Monday Night Preview: Cowboys vs. Bills

by Shane M. Dayton

This game gets a little more interesting with QB Trent Edwards playing for the Bills.  While the Dallas Cowboys are going to be the prohibitive favorite, and with good reason, but the past has shown that often times rookie quarterbacks can really throw off a defense for two or three games, until they get film....

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Rob Johnson, Bruce Gradkowski, Tim Hasselback, Matt Leinart, Ty Detmer, even Ryan Leaf, all looked good for two games and often led their teams to wins.  Out of that group, there are now 0 starters.

Dallas was expected to be good, but that offense is clicking on all cylinders and you can tell by watching him play that Tony Romo did idolize Brett Favre, which is why Tony Romo is so fun to watch play quarterback.

Why 4-0 Dallas doesn’t have to worry: The Bills still don’t have a defense, and injuries to several starters, including first round LB Paul Posluszny who is out for the season, have decimated a unit that wasn’t that good to begin with.  No one can match up with Owens, Crayton, or Witten, and the running lanes will be open.  The offense will be enough to carry them, and the defense has played well enough to be effective.

Wade Phillips is also renowned as a defensive coordinator.  Even as head coach, you know he’s going to send everything he has to rattle Trent Edwards: Linebackers, safeties, corners, water boys, cheerleaders, and even the old kitchen sink.  It’s going to be a long day for the Bills, and things aren’t going to be looking better in the near future.

Why the Bills pull the shocker:  Trent Edwards is undefeated as a starter.  Okay, it was only one game, but rookies tend to play well early because so much of the NFL game is about film and film study.  When they don’t know a quarterback’s tendencies, they either tend to play base, or even play more basic blitzes, which the quarterback can handle because no one knows he automatically looks to his #2 TE, or pump fakes before throwing a blind slant, so the rookie gets away with playing like they did as a prospect.

The Bills one a tough, close game, and this types of wins can do wonders for a team that’s been down.  Lee Evans is still one of the best receivers in football, and Edwards got him involved.  Lynch has proven a solid rookie runner, and the one thing Dallas can not do is stop the run—they’ve just scored enough points to make the other team abandon it.  If Dallas overlooks the Bills and gets behind early, this could become a much more interesting game than people think.