By Jim Keller 

Both the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings will be desperate clubs when they meet Sunday at the Metrodome.

The Cowboys (1-3) are coming off a 34-27 loss to the Tennessee Titans when Week 1 & 2 problems resurfaced against the Titans: 12 penalties, poor pass protection, 3 turnovers and none forced.

The Vikings (1-4) are coming off a 29-20 loss to the New York Jets in the new Meadowlands.   Brett Favre rallied them from a steep first-half hole to  poised to win the contest until he threw a patented “pick six” in the final minutes to seal the defeat.

For Dallas to come in here and pull off a victory, they will have to watch tape of the embarrassing 34-3 divisional playoff loss last January, a game where  Dallas LB Keith Brooking accused Vikings of running up the score.

The first thing that stands out on the tape is three touchdown passes from Favre to Sidney Rice of 16,45 and 47 yards because the Cowboys blitz-happy defense couldn’t get to Favre.   Fortunately, Rice is out for the season and Favre is playing with what looks to be a very painful elbow injury which has affected his passing.   He has practiced sparingly this week and is he and his consecutive game streak of 289 is questionable for Sunday.   Tarvaris Jackson is his backup.

Whether injuries, age or lack of Rice, the 41-year-old Favre hasn’t been the same quarterback as last season.   He’s thrown seven interceptions, fumbled four times and has been sacked 10 times as the offense has only been able to put up just under 16 points per game – 29th in the NFL and ranks 31st in turnover margin (-6).   Favre threw just seven picks all of last season and fumbled just twice.

Minnesota just traded for Randy Moss, who caught a deep TD pass last week and has a history of big games against Dallas.   In six games, Moss has 30 catches for 607 yards and 10 TDs.

Dallas has two good corners in Mike Jenkins and Terence Newman, although Jenkins is coming off a terrible outing against Tennessee.   Dallas will provide help over the top for the corners, which will limit the times they can stack the box against Pro Bowl runner Adrian Peterson.

Dallas held Peterson in check in the playoff loss – 26 carries for 63 yards – but the ‘Boys have allowed back-to-back 100-yard rushers (Arian Foster, Chris Johnson) for the first time since 2005 when they allowed three straight.  Dallas didn’t allow one last season.

Like Johnson and Foster, Peterson is going to break a few big runs, but the Cowboys will have to limit his yards after contact to have a chance to win.  They must decide whether to pressure Favre, thus becoming vulnerable to the big pass play, or drop back and cover and see how accurate the gunslinger is with the elbow tendinitis.

If they do go after Favre,  OLBs DeMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer will have to provide the heat from the edge – a strategy from last season that didn’t really work.

The second thing that stands out from the film is the lack of pass protection for Romo.   The Vikes’ defensive line just overwhelmed the Cowboys registering six sacks. The biggest problem wasn’t DRE Jared Allen, who had one sack, but DLE Ray Edwards who beat an injured RT Marc Colombo repeatedly.

Romo was 22-of-35 for 198 yards, was intercepted once and fumbled three times as he pretty much ran for his life all afternoon.

Colombo was brutal last week against Tennessee, getting beat on four of the six sacks and committing two personal fouls, and LT Doug Free and RG Leonard Davis struggled as Romo was sacked a regular season career-high six times – five in the first half when Dallas fell into a 17-3 hole.

Despite the three picks of which two were tipped, Romo played pretty well, passing for a career-high 406 yards.

The Cowboys are averaging 34 minutes time-of-possession, are second in total offense and have had only three 3-and-outs all season.   But when your averaging 9.5 penalties, are -4 in turnover margin, and have completed just one pass thrown 30 yards or longer downfield, its easy to see why they can’t convert yards into points.

Dallas has three pass plays and one run for more than 30 yards all season.

RB Felix Jones, who sprang for 34 yards last week, carried 15 times and should see the bulk of the rushing attempts this week.  

Romo will look for WR Miles Austin, who leads the NFL with an average of 118.5 yards per game, and TE Jason Witten, who had 10 grabs against Minnesota in the playoffs.

Rookie WR Dez Bryant is questionable after re-agrravating an earlier ankle injury.

Who will prevail?  Minnesota by a 27-20 margin.   

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