Dallas Cowboys @ Cleveland Browns (9/7/08, 3:15PM CST)

[u2sarajevo]

Dallas at Cleveland

Originally Posted by Info

TV: FOX (local Ch. 11)
Time: 3:15PM
Line: Dallas by 5.5

(STATS LLC) -- As "America's team," the Dallas Cowboys have long been accustomed to the glare of the national spotlight.

Though Super Bowl expectations, a cast of big-name players with checkered pasts and the filming of a reality show about the team made that spotlight as bright as ever coming into this season, the Cowboys appear determined to keep their focus on the football field.

After a relatively calm offseason given the circumstances, the Cowboys look to take their first step toward a third consecutive playoff berth -- and a more successful finish -- as they visit the Cleveland Browns in each team's season opener Sunday.

Dallas has a long list of potential distractions. Wide receiver Terrell Owens is no stranger to drama, quarterback Tony Romo has become a tabloid staple and offseason acquisition Adam "Pacman" Jones is returning to the NFL after a 17-month suspension for his connection in a shooting at a Las Vegas strip club in 2007 -- his sixth arrest since he was drafted in 2005.

All that, combined with the fact that the team was the focus of HBO's "Hard Knocks" reality show during training camp, seemed like the perfect storm for a tumultuous offseason. But the Cowboys have more important things on their mind after matching a franchise record with 13 wins last season, only to lose their sixth straight playoff game 21-17 at home against the division rival and eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

"That's just the mentality of this team this year," said Owens, who was fifth in the league with 1,355 receiving yards and third with 15 touchdowns last season. "We obviously didn't finish the season the way we wanted to last year. This is another opportunity, another year, to erase those negative thoughts."

The team credits coach Wade Phillips for its ability to ignore the distractions and concentrate on football.

"He said it the first day, 'It's going to be a little bit of a circus with a lot going on. But check your egos at the door, come in here and come to work,'" said tight end Jason Witten, one of 13 Pro Bowl selections back from last year.

"I've been pleasantly surprised with how well it has gone. ... For the most part, everybody knows what we have going, the perception of who we are. We're eager to get out on the field."

That's where the Cowboys shined last season, particularly on offense. Dallas ranked third in the league with 365.7 total yards per game, and second with 455 points scored en route to the top seed in the NFC.

The defense didn't disappoint either, holding opponents to an average of 307.6 yards, ninth-fewest in the NFL.

Those numbers, however, do little to console a Dallas team that's tied an NFL record by losing six straight playoff games dating to 1996. This year's Cowboys are confident they'll have another opportunity to snap that skid this winter.

"We feel like we are that good and we belong in those games," said Romo, a two-time Pro Bowl selection who was third in the league with 4,211 passing yards and second with 36 touchdowns in 2007. "We belong in those situations and we are going to try to put ourselves in that situation for the next decade. And if we can, we'll eventually break through."

That quest starts against the Browns, who like the Cowboys, are hoping to bounce back from a bitter end to the 2007 season. After going 4-12 in 2006, Cleveland broke through for 10 wins last year -- the team's highest total since it went 11-5 in 1994 -- but failed to make the playoffs in the competitive AFC.

"We are disappointed that we didn't reach the playoffs, however, we had a good year," coach Romeo Crennel said after the team beat San Francisco 20-7 in the season finale. "We've learned a lot, grown a lot and look forward to continuing to build on what we've accomplished this season."

Also like Dallas, Crennel's club did most of its damage on offense, ranking eighth in total yards (351.3) and points (402) behind a breakout season from quarterback Derek Anderson, who passed for 3,787 yards and 29 TDs.

Anderson suffered a concussion Aug. 18, but returned to practice Monday and is expected to start the opener. He'll likely have one of his favorite targets back in the lineup as well, as receiver Braylon Edwards also returned to practice Monday after missing three weeks with a severely cut foot.

Edwards caught 80 passes for 1,289 yards and 16 touchdowns last season.

While the return of some high profile players should help Cleveland's offense, the Browns hope to get a similar boost from some new additions on defense after ranking 30th by giving up 359.6 yards per game in 2007. The team addressed that weakness by adding nose tackle Shaun Rogers and defensive tackle Corey Williams in the offseason.

"Everyone is excited that they're here," said linebacker Willie McGinest, who plans to retire following this season -- his 15th in the league. "We know what they can do. They're very high-level players and should complement the guys that are already here."

McGinest hopes that improvement on defense can push the Browns over the hump and into the postseason.

