NFL Week 8 – Dallas Hosts Washington on MNF

Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys (-10, 48.5)

After losing their season opener at home against San Francisco, the Dallas Cowboys (6-1, 3-1 home) have posted six straight wins behind the solid play of quarterback Tony Romo, running back DeMarco Murray (who leads the league with 913 yards rushing), and the entire offensive line (which features three of the Cowboys’ last four first round draft picks).

Said Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett, “Teams have geared up to stop the run and even though they’ve done that we’ve still been able to continue to run the football and DeMarco’s a big part of that. I think he’s seeing the holes well, he’s feeling the softness well and like he always does, he finishes runs.”

After a terrible performance in week 1, Romo has been steady through the six game win streak. Most recently, he threw for 279 yards and three TDs against the Giants. On the season, Romo is completing a Chad Pennington-esque 70% of his passes. The Cowboys’ passing game has been integral to the success on the ground, as defenses can’t pack the box to stop Murray lest Romo burn them on the outside.

Said Garrett of the Giants game, “Obviously we were very productive in the passing game. We didn’t throw it that much but when we threw it I think he was 17 out of 23, averaged over 10 yards an attempt, big-time plays down the field, made a lot of little plays, his pocket presence was outstanding.”

This week, the Cowboys host the depleted Washington Redskins (2-5, 0-3 away), who are going with QB Colt McCoy under center. McCoy started the year as Washington’s third string quarterback. But with an injury to RGIII and non-stop interceptions from back-up Kirk Cousins, McCoy is now the man in Washington. The former Cleveland Brown, who replaced Cousins at halftime last Sunday, threw for 128 yards and a touchdown as he led Washington to a comeback win over Tennessee.

Said McCoy, “I would say I’m older, maybe a little bit stronger. I think I’ve learned from my past experiences and watched a lot of good quarterbacks play and hopefully by doing that you naturally gain a little bit of confidence even though you’re standing on the sidelines.”

As confident as McCoy may feel, he’s bound to run into issues against the Dallas defense, which has outperformed all expectations this season. And even if McCoy can put up points, the high-scoring Cowboys offense looks set for another big game against a Washington D that gives up over 26 points per game (25th in the league).

With that in mind, lay the points and take Dallas.

(Photo credit: AJ Guel (Flickr) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped from its original.)