First Look: Rams travel to Dallas to face Cowboys

[CGI_Ram]

First Look: Rams travel to Dallas to face Cowboys

An early preview of Sunday's game between the Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Cowboys.

www.therams.com

First Look: Rams travel to Dallas to face Cowboys

The Los Angeles Rams will take a break from NFC West play this week with a road game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday in a rematch of last year's divisional playoff game.

In advance of the contest, here’s an early look at the Cowboys, including notable additions, their top statistical performers in their most recent game, where they rank in certain statistical categories and key storylines.

Notable additions

• Signed kicker Kai Forbath on Monday. Brett Maher's recent and season-long struggles – he was 20 of 30 on field goal attempts through the first 13 games of the season – prompted the Cowboys to make a change and turn to Forbath as his replacement. Forbath has kicked in only one game so far this season, making a 23-yard field goal and going 1 of 2 on extra point attempts for the Patriots against the Texans on Dec. 1.
• Traded for defensive end Robert Quinn in March. A familiar name to Rams fans having spent his first seven NFL seasons with the club, Quinn was acquired from the Dolphins this spring in exchange for a 2020 sixth-round draft pick. Though Quinn was suspended for two games this season, he's still on pace to finish with double-digit sacks for the first time since 2014.

Top performers in Week 14

Quarterback Dak Prescott completed 27 of 49 pass attempts for 334 yards and one touchdown in a 31-24 loss to the Bears on Thursday Night Football.

Running back Ezekiel Elliott handled almost all of the work for the Cowboys backfield with a team-high 19 carries for 81 yards and two touchdowns. Prescott (three for one yard) was the only other player to record a rushing attempt.

Tight end Blake Jarwin and wide receivers Michael Gallup and Amari Cooper each led Dallas with six receptions; Jarwin tallied 50 receiving yards, while Gallup had 109 and Cooper 83.

Defensively, safety Darian Thompson recorded a team-best nine tackles and added one sack.

On special teams, Maher made 1 of 2 field goal tries and all three of his extra point attempts.

Rankings

Offense

• Points Per Game: 9th (25.7)
• Yards Per Game: 1st (430.8)
• Passing Yards Per Game: 1st (306.8)
• Rushing Yards Per Game: 10th (124.1)

Defense

• Points Allowed Per Game: 12th (20.5)
• Yards Allowed Per Game: 9th (326.2)
• Passing Yards Allowed Per Game: 7th (216.4)
• Rushing Yards Allowed Per Game: 19th (109.8)

Early storylines to watch, and what they mean for the Rams

The Cowboys enter this week as one of the more fascinating teams in the NFL.

They're one of the league's most talented teams, as their statistical rankings in several key categories show and narrowly lost to several teams scheduled to qualify for the playoffs. Still, their corresponding 6-7 record is enough for a share of first place in their division with the Eagles, and, thanks to their Week 7 win over Philadelphia, they own the head-to-head tiebreaker for the fourth seed in the NFC playoff picture.

Rams head coach Sean McVay said Monday that record doesn't reflect the kind of team the Cowboys are. They have one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL and plenty to play for in front of a home crowd on Sunday, so Los Angeles should expect a highly-motivated Dallas squad that won't make L.A.'s own continued playoff push easy.

 

[Mackeyser]

This is gonna be a good game and I like our team.

I dunno if that's a good sign as we tend to do better when I'm nervous. Then again, I got 4-5 days to get nervous...

 

[FaulkSF]

Who are the real Cowboys tho? The ones that beat up on losing teams or the ones who struggle against teams with a good record? A win against the Boys will help us on our way to attempting to secure a playoff spot. A loss may guarantee another year of horrible coaching for the Boys

 

[Zaphod]

Just watched Dallas against the bears. In my opinion Dallas really kicked their own asses with an undisciplined secondary and missed tackles everywhere.

That is one aspect of their loss to the Bears, but you really have to give the Bears defense credit for what they did.

And it is weird, right? They start off marching down the field for a quick touchdown to start the game, similar to the Bills, and then their defense got caught out on the field twice early after a turnover deep in their own end and a quick three and out by their own offense.

It's also odd that they gave up on handing the ball off to Ezekiel Elliot throughout much of the game, even though he was actually seeing so much success! Like Gurley, Elliot was making guys miss and getting a lot of yards for it.

So this game is about discipline to me. Will McVay keep himself grounded and keep handing off the ball to Gurley? The same goes for Jason Garrett, will he keep handing off the ball to Elliott instead of throwing the ball into the teeth of this underrated (and relatively new look with Ramsey and Hill) Rams defense?

About those missed tackles? We all know that Gurley and Elliott are going to make some guys miss, it's what they do. But the Cowboys could clean that up and surprise us relative to their last two performances defensively.

I can tell you that the Cowboys do know that they can and should beat our Rams, just as we feel the same of them. Fuck the 49ers, they're not as good as their record, and the Cowboys are better than theirs, while the Rams are still trying to figure out who the hell they are, and getting hot while they're at it.

This game is going to be about meticulous game planning, execution and discipline above all.

 

[RamWoodie]

This is gonna be a war! Make no bones about it. Philly just caught Dallas in the standings and Dallas will be on the ropes with a loss.

We know should the Rams lose this...FORGET THE PLAYOFFS!

IT'S GONNA BE A WAR...GAME ON!!!