Dan Gordon Looks at Cowboys-Dolphins
DanLGordon
Below I look at the Cowboy-Dolphin game. We have won the last
five weeks of selecting. If you want to get my selections and/or
newsletter, go to my WWW page to see how. Its address is:
http://members.aol.com/danlgordon/dgsports.htm
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Cowboys-Dolphins
Let's stop the hype and play the game!!! Once the ball is
kicked off in this game, Jerry Jones, Barry Switzer and Jimmy
Johnson will hopefully become part of the background.
This is a game between two third place (Dolphins would
win out over the Pats on a tiebreaker) 4-3 teams that are trying to
get into the middle of the playoff picture. The Dolphins are
somewhat more accustomed to this position than the Cowboys,
since the Cowboys by this point of the season are usually cruising in
the NFC East.
In this game Dan Marino will again be under center for the
Dolphins. In the three full games that Marino played, the Dolphins
went a perfect 3-0 (2-1 versus the number). However of the three
Dolphin wins only one--against the Patriots--came against a club
that has a winning record. And the Cowboys are considerably better
than the Pats.
The Cowboys are getting used to having Michael Irvin back
in the lineup. His presence is starting to open things up more for the
other receiver (Deion Sanders or Kelvin Martin) and will eventually
lessen the pressure on Emmitt Smith and the running game. This
should happen more this week than the past two and more next
week than this.
And speaking of the running game, Dan Marino's presence
should open up Miami's running game. In the three games that
Marino played, the Dolphin running game averaged 4.2 yards a
carry. Without Marino, the running game averaged a paltry 2.6
yards a rush.
However, the Cowboys have an excellent run defense. And
with Deion Sanders taking away one receiver by himself, the
Dolphins will be hard pressed to throw in this game as well. The
probable return of pass rusher Charles Haley could make life behind
the offensive line rough for an even more immobile Dan Marino.
After a strong beginning the Dolphin defense has shown
holes in their last four games. Last week, the Eagles ran for over six
yards a carry (30-194). The Bills averaged better than four yards
(25-105) a carry two weeks ago. The week before that the
Seahawks hit the Dolphins with three (65,51, and 80 yard) TD
bombs in a Dolphin loss. And the week before that the Colts ripped
up the Dolphin front seven (32-171--better than five yards per
carry) in the running game. The balanced Cowboy offense is the
toughest test that the Dolphins will have to this point in the season.
Despite Jimmy Johnson's ravings, the Dolphin defense may not pass
this test.
The last reason that I favor the Cowboys in this game is that
the Cowboys vowed to fight back to the playoffs after a 1-3 start.
Since then the Cowboys have won three straight (including a
Monday night game in Philadelphia where the Eagles had won eight
straight).
This game starts a pivotal stretch for the Cowboys. They
next host the Eagles and then go to San Francisco and then host
Green Bay on Monday night. Look for the Cowboys to win at least
three of these games as they continue to move into the playoff
picture. This game should be one of the wins. With the line being
three for the Cowboys, they--unlike with the huge spreads they
faced the past two weeks--merely need to win to cover. Give the
field goal in this game.
This game was chosen at random for posting and is NOT one
of my recommended selections for my clients for this week.