Cowboys at Patriots: Three bold predictions for Sunday’s matchup

This Sunday the Cowboys roll into Week 6 red hot, winners of four straight games. Dallas will face one of their tougher tests of the season this week as they travel to Foxborough to take on the Patriots.

Before the Cowboys and Pats square off, here are three bold predictions for Sunday’s matchup.

The defense keeps their streak intact, intercepting Mac Jones two times

Turnovers have been a big problem for the Patriots through five games. New England has given the football away nine times, tied for the third-most in football, and has turned the ball over two or more times in four of their five games.

As is usually the case, when a team struggles to take care of the football the quarterback is almost always at the center of the problem. New England signal-caller Mac Jones has proven this true.

The rookie first-round pick is one of the eight quarterbacks in football with five or more interceptions on the season, and he could have many more. Jones has thrown 10 interceptable passes and has 14 danger plays on the season, via Player Profiler, showing he’s lucky to have just five interceptions.

For the fourth straight week, the Cowboys get to go up against a quarterback that has struggled to take care of the football, once again playing perfectly into their defensive strategy.

The Cowboys keep their interception streak alive on Sunday, courtesy of Trevon Diggs and Damontae Kazee, picking off the rookie signal-caller twice.

Cee Dee Lamb scores a rushing touchdown

If there’s one thing that the Cowboys should try to do more on offense after a fantastic start to the season, it’s get the ball in CeeDee Lambs’ hands more. Lamb has had a nice start to the year, catching 24 passes for a team-leading 348 yards (14.5 Y/R) and scoring two touchdowns, but the Cowboys should find creative ways to get him the ball even more.

On Sunday the Cowboys will do so but in a non-conventional way. We’ve seen Lamb take snaps at running back in the Chargers, Eagles and Giants games this season, and we saw him score a rushing touchdown in Week 16 of last year.This week, Kellen Moore cooks up a play to get the ball to Lamb in the backfield, and #88 has reservations for six. Lamb scores the second rushing touchdown of his career on a play that ends up being pivotal to the overall outcome of the game.

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Pros, cons of potential Cowboys’ pursuit of released CB Stephon Gilmore

The Dallas Cowboys caused the biggest roster wave of the young 2021 season when they announced the release of linebacker Jaylon Smith on Tuesday evening. Smith has been an integral part of the Dallas defense for the last four years but his play had eroded to the point people wondered why it took so long. While the timing of a Week 5 release was odd, and several questions that needed answers were asked, it wasn’t shocking to anyone paying attention to his play or the composition of the Cowboys’ roster.

That composition brings to light a new quandary. Less than 24 hours after the Cowboys announced their surprise-timing release, the New England Patriots joined the fray in releasing two-time All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore. Gilmore of course has been on the radar of Cowboys’ fans for a long time. His future availability has been written about on this site numerous times, and now it becomes a reality. But instead of having to trade for him, teams can now open their wallets to bring him into their fold. Should the Cowboys be one of those teams to pursue him? Here’s a look at the pros and cons of such an overture.

The Cowboys have moved away from a heavy zone concept and are running man coverage in over 60% of their snaps this year. Diggs is shadowing opposing team’s No. 1 receiver, but when teams are able to employ numerous top-level threats, the other receivers have been able to eat. Look at how Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown and Mike Williams terrorized the DBs in the first two weeks of the season, or how the Panthers’ passing attack scored in rapid fire in the fourth quarter when Diggs went out in Week 4.

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Cowboys lineman La’el Collins sues NFL over 5-game suspension

Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman La’el Collins has sued the NFL and Commissioner Rodger Goodell and is seeking an injunction to halt his five-game suspension over substance abuse violations.

Collins has already served three games for the suspension and filed his lawsuit in Collin County, which encompasses Frisco, the location of the Cowboys’ headquarters.

It claims that Collins missed drug tests when the labor agreement reached in 2020 no longer allowed suspensions over missed tests or positive tests for marijuana. According to an AP report, the NFL called the suit “meritless.”

Collins’ suspension was announced the day after Dallas’ 31-29 loss to defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay in the opener. The remaining two games of the suspension are Sunday at home against the New York Giants and Oct. 17 at New England.

The lawsuit says the NFL misled an arbitrator by saying Collins had previously been suspended four games when he hadn’t. The NFL eventually decided to fine rather than suspend Collins over missed tests in early 2020.

In November 2020, the league was prepared to suspend Collins fives games over missed drug tests. The union negotiated a reduction to two games, but an appeal led to an arbitrator reinstating the five-game ban.

Collins’ representatives said the league announced the suspension with another appeal pending. The lawsuit claimed the announcement violated the confidentiality clause in the agreement between the league and the union over substance-abuse policies. The 28-year-old Collins is on his third contract, the most recent a $50 million, five-year extension signed in 2019.

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NFL Live Stream 2021: How to Watch Football Online Without Cable

The 2021-22 football season is officially underway, and while the best way to catch all of the games is still on conventional cable, cord cutters can still get in on the action with a few smart hacks.

While the 32 teams took to the field last year in a modified season due to Covid-19, the 2021 NFL season has actually expanded to a 17-game schedule (up from a 16-game regular season). The NFL has also expanded the playoff field from 12 teams to 14 teams, effectively allowing one more wild-card team from each conference (this was first introduced last year).

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the defending Super Bowl Champions and will be looking to repeat as NFL champs this year, led once again by star quarterback Tom Brady. The latest Super Bowl LVI odds have the Kansas City Chiefs on top, with oddsmakers also listing the Bucs, Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams as other favorites to contend for the Super Bowl 56 trophy.

How to Watch NFL Games Without Cable

The 2021-2022 NFL season is being broadcast across a number of networks, including CBS, NBC and FOX.

CBS and FOX will air Sunday afternoon games, while you can watch Sunday Night Football on NBC.

Monday Night Football will air on ESPN and ABC. The NFL Network, meantime, will show a select number of Thursday Night Football games.

A simple TV antenna (like this one from Amazon) will get you access to all four major networks in HD quality, along with other local stations in your area. Pay for the antenna once and enjoy “free cable” for as long as you have it installed. Our pick below can be mounted indoors or outdoors and delivers a range of up to 120 miles, to pick up more stations than most basic antennas.

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