Dallas Cowboys Game Day Preview: Cowboys Look to Stop the Bleeding Against Bucs

Sometimes people go through tough times. They mess up and experience frustrating events; they have to take a step back mentally and give themselves a clean slate.

Sports teams experience this too, and this weekend the Dallas Cowboys have a chance to do this.

Lord knows this team needs it most what with late game gaffes and defensive meltdowns becoming the norm. There's no better team to gain back some confidence and momentum against than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The defense, which used to be a cornerstone at Tampa, has been abysmal this season, allowing 248 passing yards a game and 139 rushing yards. Conversely, the Cowboys are white hot on offense, racking up 273 passing yards a game along with 116 rushing yards.

Even with running back DeMarco Murray out for the Cowboys, I still expect Felix Jones to do enough against the Bucs defense, with Romo lighting it up on offense. The big question Dallas faces is the defense, which has at best been off again and on again. I was shocked to hear this week that some Cowboys players still don't know the playbook.

Are you kidding me? At this point in the season if you still don't know all of your playbook, that is a huge problem.

Even with these glaring problems at defense, especially in the secondary, I still see a pretty big victory for the Cowboys.

The big thing that I'm looking for this week is how they respond to all the criticism they've gotten and how strong as a team they perform, starting with the head coach in Jason Garrett, and the defensive coordinator Rob Ryan.

A great and complete team victory would do wonders for the Cowboys as they roll up against the remaining NFC teams next week. A close victory or a loss would mean disaster. All we can do now, is wait and watch.