Cowboys vs Jets: 8 Stats That Matter in Sunday Night's Week 1 Showdown

All eyes are usually fixated on the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Jets.

With the first Sunday Night Football game of the 2011 NFL season pitting the two teams against one another, that will hold as true as it ever has.

Even though the Cowboys were a 7-9 team last year and the Jets were in the AFC Championship Game, the NFL also stands for "Not For Long," as teams can get much better or much worse in the matter of just one year. Yesterday's contenders are today's pretenders, and on talent alone, these two teams are as close as they get.

Of course, talent doesn't win ball games—plays do.

As always, football is a game of inches, and these are just some of the key stats to the outcome of the game tonight.

Erik Frenz is the co-host of the PatsPropaganda and Frenz podcast. Follow Erik on Twitter.  

Jets: Sacks

This is sometimes an arbitrary stat; sacks can come in garbage time, either when trailing or ahead by a ton of points. The important sacks will come in pressure situations, with the game close or with a team threatening to score.

That being said, they are sometimes a good barometer for how much pressure a defense is getting on the quarterback.  

The important thing to watch is the pressure. Can New York's defensive line make Tony Romo hurry his reads? Getting hits on him, even just getting a hand on him, hurries that mental clock.

Dallas is breaking in three new offensive linemen in Week 1, including first-round pick Tyron Smith.  

Key Stat for Success: 3 sacks (or as many as it takes to keep pressure on Tony Romo)

Cowboys: Passer Rating

Many analysts consider passer rating to be an arbitrary stat as well, but one thing it accurately measures is efficiency. If your quarterback is completing a high percentage of his passes at a high yards per attempt, chances are his passer rating will be fairly high.

Tony Romo's career passer rating is 95.5, which is pretty impressive when put side by side with elite quarterbacks like Tom Brady (95.2), Peyton Manning (94.9) and others.

Just as impressive, though, is New York's rankings in defensive passer rating (more on that later). It will be imperative for Romo to be efficient and not allow New York's disruptive 46 defense to throw him off.

Key Stat for Success: 95.0 (or higher)

Jets: Defensive Passer Rating

Just as important as it is for Romo to keep it efficient, it's equally important for New York to keep him off balance and put the pressure on him early.

Just as successful as Romo has been in passer rating, New York has been successful in defensive passer rating. Over the past two years, the Jets have ranked first and sixth in defensive passer rating, and have held passers to just a 70.3 passer rating in that span.

The Jets' defense is predicated on their ability to be disruptive in the passing game. Forcing Romo into hurried decisions and forcing him to be inefficient are the two surest ways to achieve an appropriate level of disruption.

Key Stat for Success: 75.0 (or lower)

Cowboys: Defensive Passer Rating

Redundant much?

This is a crucially important stat for winning defenses in the NFL and is especially important for both defenses in this contest.

Mark Sanchez's career passer rating of 70.2 is indicative that he's not as important to the success of the team as, say, the running game or the defense.

However, if the Cowboys are able to keep the Jets' passing attack on the ground, that could make it very hard for the Jets to convert third downs, an area they've had a problem with over the past few years.

(They converted just 39.6 percent of third downs in 2010 and 37.2 percent in 2009.)

Sanchez has only been working with receivers Plaxico Burress and Derrick Mason for a couple of months, and may not yet have good timing with each other. Today marks a key opportunity for the Cowboys to create disruption in the timing of the passing game.

Key Stat for Success: 60.0 (or less)

Jets: Yards Per Carry

Mark Sanchez is a much better quarterback when the weight of the offense isn't on his shoulders. If the running game gives him a good cushion and sets the offense up with manageable third down situations, the Jets are accomplishing what they set out to do on offense. 

The Cowboys don't exactly have one of the most fearsome run-defenses in the league; they allowed 4.3 yards per carry on average in 2010. If the Jets are unable to exploit it, it could be a long year for the running game in New York.

Key Stat for Success: 4 yards (or higher)

Cowboys: Felix Jones' and Jason Witten's Touches

Jason Witten was awarded a big contract Sunday morning, and this figures to be a big game for him as he proves his worth. 

The wide receivers are nice, but the Cowboys' offense is much better when these two players get the ball on a consistent basis.  

Witten led the team in targets (128) and receptions (94) in 2010, and made his presence felt by recording a career-high nine touchdowns.

Felix Jones is an explosive option out of the backfield, averaging 5.36 yards per touch with 233 touches and 1,250 yards. With 60 first downs, he moved the chains on an average of 25.75 percent of his touches. 

Getting the ball into the hands of their running back and tight end allows the Cowboys to control the tempo of the game.

Key Stat for Success: 5 or more catches for Witten, 15 or more touches for Felix Jones

Jets: Pass Attempts

This ties in with the running theme of this slideshow.

The Jets are a better team when the pressure isn't on Mark Sanchez to make a play.

It's not a constant trend, but the less passes Sanchez throws, the greater New York's chances of winning become. Sanchez is 5-0 when throwing 20 or less passes, but is 13-12 when throwing more than 20 passes.

They definitely don't want him throwing 35 or more times. The Jets are just 5-6 when Sanchez throws the ball that many times in a game.

Key Stat for Success: 24 passes (or less)

Cowboys: Third Down Conversions Allowed

The Jets haven't been one of the most efficient third down offenses in the league, converting less than 40 percent of their tries in each of the past two years. 

As such, the Jets' offense is predicated on setting up manageable third downs for Mark Sanchez to take the pressure off him to make a play in those situations, as both the pass and run are threats to convert a third down in a 3rd-and-short.

If the Cowboys are able to keep the Jets from converting third downs, it means they are likely disrupting the "schedule" of the Jets' offense and forcing those 3rd-and-long situations.

Key Stat for Success: 35 percent (or less)