Cowboys cornerback Mike Jenkins wants to get in DeSean Jackson’s face. Blessed with blazing speed, Jackson routinely has blown by defenders during his two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. But Jenkins believes the Cowboys can slow down Jackson and the Eagles’ other speedy receiver, rookie Jeremy Maclin, on Sunday night by roughing them up. “Just be physical,” Jenkins said Wednesday. “Go out and hit them in the mouth.”

That sounds great, and builds the game up to an almost unreal level, but I think the biggest key for the Cowboys to win not only this week but the games immediately following is remembering there are 16 games in a season.  What you don’t want is the players to put all of their emotion into this one game, and be drained emotionally next week and the week following.  Instead I believe this Cowboys team needs to further separate its self from last season’s team and come into the game with an air of confidence, that what they have built on the last three weeks can and will continue their success through the rest of the season.  This Cowboys team needs to come in with the look of Professional Stoicism, backed up by the confidence that they can and will shut down each phase of the Eagles’ game plan systematically.

OFFENSE:  The Cowboys haven’t scored all season on their first drive yet, against the Eagles they need to.  The Eagles have been outstanding in the first quarter in nearly all of their games this season, and with their quick strike capability the Cowboys are going to have to be able to either keep up the pace or dictate a new pace this starts on the first drive and will continue through out the game.  Establishing the run early is going to be a major key in this game.  The Eagles like to blitz and will do so often, an effective running attack can keep the blitz at bay as the Eagles will need to adjust as to not allow too much ground to be lost on long run plays.  The Eagles have one of the top pass defenses in the league, and are third for most interceptions with 14.   The Cowboys will need to continue to take what the Defense gives them and that will require Romo to continue to spread the ball around and be mindful of his chuck-down guys underneath.  Eventually continuous success underneath will open passing lanes deep, where Miles Austin big play ability might continue to be an asset for this Cowboys Teams.

DEFENSE: This is going to be an area the Cowboys are going to have to be systematic.  The Eagles are 13th passing and 14th on the run.  This is a team that likes to pass and run the ball, and they do so evenly.  It’s always sound logic to stop the run first.  Forcing the Eagles to pass puts the game in McNabb’s hands, and that can be just as effective.  However, on average good QBs complete roughly 60% of all of their passes, while elite running backs can go for positive gains 90% of the time.  If you can stop the run, then you force the team into a more favorable percentage game.  The Cowboys are 13th in the league at stopping the run, and this is where the Cowboys front line will need to earn their money this week.  Once the run game is put to a stop the task will not become easier, LB Bobby Carpenter will likely have to continue doing a good job against a quality tight end in Brent Celek, while S Gerald Sensabaugh and Ken Hamlin will be providing help over the top to help cover WR DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin who have provided Donovan McNabb with lots of deep threat targets.

SPECIAL TEAMS: This is an area that doesn’t need much to write about.  The Cowboys Special Teams unit just needs to continue to do what they have done so far all season.  If Patrick Crayton can run another one back for a Touchdown great, but those kinds of things don’t happen in every game.

The story comes from Channel 11 in Dallas, which reports that Cowboys cheerleader Whitney Isleib went to a party dressed up as the rapper on Friday night. Of course in today’s day and age of pictures being leaked to the internet all over the place, Whitney’s pics of her getting dressed up showed up on the net, and the Cowboys are not so happy about it.

No one from the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders or the team would officially comment, but a team spokesman told us the team is aware of the situation and addressing it internally.

Now why the Cowboys are upset about this is unreal to me. I mean, it was a Halloween party, the outfit wasn’t racist, and she was on her own time. Sure, she probably needs to make sure that cameras are not following her 24 hours a day, but at the same time, what the heck did she do wrong?

I find it hard to believe that A: the news station that did this story really had nothing better to report on, and B: the Cowboys really want to deal with this garbage off the field or on it for that matter.

While Miles Austin did not put up 100 plus yards receiving this week, he is still proving his worth as a number one guy for Romo.  He now has a TD in three straight games.  He also proved his versatility with an 11 yrd run, and you can go ahead and add that to his total yardage after catching 5 passes for 61 yards.  Perhaps the biggest contribution he provided this week was pulling extra attention in his direction and allowing Romo to target 9 other receivers which helped Romo amass a total of 256 yards passing.

