Dallas Cowboys play their home season opener as Tampa Bay Buccaneers visit – NFL Preview
Dallas Cowboys are going to play their first home game of the 2012 National Football League (NFL) season as they host Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, September 23, at Cowboys Stadium for Week 3 game.
After a successful start to the season by defeating Carolina Panthers, the Bucs had almost got their second victory when they faced the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants for Week 2 game. They dominated the Giants for most part of the game, but
their defence was completely exposed in the final quarter as Giants rallied to win the game.
The Cowboys are also in the same situation. They made a strong start to the season by overcoming Giants, but lost against Seattle Seahawks in Week 2 encounter. Their offence struggled badly against Seahawks as Cowboys only provided one scoring move in the
entire game.
So it will be interesting to see what changes the Bucs and Cowboys make to their respective line-ups to make sure they do not repeat the same mistakes again.
Cowboys should be a little more concern to see the performance of Tampa Bay’s defence in the first three quarters against Giants.
If the Bucs show a disciplined game-play against Cowboys, the latter can struggle badly, just like they did in Week 2 game. Cowboys desperately need to win some games this season to qualify for the playoffs and excel further; something they have not been
able to do since a long time.
Cowboys’ downfall against Seahawks has raised many questions and has also brought head coach Jason Garrett in the line of fire. Garrett said:
“Identity is an ongoing thing. It's an ongoing thing for players, it's an ongoing thing for a football team. At times, we've done a really good job playing to that identity and other times we haven't, but it's emphasized to our team a lot and we're trying
to get better and better in that.”
Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who was smart against Giants, but could not repeat his performance against Seahawks, believes that even though the Bucs lost their Week 2 game, their defence still poses serious threat to Cowboys.
Room said of Tampa Bay’s defence:
“I think this defensive unit, they’re good. They’ve showed it on tape a bunch of times now. I think it’s too quick to say they gave up a ton of passing yards and that’s just going to be duplicated over and over again.”
Although the Bucs have the ability to give tough time to the Cowboys’ offence, Tampa Bay’s offensive line is also going to face some tough challenges. Cowboys have home-field advantage and their defence is well capable to restricting Tampa Bay’s movement.
A physical matchup is on the cards and the team with good defensive unit stands better chance of winning this game.
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