The Dallas Cowboys came out on top in a physical football game against the Seattle Seahawks last Saturday night in the Wild Card round of the NFC Playoffs. Led by Frank Clark and company DeMarcus Ware Jersey Stitched , the Seahawks are known to play tough while possessing the ability to stuff the run and get after the quarterback. Dallas proved it was able to match Seattle’s toughness, as rookie offensive guard Connor Williams stepped up in a big way and filled in nicely, despite some worrying about how the Cowboys would perform without Xavier Su’a-Filo. In fact, the rookie from Texas made an impressive block on the essential game-sealing run from quarterback Dak Prescott.The Cowboys were mostly able to dictate the pace of the game, controlling the time of possession and opening up running lanes for the spectacular Ezekiel Elliott, who rushed for 137 yards and over five yards per carry against a solid Seattle front. Dallas was also much more successful in protecting Prescott than the team was in the September matchup. Some of that has to do with Prescott making quicker decisions, while some of it has to do with the offensive line continuing to improve since the move to put Marc Colombo in charge of the unit.On the flip side, the Cowboys won the battle in the trenches on the defensive side of the ball as well. Seattle entered the NFL Playoffs as the number one rushing team, statistically, across the league. The three-headed attack of Chris Carson, first-round rookie Rashaad Penny, and quarterback Russell Wilson, kept defenses on its heels while playing ball-control offense. The Cowboys, however, limited Carson to just 1.5 yards per carry. The Seahawks, as a team, were held to a total of 73 yards on the ground for the full four quarters. The Hot Boyz have been among the best across the NFL this season, but it was easy to see that the group led by DeMarcus Lawrence wanted to set the tone early and often on Saturday against a potent rushing attack. Now, Kris Richard and the Cowboys defense have a similar, yet more dynamic, challenge on its hands.Enter the Los Angeles Rams, led by running back Todd Gurley. Gurley, who was a challenger for this season’s rushing title, found the end zone an impressive 17 times on the ground in 2018 — in addition to four more scores as a receiver in Sean McVay’s offense. Chris Carson is a handful, but it is clear that Gurley offers more ways to hurt defenses and the Cowboys must be prepared for that.Making the Rams one-dimensional is key if the Cowboys are going to come out of the Coliseum with a win and a berth in the NFC title game for the first time since the mid-90’s. Jared Goff began the season on fire Youth Dak Prescott Jersey , but has come back down to earth since the team’s bye week earlier in the season. While still a good quarterback in McVay’s scheme, the Cowboys should have opportunities to make things hard for Goff on Saturday evening, and that should only increase if the Dallas run defense from the Seattle game travels to the West Coast.The Cowboys received big performances from Antwaun Woods — three tackles, including a TFL — and Maliek Collins — four tackles, one TFL, one sack — against the Seahawks, which played a role in the season continuing for at least another week. Dallas is hoping that Collins, banged up with an ankle injury, is able to go against L.A.; meanwhile. Woods appears to be excited to return to the stadium where he played his college football. Gurley is going to get his — after all, he is averaging nearly six yards each time he touches the football in addition to his league-high 21 scores, despite missing the season’s final two games. While Dallas may not be able to have a repeat performance of holding their opponent’s top back to less than two yards per carry, Kris Richard and Rod Marinelli’s unit have what it takes to make things hard for the Rams’ rushing attack.On the other side, Dallas will have the challenge of running the football against the Rams’ defensive line and front seven in Hollywood. The bad news for Ezekiel Elliott and the Dallas offensive line is that Aaron Donald, Ndamukong Suh, and Michael Brockers will likely look to make a statement on their home turf. The good news, though, for the Cowboys is that the Rams are statistically the worst defense in the league against the run — surrendering 122.3 rushing yards per contest and 5.1 yards per carry. There was some concern going into the Seattle game in regards to the health of Su’a-Filo, but as mentioned previously, Williams played well last weekend. This Saturday, however, will be a bigger challenge against a pair of stud interior defensive linemen — including the best in the league. But that can be said for any lineman, especially a rookie. The statistics actually say that the Cowboys are better throwing the ball when Williams is on the field.It should also be beneficial to have some continuity on the offensive line as Dallas continues its playoff run. If the Cowboys can have anywhere near the kind of success on the ground that it did versus Seattle, things should open up for Dak Prescott against a secondary with notable playmakers such as Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters. The Cowboys will have opportunities to attack the Rams through the air, as L.A. gives up nearly eight yards per pass attempt. The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen dove into some of the key matchups of the Cowboys-Rams battle, including how Amari Cooper should give Dallas some advantages.In order for the Cowboys to exploit those matchups and opportunities Dak Prescott Jersey Stitched , the offensive line must hold up in both the run game and in pass protection versus a front that has more than one playmaker. Aaron Donald can wreck games, but it may come down to how the Cowboys block and defend the rest of the Rams’ front seven.So while the headlines will be about the 2016 draft’s No. 135 pick, Dak Prescott, versus the draft’s No. 1 pick, Jared Goff, or two of the best running backs in the league — Ezekiel Elliott, the league’s leading rusher for the second time in three seasons, and Todd Gurley, this season’s first-team All-Pro back — the game will come down to the battle between the offensive and defensive lines. Which side will be up for the challenge?Cowboys defense will have to step up their game on the road against the Texans The Cowboys defensive line, or self-proclaimed “Hot Boyz,” have yet another matchup against a struggling offensive line when they visit the Houston Texans Sunday night. Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson has been sacked 17 times but also has been hit 43 times in the first month of football. Though Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills has been sacked the most at 21, nobody has a higher combined sack-to-hits ratio than Watson. This certainly looks to be a favorable matchup for the Cowboys against an overmatched Texans line. Well, over the last two games, the “Hot Boyz” have cooled off from that six-sack night against the Giants. Those six sacks of Eli Manning occupy 43% of the season total of 14.The NFL’s sack-leader, DeMarcus Lawrence, has 5.5 sacks and that makes up 39.3% of the total. The other defensive linemen on the roster have four sacks combined at 28.6%. The linebackers have the other 4.5 sacks, around 32.1%. Getting sacks is certainly a team effort, some come from great coverage on the back end, others, like a few picked up against Matt Stafford, were from twists or stunts by the defensive tackles. Speaking of defensive tackles, the news isn’t getting better for Houston as David Irving likely makes his return. Irving may take some time to get acclimated after a four-game suspension. However, this is the same guy that returned in week five of last season and recorded six sacks in his first four games. Nobody will be happier to have Irving back in the rotation than Lawrence, who was a one-man show last week against the Lions. If they get good news regarding Maliek Collins too, they could be loaded.Still Youth Amari Cooper Jersey , the Texans may look like prime rib for these hungry rushers but we thought the same thing about the Seahawks in week three. At that time, Russell Wilson had been sacked a league-high 12-times in two games or roughly 15% of the time he dropped back to pass. With superb effort by Seattle’s tight ends chipping Lawrence and Wilson’s elusiveness, the Cowboys came away with seven QB hits but only two sacks. Against the Lions, Lawrence got three sacks but only one other “Hot Boy” registered a hit. Now, that was minor compared to a secondary that developed a habit of giving up chunk plays, but pressure is a related variable in this equation. Our own, RJ Ochoa mentioned that the Cowboys are 32nd in the league in takeaways with just two fumbles and not a single interception. It’s been a trend for the Cowboys since their second-place finish in 2014 but they couldn’t get pressure to save their lives that season. The Cowboys have literally flipped that script, ranking third in sacks but dead last in takeaways. By not taking the ball away, pressure is the lifeline for this defense at the moment. The Cowboys got nine of their sacks in the first two weeks but only five in the last two. To be fair, they did just face two of the upper-echelon passers and it reflects in their defensive rankings since we last visited them:2018 DEFTot. Yds PPGPass DRush DDEF. Yds/DrPts/DrDSREven after giving up six passes of 20+ yards in two games, this defense hasn’t moved much in terms of total yards. They have seen a significant increase in points given up but still remain in the Top-10 there. In the Cowboys first two games, opponent’s averaged 14.5 points, but it’s jumped to 24 in each of these last two. The reason this is a tad concerning is because both opponent’s were averaging under 24 points on offense before they played the Cowboys. Sure, we can hang some big plays on this secondary and this line has been thinner on the inside with a few injuries. With that said, the lack of consistent pressure is certainly a worthy contributor to these increases in big plays and points scored. So let’s revisit this week’s opponent, the Texans, and see how they matchup with the Cowboys defense overall:NFL RanksTotal YardsPPGPassRun3rd Down Pct.Houston’s offense is averaging 24 points per game, right where the Cowboys threshold has been in the last two weeks. The Texans also are a Top-10 passing and rushing offense which is something the Cowboys defense will have to be concerned with limiting. On top of that, both of the Cowboys losses were to teams with mobile quarterbacks. Now, let’s look at the Texans offensive drive stats versus the Cowboys defensive drive stats from Football Outsiders:Drive StatsYds/DrPts/DrDSRThe Cowboys defense has clear advantages according to the drive charts but none of that matters if they can’t get them off the field in this game. This is only the second game the Texans have played at home, they lost the first one to the Giants 27-22. The Cowboys have uncharacteristically lost two on the road and won their home games. SplitsGames PlayedAvg. PPGTotal Yards Avg.Avg. SacksAvg. Pass YdsAvg. Run Yds3rd Down %These “Hot Boyz” are only averaging 2.5 sacks on the road and that has to change against a team like this. Another thing that has to change is that third-down percentage, the Cowboys can’t allow them to convert at that rate. The Texans’ offense is not nearly as bad as their record would indicate.All of these tables show that the Texans offense is more than capable of racking up yards and points. Deshaun Watson is at his best when he can extend plays but he almost has to because of poor protection. This will also be one of the best receiving corps they have faced. They have DeAndre Hopkins in the Top-10 but also Will Fuller and Keke Coutee in the Top-100 in receiving this season. The Cowboys can’t allow Watson to do to their defense what Cam Newton and Russell Wilson did. This can’t turn into a Watson-to-Hopkins show either. They must get consistent pressure on this quarterback and it’s time for other Cowboys to step up and perform.

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