Down With Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers! Chant it!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: If you don't have the NFL Network, try this to watch the game. Good luck. I hope it works for all of you screwed over by the NFL and the cable companies.

OK Dallas Cowboys fans, here we go. We are less than 90 minutes away from kick off for what is the biggest game for the NFC so far this year.

Both teams are 10-1, a match-up made in heaven. The aging Brett Favre is having one of his best seasons, while Tony Romo is devouring the Cowboys record book.

How do I see this game playing out? I won't sway from my last post: I do think Dallas will win tonight, and I also think they can dominate this Packers team. Will they? I won't be surprised if they do, but I see the game close until the middle of the fourth quarter, when Dallas pulls away with a touchdown and wins by 10 points. I think rookie kicker Nick Folk will be faced with at least one 50-plus yard kick, which he will make to put the Cowboys ahead at half time.

As I said before, Favre will lose this game for the Packers. He will try too hard and turn over the ball at a key moment in this game. Not to mention, Dallas has a superior running game, and I expect the coaches will use the Julius Jones-Marion Barber duo possibly more than they have all season. Thirty carries total? Maybe.

Let's look at some statistics:
1. Green Bay has allowed a lot less points, nearly a touchdown a game less. But they have also played far worse offensive teams like Minnesota and Chicago, their only loss of the season.
2. Favre has a better completion rate, 300 more yards and five less interceptions than Romo, who threw five in one game. But Romo has a whopping seven more touchdowns than Favre, and he has already broken the single-season TD record for the Cowboys.
3. The Packer rushing game has nothing on Dallas.

Green Bay Rushing
	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD
Grant	107	494	4.6	2
Wynn	50	203	4.1	4

Dallas Rushing
	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD
Barber	145	715	4.9	7
Jones	124	495	4.0	2

4. Jason Witten has almost as many catches and yards as Donald Driver, the top receiver for the packers. Get real. Witten is going to have a huge game. Terrell Owens is blowing them all out of the water, with already over 1000 yards and 13 touchdowns, tying what he had last year.

Green Bay Receiving
	REC	YDS	AVG	TD
Driver	63	832	13.2	2
Jennin...	39	625	16.0	9

Dallas Receiving
	REC	YDS	AVG	TD
Owens	64	1093	17.1	13
Witten	59	750	12.7	6

Offensively, statistics show we are very close outside of rushing the ball, where the Cowboys hold a distinct edge. Again, I think we will run the ball very well today and more than 30 times. No reason to get into a passing battle with Favre. On defense, Dallas has given up slightly less yards per game. In fact, the defenses, statistically, are nearly identical until you get to one category: rushing. Dallas has shut down the running game for opposing teams, giving up less than 100 yards per game. Green Bay, however, is right at the century mark for opposing teams' rushing. That's good news for Dallas.

Here are the full statistics:

TEAM AVERAGES & NFL RANKS
TEAM OFFENSE	TEAM	PER GAME AVERAGE
Total Yards	GNB	380.0
	DAL	389.0
Yards Passing	GNB	298.5
	DAL	265.9
Yards Rushing	GNB	81.8
	DAL	122.9
TEAM DEFENSE	TEAM	PER GAME AVERAGE
Yards Allowed	GNB	315.4
	DAL	299.1
Pass Yds Allowed	GNB	215.3
	DAL	217.0
Rush Yds Allowed	GNB	100.1
	DAL	82.1

The only concern I have is the secondary, and namely Roy Williams. Favre is doing a lot of dump passes and slants for 10-yard gains. This is where Roy has trouble. I think all Cowboys fans are concerned about this and the big pass play. However, Williams has to show up sooner or later, and this is the game to do it. I expect him to play well, possibly even intercept one of those slants if he watched the film this week.

I am so pumped up for this game I can barely breathe. I had to skip the gym today because I didn't eat anything and I was too overwhelmed. I finally ate, and now it's time to drink some beer.

For the first time this year, sadly, I won't be able to live blog. I have to watch this game at a friend's house because I don't get the NFL Network since Comcast took it off the basic cable lineup. I don't even want to get into it, but hey, I cannot complain too much: My friend has a big-screen HD television. Plus, he apparently bought the beer!!!

Defense, defense, defense. Where did it go?

It's difficult to take one game, the very first of the season, and be overly critical of a team. But in the case of the Dallas Cowboys game Sunday night, doing so is a little easier. Giving up 35 points to a Giants team that lost its mediocre running back, had an injured quarterback and just one receiver is pretty poor.

