Cowboys Keys to Victory Against Jaguars

The Cowboys are sitting a 2-game losing streak and it needs to be snapped against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Three weeks ago, the Cowboys were sitting high and looking near invincible with their new look offensive line and running attack leading the way.

We need to get back to the run first mode and then let everything else feed off of that. The offensive line has been able to set the tone for the entire game, their identity has enabled DeMarco Murray to look like the second coming of Eric Dickerson, but injuries left the line beat up.

The good news is that we are getting Ron Leary and Doug Free back into the starting lineup, so we should see re-stabilization in the running attack and pass protection. We can now utilize Jeremy Parnell in the jumbo package as well.

Here are my keys to victory:

— The defense has been inconsistent in our two consecutive losses and the correlation is not surprising. So, the Cowboys need to get back on track and get the Jaguars off the field on 3rd downs.

— Force Blake Bortles into throwing INTs. Bortles has been generous with the ball, so when the chance comes, we need to capitalize on the turnovers.

— Limit Denard Robinson. The Jaguars have found some recent success with the emergence of Robinson in the running game and screen game, so we’ll need to wrangle him and get back to the fundamentals of solid tackling. I don’t want to see any whiffs in this game. Make the tackle, not the highlight reel hit.

— DeMarcus Lawrence vs Luke Joeckel. Lawrence will get his second game under his belt, and it would be nice to see him record his first sack of the year, and build off that during the game and the rest of the season.

— Brandon Carr needs to step up. Through 9 games Carr has been exposed and looks very average out there. He’ll need to turn his game around or we could see a change there.

— Piggybacking off the above; I want to see more Tyler Patmon on the field and see if his playmaking can be consistent; if so, Patmon could push for a full-time starting role on defense.

— Dez Bryant will need to get going early and will need to finish strong. We cannot have Dez disappear during the course of the game. If we can get Dez the ball and let him make plays, we’ll be in good shape for the game.

— Beasley vs Escobar. We have two camps: One that want more Beasley, and one that wants more Escobar. I’m in the Escobar camp. We used a high pick and we are not utilizing his mis-match potential and it’s mind blowing to me. Beasley does not provide the QB with a wide catching radius or legit mis-matches in the passing game. Get El Patron the ball. Let’s go!

— Turnover machines: DeMarco Murray and Dwayne Harris are the guys I’m looking at. What the hell happened to these guys. All the sudden they are fumbling the ball like crazy. Hold the ball, and pay attention to your surroundings. If we don’t turn the ball over we’ll win this game.

— Henry Melton will get his chances to sack the QB, but who will spell him with Crawford out with injury? If Melton can keep the pressure coming and continue to rack up sacks he’ll be another game closer for the Cowboys to pick up his club option in 2015. He’s looking better each game and that’s good news.

— Jeremy Mincey at DT. Mincey likes to play from the 3-tech, and he did this during his time at Jacksonsville, so look for Mincey to get some time at DT with Lawrence on the field and in nickel packages. Mincey has been this year’s Selvie, which also brings up the potential of Mincey moving over to Selvie’s side. Selvie has regressed this year and I doubt we bring him back next year.

— The Secondary needs to lock down the Jaguars receivers. The Jags have a young core of receivers that have some playmaking ability, so we can’t get caught sleeping at the wheel. Cover your area / guy and make a solid tackle.

— No let up drives. During the season, we’ve seen the Cowboys get ahead on a score and then the defense comes out the following drive and has a classic garbage let up series. I want to see us play with killer instinct. We need to head home with a victory and with some dominating football. Get it done guys!

Let’s beat the Jaguars and let’s win in a decisive manner. Bring home the victory!

To the UK Cowboys fans, bring the noise and get loud for our ‘boys! Enjoy the game!

Let’s go Dallas.