This Week
The New England Patriots visit the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Staduim in Irving TX at 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. Many in the media are saying the “Duel in Dallas” is a Super Bowl preview. This is the first time since 2004 two undefeated teams who are at least 5-0 have met. The teams are two of three unbeaten teams left in the league. Indianapolis is also 5-0.
The Patriots are 2-0 on the road this season, with wins against the Jets and Bengals. This is their first game this season against a NFC team. The Cowboys are 2-0 at home and 1-0 against AFC teams after a road win in Buffalo.
Here are the rosters for the Patriots and Cowboys.
The Line/Prediction
As of Friday the line on the game from Yahoo Sports is Patriots -5.5. The over/under is 53.
My prediction is Patriots 31, Cowboys, 24. Give the points and take the over. I am 5-0 against the spread and have called the over/under four out of five times in 2007.
Tickets
The game is reported as a sell out.
Tickets to game, if available, may be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here. Many times tickets are released in the last 48 hours prior to the game.
Getting To The Game
If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game in the “Big D” make sure you check out the links.
Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from weather.com.
Click for stadium directions, parking information, parking map and a Dallas Stadium seating chart.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television
CBS is televising the game, it is cleared for most of the county. The play-by-play duties will be handled by Jim Nantz with Phil Simms doing game analysis. You can check here to see if you are getting the game from CBS and look for your local CBS Station.
Radio
The Patriots Rock Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBCN-FM 104.1 in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriot Gino Capelleti does the color.
It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Scott Zolak and Andy Gresch and the pregame show at 1 p.m. along the network.
The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours.
Check this out for the low down on the Patriots Rock Radio Network and stations in your area.
If you are outside of the broadcast area of the stations on the Patriots Rock Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass which allows you to listen to any NFL game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.
All NFL games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio. The Patriots radio call is available on Channel 122, the Cowboys radio call is available on Channel 123.
The game can also be heard nationally on Westwood One. Harry Kalas and Jim Fassel handle the announcing duties.
Last Week
Neither team was impressive as the Patriots pulled away from the Browns 34-17 at home to improve to 5-0. The Cowboys over came Tony Romo’s five interceptions and one lost fumble to nip the Bills, 25-24 on a last second field goal on the road to move to 5-0.
History
This is the 10th meeting between the teams, the first since 2003 when the Patriots won 12-0 at Gillette Stadium over a Bill Parcells coached Dallas squad.
The Patriots are 0-4 in Dallas and the Cowboys hold a 7-2 series advantage. The Patriots have won the last two matchup’s after having dropped the first seven.
The Cowboys beat the Patriots, 44-21 in the first ever game played at Texas Stadium on October 24, 1971.
Connections
- Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones were among eight new members named to the board of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame last month.
- Patriots strength and conditioning coach Mike Woicik held the same position at Dallas from 1990-96. Woicik has more Super Bowl rings than any player or head coach in NFL history: three with the Cowboys (’92, ’93, ’95) and three with the Patriots.
- Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel and Cowboys wide receiver Terry Glenn were teammates at Ohio State from 1993-95. Glenn was originally drafted by the Patriots with the seventh pick of the 1996 NFL Draft.
- Patriots center Dan Koppen played on the same offensive line as Cowboys tackle Marc Colombo for four years at Boston College. Colombo is a native of Bridgewater, Mass.
- From 2003-04, Patriot Laurence Maroney and Marion Barber III, of Dallas, became the first running back tandem in NCAA Division I-A history from the same team to each gain over 1,000 yards rushing in consecutive seasons when they accomplished the feat at Minnesota.
- Patriots wide receivers Sammy Morris and Wes Welker both attended Texas Tech. Morris is a native of San Antonio, Texas and plans to attend the Dallas Theological Seminary.
- Patriots defensive lineman Ty Warren and guard Billy Yates both played for Texas A&M. Warren is originally from Bryan, Texas, while Yates grew up in Fort Worth.
- Dallas has two rookies from New England schools: fullback Deon Anderson attended the University of Connecticut, while offensive tackle James Marten played for Boston College.
Other News
This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the Browns. You can also see what Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips had to say about the game in a conference call with the New England media.
