Brett's Cowboys Corner

This is where it all began for the Houston Texans in 2002. Playing their state rival the Dallas Cowboys. They call it the Battle for the Governor’s Cup. The Cowboys currently ‘hold’ the cup, with the more recent win in 2022, 27-23.

The Cowboys will be looking for a win, primarily to keep ugly statistics away from them. There is nothing worse than your own home stadium being a place where you can’t play. The Cowboys have not scored a touchdown in two months at AT&T Stadium. They also have not won a home game since December of 2023.

This may be a defensive showcase, the Cowboys defense had a nice first half against the Eagles last week, and now they need to do a little bit more to give them the edge over Houston.

• Lance will likely get some snaps this week, hopefully more than last week. I don’t need him to throw anything crazy. Just come in and run the read option and maybe quick screens on short yardage plays.
• The defense needs points, they will turn to their leader in Micah Parsons. I need a similar multiple sack performance with another forced fumble. This time we need to find the endzone with it.
• The Cowboys need all the help they can get to find the endzone. The speed of Turpin could be a weapon here, but this is really for the return game. We need to get good field position on returns, and maybe Turpin can find the endzone.

• Tank Dell will be back in the slot, with no Jourdan Lewis, there is no telling who the Cowboys will line up against him. But it will be someone who hasn’t played slot corner this year and maybe ever in their career.
• Mixon has an opportunity to perform like other backs have at AT&T Stadium. The Texans can go to the run early and see if the running back will regulate this game and help keep turnover opportunities to a minimum.
• This could go to the entire defensive line, but Hunter has generated a league high of 62 pressures this season, and he will see snaps against Steele and likely Guyton on Monday.

1 – More Yards Per Attempt.

2 yards per attempt against the Eagles from Cooper Rush. With less than 50 passing yards on the day, that is unacceptable. Those are bad numbers in preseason games let alone regular season.

I would be in favor of a conservative offense if it meant no turnovers. The Cowboys still found a way to turn it over 5 times last week. So let’s up the aggression a bit more this week. Let Cooper sling it around and see what happens. You can’t go any deeper, as this may be rock bottom.

Hopefully this week the coaching staff figured out a game plan to use more intermediate route concepts and will try to get playmakers the ball early.

2 – Defense Needs Points.

The defense had a great performance last week, they really stunned the Eagles early. Of course it didn’t hold up in the 2nd half but I would put that more on the exhaustion of doing everything right and the offense failing you.

Parsons forced a fumble and Liufau recovered it at the SIX!

Six yards from the endzone and the offense failed to make a touchdown. This week the defense is going to have to do it themselves. I think if we see a Cowboys victory we will also be talking about an incredible defensive effort and a touchdown from the unit.

They had 5 sacks in the first half…need that again. An endzone interception and two forced fumbles.

3 – Make Stroud Uneasy.

In the film breakdown, we discussed how the offensive line for the Texans has caused a lot of issues for CJ Stroud. Making him more of a gunslinger as he is running around for his life.

The defense at the very least needs to force from ill-advised decisions from Stroud. This will help turnovers come more naturally. We can’t let their offense get comfortable and kill us with Joe Mixon and friends.

4 – Let Rico Cook.

“You have to get him the ball. That’s my focus to continue to get him opportunities. He’s the lead back. I thought he had a really good first half, and I think that’s really illustrated by the attempts. Rico needs to touch the ball.” Said Coach McCarthy.

Regardless if we are 11 weeks in and just no figuring out the lead back. The running back by committee doesn’t really work in the NFL. You have to have a rotation system. Goal-line backs, change of pace backs, receiving backs. If you just throw one out randomly there’s no rhythm that can be built. But now we can let Rico run…hopefully this helps the offense and takes some pressure off Cooper Rush.

Another way to take pressure off Cooper Rush, is to integrate Trey Lance with some read option plays earlier. Its okay to bring him out on a random third and short and let him use his legs.

5 – Overcome The Injuries.

The Final Key…

Overcome this injury report. 18 guys started on the report this week, add 1 more as Ceedee Lamb was a late addition and will unlikely play Monday.

Still no Bland, and now losing Jourdan Lewis who would of had to guard Tank Dell in the slot. What is your secondary? Tyler Guyton should be back at left tackle, but we could see Asim Richards again or maybe the return of Chuma Edoga.