The second course for Thanksgiving football treat this season will be at Texas Stadium, in Dallas, Texas. Sustained by the outstanding performance of young quarterback Tony Romo, the Cowboys can move atop the NFC East as they try for a third straight victory when they meet the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their annual Thanksgiving home game.
Dallas (6-4) is tied with the New York Giants for first place in the NFC East, although New York holds the tiebreaker. The Cowboys will visit the Giants, who play at Tennessee on Sunday, next weekend.
Romo has guided Dallas to consecutive wins and is 3-1 as a starter after last week's 21-14 victory over previously unbeaten Indianapolis. He's been outstanding in his last two second halves, going 10-of-11 against the Colts one week after completing all 10 passes in a 27-10 victory at Arizona.
Romo's quarterback rating is 100.0, a mere 0.5 behind the Colts' Peyton Manning for tops in the NFL. He's completing 68.2 percent of his passes and has five touchdown passes and two interceptions in his starts. Despite all of that, demanding Coach Bill Parcells is doing his best to irritate the expectations for his inexperienced quarterback. Parcells claims Romo should protect the ball a lot more, on the run especially.
Dallas Kicker Mike Vanderjagt continues to struggle as well. Vanderjagt, the most accurate kicker in NFL history at over 86 percent, missed two field goals in Sunday's win and has converted 12 of 17 (70.6 percent) for the season.
The Cowboys are accustomed to playing on Thanksgiving, going 23-14-1, but it's a different experience for Tampa Bay, which is seeking its first road win in five tries.
The Buccaneers plan to have only one full practice before a short walkthrough Wednesday. Tampa Bay ended a three-game slide with a 20-17 victory over Washington on Sunday. Rookie Bruce Gradkowski threw two touchdowns, including a tiebreaking 24-yard strike to Joey Galloway in the fourth quarter. Gradkowski has nine touchdowns and four interceptions in his seven starts and Parcells has been impressed with the former Toledo Rocket quarterback who made approving remarks.
The Bucs' ground game is the third-worst in the NFC, producing just 91.2 yards per game. Carnell "Cadillac" Williams has 619 yards after rushing for 812 in his first 10 games as a rookie last season. Galloway is returning to Texas Stadium for the first time since he played for the Cowboys from 2000-03. Bucs defensive end Simeon Rice, who has 121 career sacks, won't play after being placed on injured reserve Wednesday because of a lingering shoulder injury.
Dallas is a strong home team tomorrow, but to cover 11 points on a 4 day rest is too much to swing for. I like the Tampa Bay Bucs for this one plus the points. The total of 39 to go over in a game with mistakes and scores. Happy Thanksgiving!!