"I think it's doable," he said. "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We don't want to be a team that's talking playoffs and all this and we come out and get our butts kicked. It's the one-game-at-a-time, one-week-at-a-time approach.

"Of course we have goals. We want to win our division. We want to go to the playoffs. Everybody knows that. But we're not going to be talking about all that stuff. Our goal is to beat Dallas on Sept. 7. Right now, that's it."

Cleveland lost its last game against Dallas 19-12 on the road Sept. 19, 2004 -- the teams' first meeting in nearly 10 years.

[Flacolaco]

I'm really surprised by this line. I bet you this is a double play from Norm tomorrow.

[dirno2000]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

I'm really surprised by this line. I bet you this is a double play from Norm tomorrow.

Which way? Seems like a reasonable line to me.

[Flacolaco]

Really? I think Dallas will win by more than that...a lot more. Hasn't cleveland had a lot of pre-season injuries? Their starters haven't even played much together from what I hear.

[dirno2000]

Week One is always iffy but I'd say that making a team that can score like the Browns a 5 point home dog should keep the action even on both sides. Especially when you remember that they were 7-1 at home last year. That's a tough place to play.

[Underdog]

Chasing Big Brown
Cowboys 'D' Must Limit Cleveland's Largest Horse

link


Remember this off-season when Cowboys safety Roy Williams was talking about man-to-man coverage?

He told Michael Irvin's radio show listeners, "I will admit at times, when I had one-on-one situations and you're head up on a tight end or a receiver that can go left or right, it's tough . . . Sometimes you just hope they don't throw the ball your way."

Well, Williams might as well have been talking about this week's 3:15 p.m. (CDT) game in Cleveland. It's a good bet the Browns will do everything they can to match up Williams against their big, athletic tight end with the all-world pedigree, Kellen Winslow II.

"They split him out anyway," Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said. "They play two tight ends and he's the receiving tight end."

And as Phillips will tell you, he's pretty good at it. After being hurt most of his first two years in the league, Winslow has blossomed into the type of player Cleveland expected. He caught 89 balls for 875 yards and three touchdowns in 2006, and 82 balls for 1,106 yards and five scores in '07, earning his first trip to the Pro Bowl.

"One-on-One, he's very adept at pushing off - I mean getting open," Phillips joked. "But really, he's a first-round pick and he was a good first-round pick at that position. He's quicker than his dad was. He's more of a pass-receiving, quicker-type tight end than his dad was. They're a little different I think, but both of them are Pro Bowl caliber players."

The toughest matchup of the week will be when the Browns come out on first or second down with two wide receivers, two running backs and Winslow, because it begs the Cowboys to play their base defense. Cleveland could then split Winslow out wide, forcing Williams or a linebacker to cover him in space.

Whenever the Cowboys go with their base defense against that look, Phillips and defensive coordinator Brian Stewart both emphasized the importance of getting a bump on Winslow at the line to disrupt his stride.

The Giants were the first to isolate Williams in coverage against their former tight end, Jeremy Shockey, which often led to big gains and touchdowns. Williams' coverage flaws have been noted in great detail, and even the biggest Williams fans will admit guarding the pass is not his greatest talent. At this point, it's not going to get any better, either.

Luckily for the Cowboys, this may only be a dilemma for a few games this season. The only other teams on the Cowboys schedule with the kind of athletic tight end the Browns have are Washington (Chris Cooley) and San Francisco (Vernon Davis). If the Cowboys deploy their base defense, one solution could be to help Williams by having fellow safety Ken Hamlin play a deep zone. But that's asking for trouble as well because it leaves the Browns other Pro Bowl pass-catcher, receiver Braylon Edwards, in single coverage. So is there anything the Cowboys can do to stop these guys?

"I think it could be quite a bit of [cornerback] Anthony Henry on Winslow," Stewart said. "That may be one of them, but there's a lot of things we're going to try to do. You want to make sure when you're playing man that you've got a guy who can cover him, so now you're going to have to do some things. Nickel and dime, whatever the case may be, you just want to make sure you've got good coverage.

"You I.D. where (Winslow) is. We're going to be pretty good against the tight end. I expect him to be a big part of their offense."

Stewart said he thought Winslow's impact would be even greater because of the Browns' ailing group of wide receivers. Veteran Joe Jurevicius, the No. 3 guy there, is on the Physically Unable to Perform list with knee trouble. Edwards has been practicing but has a gash in his foot caused by some after-practice horseplay with newly-acquired wide out Donte Stallworth. Receivers Syndric Steptoe (shoulder) and Joshua Cribbs (high ankle sprain) also appear on the Browns injury report this week.

