Photo Courtesy of Project Shanks
The Dallas Cowboys travel to San Diego this weekend to play the Chargers. This is a tale of two teams headed in different directions. The Cowboys (2-1) come in with an offense that is booming and that put up 31 points against the St. Louis Rams last Sunday. Their only loss came against the Kansas City Chiefs, but that game could have been won if there was better clock management by the Cowboys’ coaching staff. The Chargers (1-2) are struggling on both sides of the ball and can’t seem to get things going consistently.
The Chargers fell to the Tennessee Titans late in the game last Sunday. The Chargers were up by four and the Titans had the ball with less than 30 seconds to play. Titans QB Jake Locker dropped back around the Chargers 35-yard line and saw one-one coverage between the Titans Justin Hunter and the Chargers Crezdon Butler. He threw a bullet into the end zone and the Tennessee rookie wide receiver came down with the ball with just 15 seconds to go, giving the Titans the lead 20-17. In recent times the Chargers have had trouble holding onto leads and this doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.
Defensively, the Cowboys appear to be stronger than they were last year. Monte Kiffin has the Cowboys playing more aggressively with his defensive scheme. He has brought his widely imitated “Tampa Cover 2” defense to Dallas and it’s working wonders on a defense that in the past has underachieved. The Chargers are ranked ahead of the Cowboys on defense so far in 2013, but the inconsistent play of Philip Rivers and the Chargers offense are just not giving the D enough points to win games. Remember that the Chargers gave up 24 unanswered points to the Houston Texans in their season opening loss on Monday Night.
Offensively, Tony Romo is proving that he’s worth the massive contract extension he received during the offseason. The Dallas signal caller has thrown six touchdown passes and just one interception so far. His quarterback rating (QBR) is 103.9. Heading into their fourth game of the season, those are very good numbers and the Cowboys couldn’t have asked for better from their high-profile QB. Don’t forget that Romo is putting up these high numbers while nursing injured ribs. He’s playing with pain, and playing well. The Cowboys offensive line seems to finally be playing well together. With this being said, Romo is able to spread the ball around more to his wide receivers Dez Bryant, Miles Austin, and tight end Jason Witten. That’s a really good sign.
Dallas Cowboys vs. San Diego Chargers Week 4 Prediction
Jerry Jones reported that the Cowboys are going to be without defensive end Anthony Spencer for the rest of 2013 (he may need micro-fracture surgery on his left knee). “Here’s a case of a guy you almost have to tie him up to get him off the field,” Jones said of Spencer. “The individual that I have the most empathy for is Spencer because of the type of person he is.” The Cowboys are fortunate to have veteran George Selvie, a late-camp addition who has started the last three games. Even though the loss of Spencer is huge on the defensive side of the ball, I still see the Cowboys easily winning this game.
My prediction on the final score is 30-13.
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