Cowboys vs. Patriots: New England's Secondary Must Step Up Against Dallas

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is quick to the draw, but has an itchy finger and sometimes shoots himself in the foot before the gun is out of the holster. He's already accounted for eight turnovers this season (five interceptions and three lost fumbles).

If the Patriots are to capitalize on Romo's gun-slinger ways, they'll have to do it with a depleted secondary. Safety Josh Barrett is listed as out for this game. Leigh Bodden, Sergio Brown and Ras-I Dowling comprise the questionable defensive backs, while safety Pat Chung continues to rehab a broken thumb.

The Patriots defense relies heavily on capitalizing on an opponent's mistakes—bending, but not breaking. That being said, when they are unable to capitalize, or their opponent simply doesn't make mistakes, the Patriots have been at a disadvantage. 

The team is just 4-8 in games where they lost the turnover battle in the past two years, and although last week's win against the Jets (minus-1 in the turnover battle) instills some hope, it's not reason to believe that the defense doesn't have to rely on the offense to score 30 or more points.

Much like last week, it will have to be a combined effort.

They've pretty much written the book on how to shut down tight ends this season against the likes of Antonio Gates, Kevin Boss and Dustin Keller. They face another doozy on Sunday in Jason Witten. Already in four games, he has 27 receptions for 366 yards, although he has reached the end zone just once.

Still, the bigger task—and perhaps the bigger priority—may be to shut down the outside threats of Miles Austin and Dez Bryant. Witten will get his catches and yards, but Austin and Bryant are the big play threats on every down, having combined for 474 yards and seven touchdowns in four games.

For this secondary? Easier said than done. Sure, the Patriots have given up league-worst numbers in many categories, but the most telling stat of all may be their defensive passer rating, as calculated by Cold, Hard Football Facts. Currently, that number stands at 93.0 and ranks 23rd in the league.

Basically, quarterbacks are made to look like Joe Montana (career passer rating of 92.3) against this defense.

Devin McCourty has struggled at times this year, but has played much better over the past couple of weeks, according to Pro Football Focus. The fact that he and Leigh Bodden have been manhandled frequently over the first five games of the season doesn't inspire much confidence for their matchups this weekend against Bryant and Austin.

Though Romo has made some mistakes throwing to Bryant, he has been nearly perfect when targeting Austin. A defense that waits on opponents' mistakes could be waiting a long time, so their best bet may be to roll extra coverage to Austin and occasionally to Bryant.

The bottom line is, the path to victory becomes much clearer if the Patriots defense can force Romo into turnovers.

The way he's been playing this season so far, though, they may not have to force much of anything.

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