Winslow has faced the Cowboys just once, as a rookie, when he suffered a season-ending fibula injury. A fourth-year Michigan product, Edwards is playing the Cowboys for the first time in his career, but Dallas fans will remember Stallworth as the guy who blew open the team's Week Six loss to New England last year by racing 69 yards for a touchdown.

"They all can stretch the field - they catch the ball well," Cowboys linebacker Kevin Burnett said. "You look at who Kellen Winslow's daddy is, so you've got to assume that he's taken on some of his roles as a player, and who Braylon's daddy is (former NFL player Stanley Edwards). With Donte being there as a new addition, you've got to think this team is going to really try to stretch the field."

The high-octane passing game means Burnett should have an increased role. He'll come on the field when the Cowboys bring on their nickel and dime defenses. In the nickel, the Cowboys deploy an extra cornerback, Adam "Pacman" Jones, and play with Burnett and Bradie James as their two linebackers. In the dime, which the Cowboys have shown to be their favored pass defense most of the preseason, another corner is added and Burnett is the only linebacker.

Of course, if the team wants to deploy those sub-packages on medium down and distance situations, the Browns have another weapon they can use to attack the defense, bruising running back Jamal Lewis. Neither Burnett nor Phillips seemed worried about Lewis running against those units, though.

"You know they're going to come out and try to run the ball," Burnett said. "Running the ball is going to set up the pass. I don't think J-Lew is going to go out there and rip off the 80 or 90-yard runs like he used to. I'm not saying he can't, but they're going to try to stretch the field. They're going to get impatient and they're going to be ready to stretch the ball down the field."

The Cowboys have used their dime unit most often on passing downs. They play DeMarcus Ware and Greg Ellis as down linemen and put Hamlin and Pat Watkins at safety. That leaves Terence Newman to cover the slot receiver and Henry to play on the tight end if one is present. Jones then fills Henry's spot as the right cornerback, with rookie Mike Jenkins playing on the wide left receiver.

There's no doubt the Cowboys are working the dime unit extra hard in this week's practices, trying to gear up to stop the Browns pack of talented receivers. Their defense was much improved last year, but still had trouble getting off the field at times. They think this new-look dime defense is their best chance to do that.

It starts with getting the right matchup on Winslow - because the Browns will certainly try to test the Cowboys weaknesses by splitting him wide.

"They're going to," Phillips said, knowing that much isn't hard to predict. "We'll have people either helping or working on the tight end or something. We're going to point him out every play, where he is."

Just finding Winslow won't be enough. At 6-4, 250-pounds, he presents a mismatch against just about anybody. The key for the Cowboys will be finding someone who wants to cover him, and keeping away the guy who doesn't.

[Underdog]

5.5pts???

Browns' Peek Injured

Scratch another contributor from the Browns' lineup - not just for Sunday, but the entire season.

Backup linebacker Antwan Peek underwent season-ending surgery to repair the torn patella tendon he suffered in Wednesday's practice. Peek started four games last season and had been the second-string left outside linebacker behind Willie McGinest, who is practicing with a groin injury this week.

With Peek out, the Browns re-signed linebacker Shantee Orr and probably will play seventh-round pick Alex Hall behind McGinest on Sunday.

[Flacolaco]

It's moved to 6 on Bodog....seriously....I'm surprised it hasn't moved to 7.5 or 8 and I'll be surprised if it doesn't by game time.

[fluid.forty.one]

500 vBucks on dallas winning by more than 5.5 points

[fluid.forty.one]

oh and I'm not that surprised by the line. they are at home and derek anderson is a badass.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by fluid.forty.one

oh and I'm not that surprised by the line. they are at home and derek anderson is a badass.

Put Dan Marino under center for all I care - they're still the friggin' BROWNS!


(which basically means they're the Clippers of the NFL...)

[jthig32]

I think it's very much in question how much Derek Anderson is a bad ass. I'm predicting an underwhelming season from him.

[alby]

Quinn will be their QB by the end of the year.

[ty]

^Thiggy is goin big money ;P

[BGMaverick9]

Originally Posted by alby

Quinn will be their QB by the end of the year.

quoted b/c it's the truth.

I stink at vcash bets...let's see if I can actually do it with football.

[ty]

Cha-ching!

[Underdog]

5.5


Seriously...

[BGMaverick9]

bingo