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2010-2011 Regular Season: Clash Of The
Titans
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- October 9,
2010
At 10:48 AM CST
By Eric M. Scharf
The Dallas Cowboys must feel like they have been seeing double
facing the past and the future of NFL football in Houston two weeks
in a row.
The Cowboys are preparing to clash with the Tennessee Titans this
Sunday fresh off hounding Houston for their first win of the
season and a timely bye week of rest, research, and readiness.
Desperate Times Call For
Desperate Measures
While this game may not have been circled in red when the 2010 NFL
schedules were handed out, there is more at stake for both the
Cowboys and the Titans than anyone could have imagined at such an
early point in the season.
The Titans at 2-2 are desperate to show their 2009 season-ending
run of consecutive wins was not a fluke. The Titans are desperate to
rediscovery their offensive identity as a rushing machine with some
passing fancy mixed in. The Titans are desperate to build more
consistency and better results on an embattled defensive squad. The
Titans are desperate to take advantage of early and unexpected
missteps by the Indianapolis Colts in the competitive AFC South.
The Cowboys at 1-2 are desperate to escape the self-inflicted
problems that got them off to an 0-2 start in the first place. The
Cowboys are desperate to show their 2009 playoff performance was not
the end of something good but the beginning of something better. The
Cowboys are desperate to rediscover the balanced offensive effort
that helped get them into the 2009 playoffs in the first place. The
Cowboys are desperate to take advantage of early and expected
missteps of their division rivals in the underperforming NFC East.
The team that leaves Cowboys Stadium with a win on Sunday could
potentially find themselves atop their division whether by
aspiration or expectation.
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- Halloween Arrives Early
Sundays game suddenly has a lot more value than anyone expected
with the Cowboys and Titans having to re-evaluate and re-create
their respective approaches to the rest of the 2010 season.
A new approach which the Cowboys put on dominating display in
Houston can sometimes require dramatic changes like what can occur
when a person changes a playbook or dons a costume.
Sundays game is an opportunity to encourage the Cowboys continued
course corrections and celebrate Halloween a little early.
Sundays game will be a Clash of the Titans just like the epic
1981 feature film of the same name and there are some major
character
correlations between the film and modern day reality.
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- Jerry Jones is Zeus, as if there was
any doubt the greatest of all the mythical Greek Gods. While he is
all-powerful, he has chosen only to set the stage for a grand
competition among men and monsters providing a heavenly gridiron
venue and enough physical resources for NFL titans to engage in
battle.
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- Cowboys Stadium is Mt. Olympus, as
if there was any doubt the eighth wonder of the world and the one
place any deity would prefer to witness otherworldly physical feats
and dominating demonstrations of athletic skill and strength.
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- Tony Romo is Perseus, as if there
was any doubt the gifted swordsman, the heroic spearman, the
leader of would-be offensive conquerors. He commands his men up and
down the battlefield, claiming hectares in bunches scoring a blow
to his underworld enemies with every accurate swing of his sword and
throw of his spear.
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- Felix Jones, Marion Barber, and
Tashard Choice are Cerebus, as if there was any doubt with their three-headed running attack.
Cerebus if given the chance by its handler will maul many a
curious enemy. Three heads can be better than one and can bite
thrice as hard.
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- Jeff Fisher is Calibos, as if there
was any doubt. He will make every effort
to out-scheme, out-smart, and defeat the Cowboys with all the strange and
magical monsters at his disposal.
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- Fisher may even prod his punter into
powering a potent shot at the prehistoric-sized JumboTron.
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- Chris Johnson is Medusa, as if there
was any doubt. He will make every effort to turn Cowboys defenders
to stone with his agility and exceptional speed but the Cowboys
like other teams this season may succeed in stoning and stuffing
this monster at the line.
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- The Cowboys still will need to try
hard to triangulate and tackle on every touch Johnson receivers or
he could leave them standing still.
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- Vince Young is the giant scorpion,
as if there was any doubt. He will make every attempt to sting the
Cowboys with his mobility and arm making them pay a painful
penalty for over-committing to one battle plan versus another. If
the Cowboys try to hard to spy, they may get a mammoth pincer in the
eye.
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- Jason Witten, Miles Austin, Roy
Williams, and Dez Bryant are Pegasus, as if there was any doubt.
They became more of the even-tempered flying thoroughbred against
the Texans that Cowboys fans remembered . . . and have been
waiting to see since last season.
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- They need to focus for 60 minutes
just like any other game to keep from becoming a temperamental
bucking bronco. Will Romo be able
to manipulate his receivers as efficiently for the second straight
week? Will Romo be able to tame his receivers like Perseus was able
to tame Pegasus?
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- Jason Garrett is Bubo the mechanical
owl, as if there was any doubt. Bubo spends much of Perseus's epic
odyssey simultaneously helping and hurting his cause. Will Garrett
be able to generate another flexible and proactive offensive game plan for Romo
giving him an increasingly better chance to properly utilize his
weapons or will Garrett continue as the inconsistent Bubo?
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- Wade Phillips is the immortal Ray
Harryhausen, as if there was any doubt. He will make every effort to
put forth a monster defensive game plan that controls every trick
tried by the Titans. Will he be able to
manipulate the feared DeMarcus Ware and the rest of the Dallas
defense like the immortal Ray
Harryhausen was able to manipulate the feared Kraken?
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- Will DeMarcus Ware and the rest of
his Cowboys teammates be able to succeed where the Kraken failed?
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- Have the Cowboys as an
organization performed enough research and prepped for as much
readiness as possible?
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- Are the Cowboys as an organization
ready to turn the corner, get on a roll, and take control of the
NFC East?
Which team will deliver the goods and take advantage of a golden
opportunity in their respective division? The Cowboys or the Titans?
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- Halloween has arrived early but
which characters and creatures will the Cowboys resemble?
We shall see. We always do.
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