Last week Youth Anthony Brown Jersey , the Cowboys offense finally found a little rhythm in their 400+ yard performance thanks to Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott. More importantly, it got the Cowboys to a record of 2-2, and though this week’s opponent is 1-3 it feels like they should be much better. This Texans offense averages over 400 yards per week, mostly by the arm of Deshaun Watson and his fantastic array of receivers. Houston’s problem has been their defense, which is routinely allowing opponents to match those offensive numbers. Statistically speaking, this Sunday night’s Cowboys-Texans game will feature very few clear strength-versus-weakness matchups. In fact, more often than not we may see lots of strengths-on-strengths and weakness-on-weakness. The question will be if the Cowboys can find a little offensive consistency on the road where they are 0-2. So far, they average 23.5 points at home but only 10.5 in their away games.Can the Cowboys take advantage of Texans’ bad red zone defense?78.6% of red zone attempts vs. Houston’s defense end in scoresThat’s right, the Texans defense is allowing conversions by the bunches in the red zone this season. On 14 attempts, opponents have scored 11 times and the Texans haven’t played a single team ranked higher than 15th in total offense. Houston is 29th with an average of 3.5 red zone trips allowed per game and 2.8 trips are ending in touchdowns. Even the Giants offense went 4-for-4 on Houston.40% is the red zone conversion rate for the Cowboys offenseThe Cowboys have just 10 trips to the red zone, only five teams have less and two with fewer points scored. Four of the six touchdowns the Cowboys have came in the red zone but the team has eight field goals. It doesn’t help when you also have penalties or the quarterback takes unnecessary sacks. The Cowboys have a real opportunity here but have to stay out of their own way.Can Cowboys defense limit the Texans explosiveness?54% of explosive plays allowed by Cowboys came in last two gamesOver the last two games, the Cowboys have allowed seven plays of 20+ yards or more, two of them were over 40+ yards. They are the third-best defense in the league at limiting these plays with only 13 on the season. The seven in the last two games make up 54% of the season total. 11 of the 13 have come on big passes courtesy of busted coverage by defensive backs. Overall, only three defenses allow fewer yards per play than the Cowboys at 4.9 yards on average. The Cowboys are getting killed a lot on third downs, where they allow the seventh-worst conversion rate of 45%. 48% is the completion percentage of Texans 20+ yard pass attempts (second in NFL)Overall, of Deshaun Watson’s 92 completions, 19 passes have gone for 20+ yards, that’s 21% of the Texans total offense. Their 20 explosive plays are tied for fourth-most in the NFL, 70% of their passing gains are split between three receivers. That’s 815 yards between DeAndre Hopkins, Will Fuller, and burner Keke Coutee. Much like the Lions, the Texans present a difficult matchup for the Cowboys secondary.The only saving grace is that Houston’s offense is only converting 40% on third down and is sixth-worst in red zone efficiency at 44%.Which is stronger - Cowboys ability to run or Texans ability to stop the run?17% of rushing attempts against Houston result in first downsOut of the 109 attempts against the Texans run defense, they have only allowed 19 rushing first downs Womens Ezekiel Elliott Jersey , tied for the eighth-fewest with Washington. They have yet to allow a 100-yard rusher and have allowed only one rushing touchdown. The Texans are only allowing 94.2 yards per game (ninth best). Running backs average 3.5 yards per carry, which ranks Houston fourth in the league, it will be the best run defense the Cowboys have faced.28% of Cowboys rushing attempts have resulted in first downsNo disrespect intended but the Texans haven’t faced the league’s leading rusher or a Top-10 rushing team for that matter. Though Saquon Barkley only had 17 attempts for 82 yards, he averaged 4.8 yards against Houston. The Cowboys have 30 rushing first downs on just 101 attempts, Ezekiel Elliott accounts for 67% of them. Zeke’s the only running back averaging over 100+ yards per game and his 5.8 yards per carry is a league best. Dallas is also getting an average of 3.9 yards per rush before contact. Can Cowboys’ pass rush wreck the Texans plan on offense?11.1% of passing attempts against Cowboys defense ends with a sackThe Cowboys defense ranks third in sacks with 14 on just 126 pass attempts (fifth-fewest). Just about every nine pass attempts, the Cowboys defense is sacking the opposing quarterback. They are also registering pressures every three pass attempts with 42 on the season. The only issue is that nine of Dallas’ sacks have come at home and they average only 2.5 sacks per game on the road. Both Maliek Collins and David Irving will not be making the trip to Houston, which is sort of surprising as they were both thought to be on the track to play. That means that Tyrone Crawford, Antwaun Woods, Daniel Ross, and Caraun Reid will have to step up.11.5% of Deshaun Watson’s pass attempts have ended with him being sackedWatson has attempted 148 passes (13th-most) but has been sacked 17 times, which is second-most in the league. So, just about every nine attempts, Watson is taken down, perfect timing for the Cowboys.Now, Texans analysts will say similar things as analysts have about Dak Prescott: Watson needs to stop holding the ball! The Texans quarterback is one of just two to have more time per throw than Prescott with 3.16 seconds per Next Gen. Sacks haven’t been the only problem as Watson has been hit a league-high 43 times, that’s a hit for every six snaps. This is the clearest advantage that Cowboys are going to get.The Cowboys and Texans rivalry is typically more one-sided as the Houston crowd will be extremely fired up for this one. A lot of the issues the Cowboys have been struggling with on offense are areas to attack on this Houston defense. The same can be said the other way as well. In the NFL, it’s all about who can take advantage of the matchups, that makes this