I bought a weed whacker and a leaf blower for $15 yesterday, and they both run like a top. Fall is in the air, and it’s time for this old columnist to clean up the yard. The old whacker has gone on the fritz, and I always wanted a leaf blower, so I pulled the trigger on this ‘classified ad special.’ The gas-powered blower says it cranks out 200 mph of concentrated wind, and I can think of several ways to harness this potential for my benefit.
I hope Coach Sanders and the defense bring a hurricane-force blitz on Tony Romo, Sunday night. While I wasn’t sold on him early on, I now count Romo as The Real Deal and one of the better quarter-backs in the league. If he has time and is comfortable in the pocket, he’ll shred even our secondary, which is amongst the best in the game. They just have too many dangerous weapons.
I heard it put this way: Say you are working on the type-writer. If I asked you to re-type this column in one hour, you could probably do that without any mistakes, even if you aren’t a fast typer. But if I asked you to do the same thing in five minutes or less, I imagine you’d mess up quite a bit. “An erli tstss – Cowbuys Previw.” Etc.
It’s all about comfort.
Maybe you don’t type. Perhaps you play chess. Now I don’t play with one of them fancy tournament clicker clocks, but you can see where I’m going. If you have five minutes to ponder your next move, you’re less likely to put yourself in a tough spot. But, start that timer clicking and force yourself to move NOW, and sure enough, you’ll find yourself check-mated more often.
Point is, when a person gets uncomfortable, they are more likely to make mistakes. The Packers defense needs to make Tony Romo hear the clicking clock. They need him to move that Bishop before he sees the trap un-fold.
One of the major changes made during the off-season was the implementation of several new ‘exotic blitzing schemes.’ Now we haven’t seen much of them because we haven’t needed them, but I believe we will on Sunday. While our defensive line will be important in this regard, our supremely-talented linebackers will play a key role in bringing the heat on Mr. Romo, and by extension, on their receivers.
Probably most people who follow the league think the Cowboys will win this game easily, but I think it will be closer than most think, and I do think the Packers have a good chance of winning.
The game is at Lambeau, and that is going to tilt the field in our favor dramatically, compared to last year’s match. The deciding factor, however, will likely be the turn-over differential. First off, we need to play smart and protect the ball. If we have a stupid fumble in a crucial part of the game, or an interception, it will make it very hard for us to compete. Conversely, if we can bring the a-fore-mentioned heat on Mr. Romo, and force a pick or two of our own, I think we will give our team a huge advantage.
Win or lose, the way the team responds to this early test will be telling as to the progress of our young roster. So long as we don’t have a mid-game lull like we did last week against the Lions, I like our chances quite a bit.
And if things don’t go our way, Coach McCarthy can always call on me to run on the field with my wind-machine. I’m guessing such a powerful unit would knock Jason Witten right on his hinder. Vroom vroom! Mark it, folks: Cowboys 21, Packers 24. Until next week, then.
