AP reports....
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by Chinnfan
By now, everyone has heard of the historic day that Adrian Peterson had last week against the so-called Monsters of the Midway in the Windy City. That moniker no longer exists thanks to the rings of fire that A.P. created as he ran like a cheetah with his tail on fire in and out of the Bears defense.
The Palestine, TX native arrives in Texas Stadium very ecstatic to put on a show, but it won't be like Chicago. Dallas has the league's 6th-ranked rush defense and when you combine Minnesota's 28th-ranked passing and receiving offense, then you get a fairly easy game plan it would seem. Dallas will be able to stack the box to contain Peterson and dare a pitiful Tarvaris Jackson to try and exploit a Dallas secondary ranked 26th in pass coverage.
This could actually turn out to be a very exciting game for Peterson and Cowboys fans. I expect Dallas to try and contain Peterson as much as they can, but this guy is so good that I can see Dallas letting A.P. have his time in the spotlight which could lead to shorter drives by the Vikings offense and allow Tony Romo and Co. to get on the field and have more opportunities to sustain drives, control the clock, and score.
Which leads to Romo.
Last week's shellacking by the Patriot's defense a week after having his worse day as a QB in Buffalo is the best thing that could have happened to Romo. In order to become a star QB in this league for many years, you have to go through those kinds of games in order to mature and grow.
Romo has now started in 16 regular-season NFL games equal to one season. His numbers compared to other Cowboys QB's after one season puts him in some pretty good company. He has 510 attempts which is third behind Danny White and Troy Aikman. His 323 completions is second behind Danny White who had 334 in 1983. Romo has passed for 4,348 yards in these sixteen games and that is #1 when you look at Danny White's 3,980 and Drew Bledsoe's 3,639. His 31 TD passes hovers over White's 29 in '83 as well.
Expect Romo to bounce back from last week's lesson and return to his old form despite what Adrian Peterson does.
Other notes and observations entering Game 7
- Dallas is allowing an average of 3.4 yards per carry. Adrian Peterson is averaging 6.3 yards per carry.
- Only Kurt Warner has more passing yards (4,353) in his first 16 games as a starting NFL quarterback than Romo since the Super Bowl era began.
- NT Tank Johnson was allowed to practice and attend meetings with the team but still cannot return to playing in NFL games until November 11th vs. the Giants in New York. Commissioner Roger Goodell is looking over Johnson's request to have his suspension reduced to 7 games which means he could play in Philadelphia on Nov. 4 following the bye week.
- CB Anthony Henry is out this week which is good news because that means he'll be ready to come back against NY and Philly following the bye week.
- Adrian Peterson is very mature as a rookie and it can probably be traced back to his tragic childhood. When he was 7, he watched a drunk driver kill his older brother. At 13, his father was sent to prison for laundering drug money (he has since been released.) This past February the day before the NFL Combine, Peterson's half-brother was shot and killed in Houston. He went on to run a 4.40 in the 40-yard dash the next day.
- My thoughts and prayers are with the Ron Springs family as they wait to see if his time to go to "the other side" is now.
- Dallas 40 Minnesota 17
