Three to Focus on: Cowboys @ Cardinals, Week 13

A long week for the Dallas Cowboys followed by a trip to the desert to face an Arizona Cardinals team that isn’t exactly setting the league alight. With their NFC East competition falling over themselves to hand the division to them, things are looking rosy for the Cowboys. The question for Dallas now becomes are they just going to take advantage of a poor year from their NFC East mates to just claim the division, stumbling along with their rivals, or can they make something more of this season?

For the Cardinals, this season was rapidly turned into irrelevance by a string of games in which they couldn’t finish while their division rivals in San Francisco romped away with the NFC West. For now, this season is about damage limitation, playing the role of spoiler and trying to get some longer term answers as to what they have at the quarterback and running back positions and how they shape their offense moving forward. The defense is showing signs of life under new defensive coordinator Ray Horton but this has merely been another rudderless season on offense as the Cardinals still struggle to find an identity long after the departure of Kurt Warner.

This game has all the hallmarks of an easy win, and therefore a potential trap game, as a well-rested Cowboy team is presented with the opportunity to establish a two game lead in the division. Let’s take a look at the matchups that will either extend the Cowboys division lead or cause their downfall in the desert.

Levi Brown vs. DeMarcus Ware

This weekend the Cardinals are expected to welcome Kevin Kolb back to the starting lineup and without some help he will also be welcomed with open arms by Cowboys OLB DeMarcus Ware (+20.4 pass rush) as well. Every week there are mismatches along the lines all over the slate of games but this week in Arizona we get one of the most lopsided one on one matchups with Ware going up against Cardinals LT Levi Brown (-28.6 pass block). This is the matchup of one of the worst pass protectors with one of the elite pass rushers in the league as Levi Brown surely faces one of his last stern tests as a starting left tackle in the NFL before he gets dumped by the Cardinals this offseason. The last two times Ware has faced the Cardinals (2010 and 2008) he has recorded two sacks, three hits, and six pressures. Brown has already yielded 10 sacks this season and a further five hits and 33 pressures. If Ware isn’t to disrupt Kolb’s return the pairing of Todd Heap and Jeff King will need to be limiting the number of routes they run to stay in and help out in keeping Ware quiet.

Getting Wells on Track

This season Beanie Wells (+3.1 rush) has been an enigma wrapped in a riddle shrouded in mystery. In any given week he can be utterly dominant or utterly inconsequential with no common thread of which defenses he does it to. In order to neutralize the Cowboys’ pass rush the Cardinals will need Wells and the running game to be on song this Sunday. Wells’ rushing has fluctuated from as low as 20 yards on two yards per carry to as high as 228 yards on 8.4 yards per carry. That sort of output makes it tough to build your offense around Wells but there is no doubt that when he is on he is crucial. He will need the likes of Daryn Colledge (+3.2 run block) and Lyle Sendlein (+3.7 run block) to control the Cowboys at the first level to allow him to build a head of steam to be able to challenge the Cowboys inside linebackers, particularly Sean Lee (+5.5 run defense), while he is moving forward and not having to adjust his angle of attack allowing them to come downhill at him.

Can the Cowboys get Peterson before Peterson gets them?

Another Cardinal whose season has ranged from the sublime to the less than is phenom punt returner and inconsistent corner Patrick Peterson. His astounding punt return record is well documented but those big plays, four return TDs longer than 80 yards, are masking a poor first season at cornerback (-10.2 pass coverage) for the rookie out of LSU. Peterson is giving up 14.2 yards per catch and has conceded 70 yards or more in five games this season already. The Cowboys are having efficient success in the passing game and Peterson will be sternly tested by the likes of Dez Bryant (+6.8 receiving) and Laurent Robinson (+2.3 receiving) in the passing game. If the Cowboys can have early success and establish a lead they take away the threat of a big return by Peterson turning the game, but the longer they let the Cardinals hang around, the more devastating a Peterson return could be. The Cowboys should be looking to establish a lead in this game to take Peterson’s threat out of this game, or at least lessen the impact one could have.