Game Preview: DAL at ARZ
The MATCHUP
DALLAS COWBOYS (2-0) at ARIZONA CARDINALS (0-2)
Game time: Sunday, 3:25 p.m. CST
TV/radio: FOX / Compass Media, Sirius XM-NFL, 105.3 The Fan, KVMK 107.5 La Grande (Spanish)
Broadcast teams: National TV – Joel Davis, Daryl Johnston, Pam Oliver (sideline); National Radio – Kevin Ray, Danny White; Local Radio (English) – Brad Sham, Babe Laufenberg, Kristi Scales; Local Radio (Spanish) – Victor Villalba, Luis Perez
Head Referee: Alex Kemp
Officiating Crew: Mike Morton, Danny Short, Rusty Baynes, Sean Petty, James Coleman, Scott Helverson, Mike Chase, Jamie Alferi Tuss
Last 5 Meetings:
1/2/2022 – Cardinals 25, Cowboys 22
10/19/2020 – Cardinals 38, Cowboys 10
9/25/2017 – Cowboys 28, Cardinals 17
11/2/2014 – Cardinals 28, Cowboys 17
12/4/2011 – Cardinals 19, Cowboys 13
All Time Head-to-Head: Cowboys lead series 56-34-1
WHAT’s at STAKE
The Cardinals are not a team that should beat this version of the Cowboys, but anything can happen in the NFL. The last four meetings between the two teams have gone to the visitor, and that bodes well for the Cowboys, who need to rack up wins against all the inferior teams on their schedule. Dallas needs to continue to sharpen its offense, with a gauntlet of some of the best defenses in the NFL to go through – New England, San Francisco, LA Chargers and Philadelphia, over the next five weeks. A 2-1 start, after the first two weeks, would feel like a major disappointment. 3-0 and things are right on track.
WHEN the COWBOYS HAVE the BALL
The Cowboys continue to ramp up their offense under new offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and play caller Mike McCarthy, and the Cardinals catch them as the best in the league, at least statistically, at this point in the season. The Cowboys are ready to hammer the Cardinals with a heavy dose of running back Tony Pollard. Arizona is allowing close to 110 yards rushing per game, including a 127 effort from the Giants last week. After the Cowboys hit them with the run, they will come back with a passing game that features several weapons for quarterback Dak Prescott, including CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cook and Jake Ferguson. The Cowboys offensive line will have its hands full with another of the league’s top pass rushers in Cardinals linebacker Dennis Gardeck, who has eight tackles and three sacks in their 0-2 start. We’ll see if can keep up that production against an offensive line that has given up just one sack this season but is already banged up – LG Tyler Smith (hamstring), C Tyler Biadasz (hamstring), RG Zack Martin (ankle).
WHEN the CARDINALS HAVE the BALL
The Cardinals will try to attack the Cowboys defense with quarterback Joshua Dobbs spreading the football around to running back James Connor, wide receivers Marquise Brown and Michael Wilson and tight end Zach Ertz. Connor is a real weapon, but the Cowboys showed in the first two weeks of the season that they are better at stopping the run so far this season than last year. That will put the emphasis on Dobbs even more to make it happen. But the journeyman, making just the fifth start of his career, is being asked to do a lot with very little in the passing game. Brown and Ertz are more than capable of producing, and both have against the Cowboys in the past, but neither has played a full season since joining the Cardinals. With rookie Paris Johnson Jr. manning the right tackle spot, it might be a day of learning at the hands of a Dallas defense that has devoured the Giants and Jets in the first two weeks of the season. The Cardinals lost the Giants last week, and probably aren’t as good on offense as the Jets.
KEY COWBOYS to WATCH:
C Tyler Biadasz – After being thrown in as a rookie to replace a Cowboys great, Tyler Biadasz has done a solid job for the Cowboys. He has made 35 starts in 36 games since the start of the 2021 season and has only been called for 16 penalties in 47 total games played – 9 false starts, 4 holding, 1 unnecessary roughness, 1 illegal man downfield and 1 for taunting. His hustle might be the most important part of his game. No matter the play, he never gives up on it or his assignment until he hears the whistle. Already this season that hustle has paid dividends. He chased a CeeDee Lamb completion down the field 31 yards and was able to get on the ball when it was knocked out at the moment of the tackle. Biadasz, surrounded by four other Jets, came up with a recovery that kept a drive alive that ended with a field goal and a 10-0 lead for Dallas early in the second quarter.
