The Dallas Cowboys must bury the painful loss against the New Orleans Saints and face the Baltimore Ravens and the reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson with a renewed attitude.
Before the Cowboys take to the field at AT&T Stadium on Sunday, let’s take a look at three keys to victory for the Cowboys:
Mental health, healing
The Cowboys will need short memories to put last week’s debacle in the drawer of eternal oblivion. Dallas must come with a fresh and positive attitude against the Ravens. The emotional drive of the team’s vocal leaders will be vital for the Cowboys to take advantage of the Ravens’ own crisis after their 0-2 start.
“For me, I look at my mistakes and it helps hold me accountable and push the guys throughout the week to get back to the basics and fundamentals, which is our priority,” linebacker Micah Parsons said Tuesday at a promotional event for Raising Cane’s. “After Sunday’s game, we need to restart, reset, and refocus and God always has a way of humbling. You never want to stay too high or too low, you have to stay neutral.”
Run baby, run
The Cowboys must figure out how to gain yards running the ball. Through two games, Dallas has run the ball 46 times for an average of 3.7 yards per carry. Rico Dowdle and Ezekiel Elliott have run 56 yards each in two games. Dallas will need a lot more from those two to beat the Ravens.
“I like what we are with our running backs,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said during his weekly radio interview with 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM). “We’ve got good depth. We just didn’t get to run them enough Sunday.”
Shadowing Lamar
The Dallas defense needs to respond quickly when Jackson tries to move the chains with his legs. The Ravens quarterback is the team’s leading rusher with 167 yards on 21 carries for an average of 8.0 yards per carry.
Against the Browns, defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer deployed second-year linebacker DeMarvion Overshown as a spy to contain quarterback Deshaun Watson.
“Yeah, he’s got good speed and we use him a couple of times as a spy so that’s him doing that was big for us,” Zimmer said
If the Cowboys’ defense keeps Jackson in check, they will have a good chance to pull out their second win of the season.
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