understand. The game is in Lambeau. It doesn't mean much though.

...It really doesn'...I mean we can't win in Dallas...oh wait... till you factor in the Dallas has NEVER beaten Green Bay at Lambeau Field.