I'll get to the Cowboys secondary in a second, but let me get this out of the way first: I've been totally slack on the blog this week. So my apologies to you guys (and gals) but some weeks real life overtakes my blogging life. I promise to do better next week. I didn't get to do a Film Review this week but I do hope to do a Scouting Report and I hope to get 5 Questions in with Kirkendall over at Cincy Jungle. By the way, he has a nice little primer for the game here, and he also has some bits on whether Carson Palmer will actually play and their injury situation. Go over and check it out. There's also more on their injuries here. Marvin Lewis also discusses the additions of Cedric Benson and Chris Henry in this article.
On the Dallas side of things, let's talk secondary. Wade has basically said the Keith Davis will take over the role of Pat Watkins while they hold him out because of the shoulder injury. Kind of scary that we're down to our third string SS and we're also playing the inexperienced Courtney Brown for a lot of the snaps, too. Especially with the Bengals having a talented group of receivers. Maybe we'll catch a break by not having Carson Palmer throwing to them.
And the guys charged with stopping those receivers, the Cowboys secondary, haven't exactly been on fire so far this season. This article by Nick Eatman discusses playing man-to-man versus zones. Through no fault of Eatman, I came away even more confused about what the Cowboys philosophy is on defense in regards to the secondary. Read it for yourself and give me your take. In addition, there's this article, which notes the obvious, the Cowboys next interception will be the first of the year. Not exactly confidence-inspiring.
Even though the Benglas passing game has stunk so far this year, my biggest fear is that the Bengals receivers get the best of the Cowboys secondary on Sunday.
There's more Romo and T.O. talk, if you're interested in that kind of thing, here. Even the Bengals receivers are getting in on the act.
"Tell T.O. to tell Jason Garrett they need to throw the ball to him 24 times," Houshmandzadeh said while laughing. "Me and Chad ain't had 17 balls thrown our way in a game yet combined. Tell him they need to give it to him 24 or 25 times."
Maybe of bigger importance, Andre Gurode's status for the game is up in the air although Wade feels confident he'll play.