game a real toss-up.It only took the Falcons @ Eagles game to show why all the Cowboys predictions are probably wrong Boo. Hiss. This was the NFL opener we have been waiting for since February? The slopfest between the Atlanta Falcons and the Philadelphia Eagles? This game that featured a flurry of flags, one quarterback who completed 19 passes for only 117 yards, a receiver on the other team with 169 yards all by himself, but his team only got in the end zone once, despite multiple trips to the red zone? The Falcons lost the game by six points, despite having seven plays from inside the Eagles’ 20-yard line at the end Womens Travis Frederick Jersey , including a penalty that gave them one last shot at the end zone - a target that offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian and quarterback Matt Ryan were unable to find all night long. It was just terrible football on the part of both teams.So why is a Dallas Cowboys blog opening with this? Especially since the hated Eagles got away with a win in a game they did not come close to playing well enough to win, which may come back to haunt the Cowboys? Well, because of just what it shows about preseason predictions. Far more writers, bloggers, and fans had the Eagles and Falcons selected to make it to the playoffs than favored the Cowboys. And while we still have to see how Dallas shows up against the Carolina Panthers, there was nothing about that game Thursday night that says either of those teams looks like a lock for the postseason. And you have to feel a bit better about the Cowboys’ chances against both teams this year.Obviously, it’s just one game, and either, or both, the Eagles and Falcons can get things straightened out. For our beloved and treasured fellow NFC East member from Philly, they have the hope that Carson Wentz will soon return to replace Nick Foles, who looked like that run to the Lombardi never happened. But there were a lot of other issues for them, while the Falcons just looked lost. (The officiating, which somehow managed to have another “Did he catch it?” moment despite all the work on the rule, was also monumentally atrocious, but that is a different ball of worms, as they say.) It was a bit serendipitous that the morning after that almost unwatchable game I ran across Bill Bidwell’s article that states a case for all 32 teams to win the Super Bowl. He starts out with something every fan should take to heart.Exactly. There are very few writers out there who pay enough attention to all 32 teams to have even a general idea of what the teams have in terms of strengths and weaknesses. Preseason games tell us just slightly more than squat as teams limit the exposure of their starters. Writers, analysts, and bloggers that cover one team have a much better idea of things - for their team. They still are largely reduced to guesswork and extrapolation about the rest of the league.(Just for reference, Barnwell has the Eagles as the third most likely team to go to the Super Bowl this year, with Atlanta eighth and the Cowboys sixteenth - or just where Philly was a year ago.)And that basically is where we are. The first week, everything is mostly based on what teams did last season (recency bias), combined with what is thought about free agent losses and signings http://www.thecowboysfootballauthentic.com/geoff-swaim-jersey-authentic , draft picks, and injuries. But until we play things out, it is still all just a slightly quantified wild you-know-what guess. It will take more than one game for the real picture to emerge, as teams work off that rust.By the way, as far as the terrible play we saw on TNF, count me as a skeptic about placing the blame on the lack of preseason work by the starters. That can affect things, but what we saw looked a lot more like two teams that were just not prepared for the game. I think that was more about coaching than anything. It would seem that NFL coaching staffs would realize that there is a big advantage in week one if you come in better prepared and conditioned than the other team. Both the Falcons and Eagles looked woefully underprepared. Now, we have no idea if the Cowboys look any better. But if they do, then you need to give credit to Jason Garrett and his staff - because you know fingers will be pointed if the team doesn’t look ready.Back to the original topic of this, one of the reasons that the Cowboys could be right in the thick of the playoff race is that there are so many unknowns. The receiving corps in particular, combined with the expected changes to the offensive plan we have heard so much about, are generally assumed to be a failure by those who predict Dallas will not do anything this season. More than one writer or analyst has labeled them the “worst in the NFL”. But here is the silver lining to that. If they manage to not be at the bottom of the league and can just get to the middle of the pack - like around 16th or so - that will outperform expectations. And joined with the likely high-output running game of a motivated Ezekiel Elliott and an emerging defense, that should be good enough to win a bunch of games. All that passing game has to be is credible enough to loosen up the opposing defenses so Zeke is not facing stacked boxes. It can’t be totally impotent, obviously. But it hardly has to be top five or ten to get the job done.Remember, those negative predictions about the passing game are generally based on people who read the names and maybe look up their past stats. If you have been paying attention to the beat writers who cover Dallas full time, you get a very different vibe. These receivers have been working hard, absorbing the lessons of Sanjay Lal, and look a good bit better than the “worst in the league”. It all has to show up on the field, and the first time we get to see that is upon us. We’ll start to find out in Carolina how that passing game works, as well as see if this season really is the Vengeance of Zeke and the Rise of the Hot Boyz. But be assured of one thing: There are teams that outperform and underperform their preseason predictions every season. The odds are that the Cowboys will be in one category or the other. Let’s just hope it is the good one.