2007 Dallas Cowboys Preview

2007 Dallas Cowboys preview from MadduxSports.com. Once this years football season kicks off don't miss Maddux's NFL Picks. as well as our NFL odds page so all visitors can line shop the weekly point spreads.

'07 Brings Big Expectations in Big D
By Adam Barone

With Bill Parcells as sick of T.O. as everyone else, the Cowboys will have a new head coach to replace him and new scheme in 2007. Wade Phillips, the former defensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers, will bring a 3-4 scheme that will require two pass rushing outside linebackers. OLB DeMarcus Ware is incredibly athletic and had 11.5 sacks with 2 TDs in 2006, but the team felt that he needed a counterpart on the left side for the 3-4.

In order to bolster their new scheme, the Boys selected Anthony Spencer out of Purdue. Spencer played end in college, but will be moved to OLB where he should start out seeing time in nickel pass rush situations. Once he learns the new position and gets comfortable with the speed of the NFL, Spencer is expected to be a 10-15 sack-per-season guy.

With Terry Glenn getting up in age, T.O. creating his typical headlines and Patrick Crayton not quite producing to his potential, the Cowboys selected Washington Huskies' QB Isaiah Stanback with the intention of moving him to WR in order to bring some depth to the position. Stanback is extremely quick and has an ability to make defenders miss in the open field. He'll be learning a new position, but with his athleticism it should be an easy transition, similar to that of San Francisco's Arnaz Battle who played quarterback at Notre Dame.

Tony Romo made a big impression in his first season as the starter in 2006, but will have to prove that it was not a fluke. He has a nice set of weapons at his disposal with WR's Terrell Owens, Terry Glenn, Patrick Crayton, rookie Isaiah Stanback, a pair of TE's in Jason Witten and second year man Anthony Fasano. He will also be supported by a solid running game with the duo of RB's Julius Jones and Marion Barber forming a lightening/thunder, big play/goal line combination. Jones topped 1000 yards on the ground in '06 but scored only 4 TD's, while Barber ran for only 650 yards and crossed the goal line 14 times. It would be nearly impossible to find a pair of NFL runners who compliment each other more completely than the Dallas duo.

Though the folks in Dallas would surely disagree, the Cowboys have become a rather boring team. This is not to say that they will not be competitive just as they were in 2006. Romo completed an impressive 65% of his passes last season with a TD/ INT ratio of 19/13. Now that some of the hype has died down and he's not rumored to be dating Jessica Simpson or expected to be the next Roger Staubach, he can focus entirely on bringing America's team back to greatness. Having started only 10 games in 2006, his 19 TD projects in a full 16 game season to around 30, a number the Cowboys would be very satisfied with.

2007 Dallas Cowboys Predictions

Some sports handicapping sites could pick the Cowboys to win the NFC East, a division which they should be able to take. Their primary competition will be the Giants, but they will be without Tiki Barber. Though their defense ranked 13th in the NFL in 2006, they will be adjusting to a new system. Also, without a legitimate star/go-to guy in the backfield on offense, the Cowboys may struggle at times. Expect the majority of their games to be extremely close and pay especially close attention to all factors when betting in either direction.

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