WR CeeDee Lamb – When they argue about who the best wide receivers in the game are, few mention CeeDee Lamb. But the numbers tell a story of greatness. Lamb put up 143 receiving yards in the Cowboys win over the Jets last Sunday, the third best day of his career and the 11th time he has gone over 100 yards receiving in 51 games played. While he is 32nd on the active list of WRs with 100-plus yard games, he is the second youngest on the list behind only Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson, who has 26 in 52 games. Lamb is an expert route runner and should continue to be the go-to guy for quarterback Dak Prescott in the passing game. He has become the all-around threat they were envisioning when Lamb fell into their laps at pick No. 17 of the 2020 draft. If teams try to double-team him, then they will have their hands full with Brandin Cooks, Michael Gallup, Jake Ferguson and Jalen Tolbert.
CB DaRon Bland – Next Man Up is exactly the mode the Cowboys cornerback room is in this week after the loss of starter Trevon Diggs for the season this week in practice. In will step Bland and the Cowboys defense should not miss a beat. That has more to do with the play of Bland than what they will miss by the absence of the league’s best DB through two games. Playing the nickel – a fifth defensive back – over the first two games of the season, Bland will slide over to the CB slot where he made several starts last year for an injured Anthony Brown. Like Diggs, Bland also has sticky fingers, grabbing five interceptions last season and one this season, that he returned for a touchdown in the win over the Giants. While Bland doesn’t quite have the size and length of Diggs, he is better than a lot of starters currently in the league. Jourdan Lewis will slide into the nickel.
KEY CARDINALS to WATCH:
WR Marquise Brown – It will be the battle of Sooners on Sunday afternoon, with Marquise Brown lining up opposite CeeDee Lamb. The 2019 first-round pick out of Oklahoma has been a big play receiver since he came into the league with Baltimore. After three years in Baltimore, Brown moved on to Arizona last season. But the injury bug bit him, limiting him to just 12 games, where he made 67 catches for 709 yards and three touchdowns. The problem for Brown is the drops. He has caught just at 62-percent of the times he has been targeted in his career. While Lamb is right at 70-percent for his career. This season has been no different for Brown. He has nine catches in 15 targets for 82 yards and one touchdown. If the Cardinals want to keep pace with the Cowboys on Sunday, Dobbs to Brown will be a key combination.
LB Kyzer White – After four seasons with the Chargers and one in Philadelphia, White plugs into the middle of the Arizona defense as the stopper they have needed. The Cardinals gave up over 2,000 yards rushing last season. Their 118 yards per game was good enough for 14th in the NFL, and they have shaved almost 10 yards per game off that this season. White had 144 tackles in his final year with the Chargers and then backed that up with 110 tackles last season in Philly, while averaging over six tackles per game in his career. This season, he has 16 tackles and one sack through the first two weeks. White will be a problem for the Cowboys running game if center Tyler Biadasz (hamstring) and right guard Zack Martin (ankle) are not at 100-percent on Sunday. He could make it a long Sunday for the Cowboys offense.
TE Zach Ertz – One of the top tight ends in the league during his 9-year run in Philadelphia, Ertz has been just a shell of his former self since arriving in Arizona before the trade deadline in the 2021 season. After playing just 10 games last season, Ertz started both games this season and has 12 catches, best on the team, on 18 targets for 77 yards, second on the team behind Brown, and three first downs. Ertz is a solid blocker in the run game, but his proficiency is in the passing game. He will be a real test for safeties Jayron Kearse and Malik Hooker, as well as nickel corner Jourdan Lewis. In his 17 career games against Dallas, Ertz has 77 catches for 735 yards and five touchdowns. His best night came in a 27-20 win for Dallas over Philadelphia, where Ertz finished with 14 catches on 16 targets for 145 yards and two touchdowns.
The BOTTOM LINE
Nothing less than a win and a 3-0 start should be acceptable for this Cowboys team. Prescott has outdueled Dobbs before, and he should do it again. The Cowboys are better in every area and that should be plenty to take care of a Cardinals team that seems to be wondering aimlessly through the desert these days. It should be a fun flight home.
Prediction: Cowboys 37, Cardinals 16