Roy Williams is getting a lot of punishment on the Dallas Cowboy message boards.
Too lackadaisical, some are saying. Poor pass coverage. If it weren't for Tony Romo's arm and Witten's hands, Roy Williams could have very well been blamed for missing plays that could have cost Dallas that game. He was completely out of position on Burress' second and third touchdowns. This new scheme of having him play closer to the line of scrimmage was a failed first-game experiment. He becomes a wasted player doing that if the opposing team runs the ball. If you are going to bring Williams closer to the line of scrimmage to blitz, you better damn well know it's a passing down, or a run in his path. At least twice I saw him attempt to blitz and then just stop cold when the Giants ran to the opposite side of the field. One of those times was a double-digit yard jaunt by the Giants third-string running back. Pathetic.

The defensive fiasco Monday night isn't all Williams' fault. I'd be the first to post that on the message board. The pass rush was nowhere to be found (one sack). The linebackers made few plays. Heck, the defensive player of the game was Jay Ratliff, a backup nose-tackle. No matter how painful it was to hear Dallas lost Jason Ferguson for the year, it was surprising to see Ratliff play well.

I have no idea if the Dallas D can be great this year. Odds are against them because of injuries. The defense needs to improve at every facet, and that's discouraging. There really wasn't one good thing to say about how the entire defense played Sunday night.

So, in comes Miami, where the main newspaper is talking about the Dallas offense, not the defense everyone else was talking about in the preseason. Here's a snippet:

The Dolphins might learn a valuable lesson here. Seems the team that once upon a time would start seasons without hesitation has sputtered like an old jalopy when the flag has dropped on the past few seasons.

Since 2004, the Dolphins are 5-17 in the months of September and October, no doubt evidence of multiple coaching and system changes and the transitions those require.

But the Cowboys this season were faced with similar challenges the Dolphins faced the past three seasons. And there are no excuses about it coming out of Valley Ranch where the team trains.

''Once you get into the eighth or ninth game everybody knows how good your team is,'' Phillips said. ``But you always want to start up good and keep going.''

The comments to this article are hilarious. But I am not sure what is more funny: the fact that I could only find one Pro-Dolphin message on a Miami newspaper Web site, or the sheer number of Cowboy fans overwhelming the message board with comments on how we are going to kick some Dolphin ass. Here's the lone dork Miami fan:

From "Attitude", The Fins are going to spank them cowgirls this weekend. They have pride and in our house they will pick it up. The defense will not permit Romo to run around like he did.

Gee, Attitude, that was enlightening.

Here's a real Dolphin fan who's being honest:

The Dolphins are not that good on offense. Period. Trent Green is OK, but is already suffering from Post-Marino Dolphins' Quarterback Disease, short-arming his throws, throwing off his backfoot, throwing while leaning backwards, and using the three step drop and fire, and the 2 second scan downfield and dump off to a back. This disease can be directly linked to prolonged exposure to a sub-NFL caliber offensive line caused by a Randy Mueller infection in the Dolphin front office. This disease has been known to be fatal to careers of both quarterbacks and coaches. Cam Cameron's exposure and probable infection by the Mueller virus is evidenced by his choice of Ted Ginn, Jr. instead of Brady Quinn in the first round of the draft. By the way Mr. Ginn also seems to be exhibiting symptoms of "Over-rated-itis", probably contracted from Chris Chambers. Please Wayne H., sign the wavier for the surgery and have that malignant Randy Mueller surgically removed from our beloved franchise before it's too late. It'll be a lo t less painful than you think and your team and its fans can all get on the road rehab and recovery sooner rather than later.That's my diagnosis.

Yours Truly,
The Dolphin Doctor

I don't expect to lose this game Sunday. In fact, I don't even expect it to be close. But I am not going to go out on a limb and say the defense will turn it around in Week 2. There are just too many holes in Week 1 to fill in seven days.

Dallas 27 Miami 13

Roy Williams: "I'm pissed off."

Oh no. Who would have thought the Aaron Glenn cut would spark the first controversy in the Lonestar state? Well, it appears it has. Roy Williams is quoted, when asked about the cut, that he's pissed off because it leaves a big void in leadership.

You'd think that if the powers at be have something special cooking, that the top players, if not all, would have some idea about it. Maybe it doesn't work that way. But I am started to feel like we're not getting a great CB.

Certainly, no one thinks Even Oglesby is that special CB. I'm at a loss.

Roy Williams is having none of this. Fine. I understand his frustration with that cut. Williams has allowed to many deep pass plays, failing to get in the zone in time. The Glenn cut puts more pressure on him to not only hit people hard, but also to protect Dallas from the deep ball. C'mon Roy, please step up this year. You're a Pro Bowler and a great safety, but have you improved your deep coverage of the surprise bomb?

A few forum posters said it's time for Williams to jump into the leadership role. I'd agree. Someone who hits as hard as he does should automatically be a leader.

So, here's my open letter to Roy Williams: Step up, Roy. Lead this team to the Super Bowl. The fans believe it is in reach. We believe in you. Step up, Roy, and show us how to lead.