Your Dallas Cowboys vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Ahhhh, do you, friendly readership, know what that clock means?

It means that it is September 11, and that football season is underway!

First, a note on this, the eighth Anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the country- I was in seventh grade then, and I remember getting the news in my second period Spanish class. I walked in, and, as I was walking in, the first tower came down. I didn't see it, but the class was looking at me like something awful had happened. I had to wait an hour before my third period biology teacher, Mr. Witchman, sat at the front of the class and told us that things would be different. He was right. It is a different world.

Now, on to the Cowboys:

The new look 'Bucs are in trouble- they are starting a castoff quarterback (Byron Leftwich) and a new, unproven coach (who was only the defensive co-ordinator for like, a few months) who this past week dismissed the offensive coordinator for his team. That, friends, means trouble.

Let's look at this, bullet point style-

-Vegas has Dallas at -2.5, so the boys in Vegas favor the Cowboys over the home favorite three points and then two and a half points more. What does this really mean? Take the Cowboys- the Bucs have looked lost with their first teamers in, and you don't solve your problems by firing your offensive coordinator the week before the season.

-The Cowboys defense excels at stopping teams like this- poor quarterback, limited receiver options, and a reliance on the running game. DeMarcus Ware and his little buddy Anthony Spencer, who, unless he proves something, is a confirmed bust, should be able to sack Leftwich several times. Several times. The secondary will get a good opportunity to tune up against a bad passing game.

-Offensively, the Bucs still, somehow, have a reasonable defense. But the cowboys array of weapons, and their excellent offensive line (which is still excellent, doubters be silenced (go on doubters, silence yourselves!)), should prevent even the inevitable Tony Romo Interception from doing any damage. Felix Jones and Marion Barber the Barbarian will both have good games- the Bucs run defense hasn't been the same since they started losing defensive linemen, last year being the sort-of exception.

-Roy E. Williams will get his targets, and so should second-year sensation Martellus Bennett. Both of these are supposed to be featured parts of the offense, and this is the time the coaches will be trying to prove it.

Prediction: Cowboys 28, Bucaneers 10

The way it will go down: Tony Romo, 2 TD-1 INT, 270 yds Marion Barber 2 TD, 70 yds, Felix Jones, 50 yds on like, two carries, Witten 1 TD, Wide Receiver Field 1 TD.

Gerald "46" Sensabaugh, 1 INT, DeMarcus Ware 2 sacks, Anthony Spencer, 1 sack, rest of defense, acceptable

And that's the way it will have been.