In the Cards

Larry Fitzgerald: Better than you

This match-up against the Arizona Cardinals is very, very interesting for the Dallas Cowboys: It's really easy to determine what to do to win, but execution is entirely different story.

Not that the Cards suck or anything like that, but it's simple what they do. Can the Cowboys stop it? Let's get to it.

Five things:

Pressure
If pressure is applied to Kurt Warner, the Cowboys will more than likely win the game. Simple. Warner, under pressure, is liable to do several things: Panic and throw bad interceptions; not panic and wind up on his back; or get hurt. If he has any time to throw the ball, he's going to rip you apart.

Secondary
No Terence Newman. Pacman Jones could be making a run to Mexico or locked up in Lew Sterrett. Either way, Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick will need to keep up with some pretty salty receivers. If nothing else, the Cowboys secondary needs to make a gigantic stand in Phoenix.

Marion/Felix
A sweet way to keep Larry Fitzgerald and others off the field is to keep Tony Romo others on the field. The Cowboys lost the Redskins game because they got caught up in a passing pissing match and out of their game plan. The Cards would love to exchange long touchdown pass scores all day and force the Cowboys to out-talent them.

Receivers Without Initials of T.O.
If this season is a means of ironing out of the wrinkles in preparation, getting Patrick Crayton and Miles Austin on the same page as their quarterback has to be important because going to Jason Witten and Terrell Owens isn't going to work forever. Figure stuff out against the bad teams.

Coaching
Will Wade Phillips have this team focused? One week it's a receiver issue. The next, a cornerback issue. Then there was the Thursday press conference. It's mid-1990s era Cowboys. The difference is that Jimmy Johnson whipped those guys' asses and had them ready on Sunday. The Cowboys had better bring their A+ game Sunday or they'll lose.

Prediction
Cardinals 33, Cowboys 27
And the freak out is exacerbated.