Since 2003, the Patriots are 16-3 in October.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau the Patriots are just the fourth team in NFL history to win it’s first five games by 17 or more points. The last team was the 1999 St. Louis Rams, who also won their 6th game by 17 or more points.
This is the Pats first game this season against the NFC East. They will play all four division teams this year in the NFL’s schedule rotation. The last time they played the entire division in a season was in 2003 and New England went 3-1. Overall the Patriots are 10-22 vs. the NFC East.
Since 2001, the Patriots are 23-4 against NFC teams, they have won 19 of the last 21 and the last 7 meetings in a row. The streak also includes the Patriots three Super Bowl wins.
Last season the Pats went 4-0 against the NFC and outscored those teams 111-41.
In addition to having never won in Dallas (0-4), Washington and San Francisco are the only other NFL cities the Patriots have failed to win in.
The Patriots haven’t played at Texas Stadium since the 1996 season. The Patriots have played in 28 of the other 31 NFL cities in that span. The only other cities the Patriots haven’t played in are Seattle (1993), San Francisco (1995) and Baltimore (1996). They play in Baltimore this year and are scheduled to play in Seattle and San Francisco in 2008.
This is Tom Brady’s 114th consecutive start. It is the third longest streak among NFL quarterbacks behind only Peyton Manning and Brett Favre.
This will be Brady’s first (and last) career start in Texas stadium. Brady is 20-7 in stadiums he had never played in. Texas Stadium is being replaced with a brand new facility for 2009.
The Patriots will be without defensive end Richard Seymour and wide receiver Troy Brown who are on the PUP List. Here is the injury list for the game.
We’d like to say welcome back to TE Marcellus Rivers who was re-signed Wednesday one week after being cut. This is the fourth time he has been signed by the Patriots since August. Hopefully this time he stays a few days. This does show you something though about Rivers. It shows how much he wants to be here as well as what Bill Belichick thinks of him, because if he was cut for anything but a numbers reason he wouldn’t be back. He replaced LB Chad Brown who was released.
In other roster news former Patriot QB Vinnie Testaverde signed with the Carolina Panthers on Wednesday. He was in Arizona Cardinals practice this week too.
Former Patriot defensive back Artrell Hawkins was arrested for DUI in Ohio this week after he backed into a parked car in a convenience store parking lot.
A classic was culled from the Wednesday Belichick press conference.
reporter: What is the origin of your sweatshirt?
Belichick: The origin of it? I don’t know. It’s comfortable. I can carry my stuff in my pouch here, whatever I need.
In case you are in a fog Belichick takes more grief over his hooded sweatshirts and lack of fashion sense for looking like a hobo than possibly anything else.
News from this weeks opponent:
Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips is denying comments attributed to him by Sport Illustrated’s Peter King for HBO’s “Inside the NFL”, about the Patriots and their Super Bowl titles being tainted.Â
Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will be facing the Patriots for the first time in his career. He has how ever played against a Bill Belichick coached team in last years Pro Bowl Game. He will need to be on his game because if he throws five picks and coughs up the ball there’s no way Dallas wins the game this week.
The Cowboys have the third most points in the NFL after five weeks, but you have to wonder which Dallas team will show up on Sunday. The one who barely beat the Giants, 45-35 and the Bills, 25-24 or the one that dismantled the Dolphins (37-20), Bears (34-10) and Rams (35-7). Meanwhile they are facing the team who has the most points scored in the league.
Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens decided he didn’t want to talk to any reporters this week until after the game on Sunday. So Owens decided to leave them a note taped to his locker. His note said:
“Dear Reporters,”Due to the magnitude of this week’s game and high volume of questions for the Original 81 about the other 81. I will be taking all questions immediately following Sunday’s game.
“Sincerely, (followed by Owens’ signature)
“p.s. Getcha Popcorn Ready.”
UConn grad and rookie fullback Deion Anderson plays for the Cowboys.
The world famous Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have their own TV show on CMT titled “The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Squad 2“.
Next Week
The Patriots visit the Miami Dolphins at Dolphins Stadium in Miami, FL. Game time is at 1 p.m. and will be carried regionally by CBS and heard along the Patriots Rock Radio Network.
