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Week 6 NFL Preview

10/09/2007

PATRIOTS & COWBOYS -- BOTH 5-0 -- SQUARE OFF;

ONLY FIFTH TIME IN HISTORY TWO 5-0 OR BETTER CLUBS MEET

It has all the makings of a memorable game.

It will certainly be a rare one when the New England Patriots travel to the Dallas Cowboys this Sunday. Both teams are 5-0. Clubs with those records or better have met only four times in NFL history. And two of those games came in the first three years of the league (1921 and 1923).

“We’re 5-0,” says Patriots quarterback TOM BRADY. “You can’t do much better than that.”

No, you can’t at this point in the season. And let’s not forget the Indianapolis Colts, the NFL’s third 5-0 team, who have a bye this week. The Colts are the “masters” of 5-0, attaining the record in four of the past five seasons.

Teams with at least 5-0 records that have played each other:

5-Oh!

DATE
TEAMS/RECORD
RESULT

November 13, 1921
Akron Pros (7-0) at Buffalo All-Americans (6-0)
0-0 Tie

November 4, 1923
Canton Bulldogs (5-0) at Chicago Cardinals (5-0)
Bulldogs 7, Cardinals 3

October 28, 1973
Los Angeles Rams (6-0) at Minnesota Vikings (6-0)
Vikings 10, Rams 9

October 24, 2004
New York Jets (5-0) at New England Patriots (5-0)
Patriots 13, Jets 7


Some of the intriguing games being played in Week 6:


NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (5-0) at DALLAS COWBOYS (5-0)


STORYLINE: Pick your scenario!

They’re all fascinating. Brady vs. Romo. Moss vs. Owens. No. 1 (Pats) vs. No. 2 (’Boys) NFL point-producers. No. 1 (’Boys) vs. No. 2 (Pats) NFL offenses.

Wow!

But slow down, says New England CB ELLIS HOBBS. “Let’s not make more of it than it is,” he says. “We think of it as a big game because it’s the next game. This is not, quote, unquote, a Super Bowl matchup.”

But it will sure seem like one. You have the league’s top two TD tossers who were their respective conference’s September Offensive Player of the Month – New England’s TOM BRADY (16) and Dallas’ TONY ROMO (13). Brady (in his first game in Dallas) is only the second NFL quarterback to throw at least three TD passes in each of a season’s first five games (STEVE YOUNG, 1998), and can become the first to do it in the first six games. Romo, in his second season as a starter, has set a Dallas record for most consecutive 300-yard games (3) and the club record for most such games in a season (4).

You also have the game-turning, No. 81-wearing wide receivers known for their performances on big stages – New England’s RANDY MOSS (tied for the league lead with seven TD catches) and Dallas’ TERRELL OWENS. They have
totaled six touchdown receptions (Moss, 4; Owens, 2) in the three games in which they have faced each other. In those games, they combined for 39 catches for 541 yards.

That all said, the tight ends could be the game-deciders. JASON WITTEN leads the Cowboys in catches and touchdowns (29 and 4) and BENJAMIN WATSON (5) is second to Moss in TDs. Both come off 100-yard games.


HOUSTON TEXANS (3-2) at JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS (3-1)

STORYLINE: Oh, no – the Texans!

That’s what the Jaguars have to be thinking about their AFC South rivals. Since the Texans came into the league in 2002, they have beaten the Jaguars six out of the 10 times they have played, including a sweep last year.

“We know the Texans own us,” says Jaguars DT JOHN HENDERSON. “They play their hearts out when they play us.”

Last year, in their second win in four weeks over the Jags, Houston intercepted QB DAVID GARRARD four times.

But now it’s 2007 and Garrard and Tampa Bay’s JEFF GARCIA are the only ranked QBs in the league without an interception. Houston QB MATT SCHAUB has led the team to the seventh-ranked passing offense in the league, but the Texans’ rushing game will definitely be tested. The Jags held Kansas City to 10 rush yards last week.


WASHINGTON REDSKINS (3-1) at GREEN BAY PACKERS (4-1)

STORYLINE: Favre and league’s No. 1 passing offense against one tough defense.

He’s had a great year, but last week those pesky pickoffs returned for Packers QB BRETT FAVRE. His two in the second half – doubling his season total – enabled Chicago to rally for Green Bay’s first loss of the year. Now the Pack takes on the league’s third-ranked defense of the Redskins, whose simplified schemes this year have produced positive results -- most important of which are the fewest touchdowns allowed in the league (4).

The ’Skins limited the NFL’s top pass offense of Detroit last week to 76 yards, with five sacks by four different players. And they didn’t blitz. “They just pinned their ears back, came at us with their front four and played coverage,” said Lions QB JON KITNA. “They made it really difficult to move the football.”

But…Favre is Favre. “It’s hard to believe he’s playing at 38,” says Redskins head coach JOE GIBBS. “He looks 18.”


NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (0-4) at SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (3-2) (Sunday night, NBC, 8:15 PM ET)

STORYLINE: No better time to get on track than on national television!

The Saints are looking for their first win. The Seahawks are looking to start a winning streak to replace their somewhat start-and-stop beginning to the season.

Although a loss is a loss, New Orleans was just edged by Carolina in Week 5, 16-13. QB DREW BREES was not sacked and completed more than 60 percent of his passes (for 252 yards). But even with a marked advantage in time of possession and yardage, New Orleans could not produce a cushion of points. That’s why head coach SEAN PAYTON is considering lineup changes, which “sometimes can be a good thing,” says Saints LB SCOTT FUJITA.

Brees will have to be particularly wary of LB JULIAN PETERSON, whose four sacks in his last two games place him second (6.0) in the league behind the Giants’ OSI UMENYIORA (7.0). “If you don’t scheme for him, if you don’t set something up to stop him and you give him room, he’s going to get his sacks,” says 49ers head coach MIKE NOLAN.



NEW YORK GIANTS (3-2) at ATLANTA FALCONS (1-4) (Monday night, ESPN, 8:30 PM ET)
STORYLINE: Plaxico, meet DeAngelo.

That should certainly be one of the interesting matchups of the night. Giants WR PLAXICO BURRESS, tied with New England’s Moss (7) for the league lead in touchdown receptions, will spend the night battling speedy DE ANGELO HALL. The Falcons’ CB has two interceptions and had an INT-TD return wiped out by penalty in the team’s last four Monday night games (and a 56-yard fumble-return TD last Sunday).

Atlanta, with JOEY HARRINGTON at QB, will have to prepare for New York’s wreak-havoc sack alignment in which oftentimes speedy defensive ends exclusively make up the DL. Last week, the Giants had three interceptions against the Jets and closed the game with 21 unanswered points.

New York has not lost in Atlanta since 1978, winning six in a row as the road team.


Good Luck!