The Dallas Cowboys Defense Needs to Show Up Sunday Night

Although the Cowboys beat the Buccaneers, they face a true test Sunday night at the stadium debut against the Giants, and the defense must show up to the party.

Fighting words have already been tossed around as DeMarcus Ware said yesterday that he hates the Giants, but Giants running back Brandon Jacobs retaliated saying "I hate the Cowboys with a bloody passion."

The Giants and Cowboys have been division rivals for a long time, but only recently have their bi-annual matchups been so competitive, hard hitting and dramatic.

Since Tony Romo entered the game in place of Drew Bledsoe on Oct. 23, 2006, the Cowboys and Giants have played six games against each other and three have been decided by 10 points or less including their divisional playoff matchup (although last season's first game between the two, Romo didn't play in and the Giants won 35-14)

However, if the Cowboys want any shot at winning on Sunday, they'll need to shore up a defense that gave up 174 yards rushing and two touchdowns and didn't record a sack last week against the Buccaneers.

Last season, in their first matchup with the Giants, Jacobs ran for 117 yards in a blowout win for the Giants. In the second game, which Jacob's missed due to a knee injury, the Giants ran for a season low 72 yards and lost 20-8.

The Cowboys experienced problems last week against the Bucs because they were lining up in their nickel defense. It was Keith Brooking and Bradie James who suggested that the Cowboys line up in their base defense, which slowed down the Bucs running game.

They also didn't register a sack on Byron Leftwich. The Cowboys need to get sacks because as a team they don't register a lot of turnovers, so creating pressure up front is how they stop offenses.

Eli Manning will run if he has to but isn't a running quarterback so the Cowboys can get to him. Last season, in the Cowboys 20-8 victory, they registered eight sacks against the Giants with Ware having three.

Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones has made sure that almost every Cowboys fan in Texas will be at the Stadium for this game, now Wade Phillips just has to make sure his front seven shows up.   

Be sure to look out for my game preview on Friday.