Roy  Williams and Tony Romo are still having problems getting on the same page and often times it looked like the two were making different reads.  It’s hard to say for sure if Romo is just throwing really bad throws or if Williams is simply just running the wrong routes, but having watched Romo key in on everyone else nearly flawlessly, I’m going to say Williams might need to work more on his routes.  Williams did show his talent when he dived into the end zone for a TD, that was reviewed and upheld, but clearly a long way from being a top wideout for the team.

Tony Romo has been playing lights out the past three weeks having not thrown a single interception in those games, and that might be a good sign that he’s turning a corner in his play.  Hitting 10 targets for 256 yards and three touchdowns is evidence that he’s seeing the whole field.  Even Kevin Ogletree was able to get on the stat sheet for the first time this season with his first catch for a gain of 19 yards.  All and all none of the receivers out shined the QB in today’s game.

The Dallas defense may go largely unnoticed in all of this, but they proved once again they are a force to be reckoned with.  The Defense was able to sack Matt Hasselbeck three times, and that doesn’t count the number of hurries and the number of times Matt found himself on his back.  The defense didn’t get a single interception but caused and recovered two fumbles at key points in the game and was a major factor why the Seahawks only were able to score 17 points.

Patrick Crayton wanted another chance to be on the highlight reels this week, and he got it with an 82 yard punt return for  a Touchdown.  Davud Buehler managed to kick the ball into the end zone 7 out of 7 times, and four of those were kneel downed for a touchback.  The only down side on Special Team’s performance was Nick Folk missing his second field goal this season, he would make up for it by kicking a 40 yarder later.

It finally looks like Dallas is rolling on all cylinders and they are going to need to continue that as next week they will need to play flawless once again to beat the Eagles, and avenge their poor performance to end last season.  Playing Philly in Philadelphia should prove to be a tougher match up then Seattle at home.

This NFL season, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has gotten his share of grief, as he has had games that were not vintage Romo. A combination of poor stats along with some questionable playcalling contributed to some degree to Dallas’ losses this year.

In Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks, the Tony Romo who was behind center at Cowboys Stadium, was the one that the team’s fans are accustomed to as he tossed three touchdowns and no interceptions – for the third straight game – as he led Dallas to the easy 38-17 win over Seattle.

Seattle drew first blood, courtesy of a 43-yard field goal by Olindo Mare, which enabled the Seahawks to take an early 3-0 lead; about three-and-a-half minutes later, Romo would throw a 36-yard TD pass to wide receiver Sam Hurd, giving Dallas a 7-3 lead. The Cowboys would strike again as running back Marion Barber ran in from 2 yards out for a TD, making it 14-3. But Seattle would close the gap to 14-10 when Matt Hasselbeck threw a 23-yard TD pass to WR Deion Branch; a Romo-to-Roy Williams TD pass with 35 seconds left in the half increased Dallas’ lead to 21-10 – a lead they would take into their locker room at halftime.

The Cowboys would pull away late in the third quarter as Romo would strike again, a 3-yard pass to Miles Austin, which enlarged the Cowboys’ cushion to 28-10; about 90 seconds later, Patrick Crayton would return a punt 82 yards for a TD, putting the game out of reach at 35-10 – a lead they would not relinquish.

Romo had a decent outing, going 21-of-36 for 256 yards and 3 TD’s while Hasselbeck went 22-of-39 for 249 yards and a pair of TD’s. Barber led the Cowboys rushing attack with 14 carries for 53 yards and a score while Felix Jones rushed for 39 yards. Julius Jones led Seattle with 56 yards on 15 carries.

Romo got 10 Cowboys receivers in on the action, led by Austin with 5 receptions for 61 yards and a TD while Crayton caught 3 passes for 39 yards. Nate Burleson led all Seahawks receivers with 6 receptions for 89 yards while Branch and tight end John Carlson each caught 3 passes for 36 yards.

Dallas (5-2) plays again next week in a key divisional matchup as they visit the Philadelphia Eagles next Sunday while Seattle (2-5) gets an easier opponent next Sunday when they host the Detroit Lions.

Each day puts more distance between Roy Williams and what he calls the worst game of his life. Sunday’s game against Seattle can’t arrive quickly enough. “I don’t want to blame it on rust, I don’t want to blame it on medication or anything like that,” said Williams, who caught one pass for 16 yards and dropped two others. “I just played terrible. “The thing I’ve got to do, I’ve got a chance to get better this week. I’m glad that wasn’t the last game of the year because I would have to live with this for four or five months. “But that taste is out of my mouth. I’m ready to roll. I’m ready to catch the ball and do the things I’ve been doing.”

The Cowboys amassed 414 yards of total offense, and while the ground game was spotty, the Falcons had no answer for Tony Romo and Miles Austin.

Romo completed 21 of 29 for 311 yards and 3 touchdowns and Austin chipped in with 6 receptions for 171 yards and 2 touchdowns proving that last game against Kansas City was no fluke for the fourth year receiver.

On the defensive side of the ball, the defense swarmed the Falcons for much of the day. They forced 3 turnovers and sacked Falcons QB Matt Ryan 4 times.

Ryan had only been sacked twice all season. CB Mike Jenkins chipped in with an interception and DeMarcus Ware celebrated his new 6-year, 78 million dollar contract, by adding 2 sacks and a forced fumble. The defense really stepped it up containing the Falcons to just 298 yards total offense.

By no means was this game perfect. The Cowboys continue to shoot themselves in the foot with penalties (8 for 50 yards). More than the yardage lost, it is the interruption of momentum that is really costly. The Cowboys did a better job of overcoming those mistakes, but they cannot afford to continually take penalties that kill drives, especially with every game being a big game from here on out.

As I’m sure with every game there are parts that can be improved, but the Cowboys performance on Sunday was easily their best of the year. “I think it is the most complete game we’ve played this year,” Philips said on Monday at his press conference. He is right.

When the Cowboys can put it all together like they did this week against Atlanta there are few teams that can match them.

The Cowboys have $11 million in salary-cap space left this season. They are working on a long-term deal for linebacker DeMarcus Ware, which would eat up much of that space. Stephen Jones said negotiations are ongoing with Ware’s agent. “It’s already out of my mind, we’re so deep into our season,” said Ware, who is in the final year of his rookie contract. “It’s football, football, football. That contract stuff will happen whenever it happens. You can’t worry about that. You already have enough pressure on you.”

So far it has been a drama filled season for the ‘Boys, as players and coaches alike have come under enormous scrutiny for their poor decisions and inability to produce as expected. At a glance it would appear that this team has no chance to be a playoff team, however a win on Sunday, the tides as they say may begin to turn.

A win against the Falcons would be a huge boost for this team’s chances of making the postseason. But it’s definitely not going to come easy. The Falcons are a very dangerous team offensively, as they have the ability to score on any play whether it is a run or pass. Not only that, their confidence is seemingly through the roof after big wins over the 49ers and Bears in the past couple of weeks. However their defense can definitely be exploited.

For the Cowboys to come out with a win some things are going to have to be addressed, and some have been addressed already. First and foremost this will be the first time all season that the Cowboys will be completely healthy. Well at least healthy enough for everyone to be on the field. The Cowboys offense should be at full strength by game time Sunday, and it will be much needed.

If the Cowboys have any chance of winning this game then they are going to have to be a force on offense. The return of Felix Jones, a healthier Marion Barber, and Roy Williams should go along way towards just that. The play calling is also going to have to improve, and that applies to both sides of the ball.

The Falcons and Cowboys are averaging almost identical points per game this year, however the Cowboys give up far more points per game. The Cowboys have a great chance of coming out of this game with a win if they can control the pace of the game, limit turnovers, and put points on the board. And if they can come out of this game with a win, it will be a great boost towards their hunt for the playoffs.

This game could be the definitive game for the Cowboys season, win and they are still in the hunt, lose and it could send them into a downward spiral.