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The last time that the Dallas Cowboys hosted the Baltimore Ravens, they entered the contest with nine wins to their name. It was December 20th, 2008… and it was the last game ever played at the historic Texas Stadium.
The Ravens would win the game and spoil the farewell, and they would do so thanks to their rookie quarterback and big-time ground game. Doesn’t that sound familiar?
I remember this loss painfully, because I was there. I watched the Ravens ruin our party, and I watched the literal “party” held after the game as Cowboys legends were honored to close out one of the most storied stadiums in professional football history.
This time around the Cowboys are the ones with a rookie quarterback and elite ground game, and if there’s anything that comes close to what the Texas Stadium farewell felt like… well it’s surely Tony Romo’s press conference this week.
Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens is about a new chapter, a new beginning. We were robbed of that opportunity eight years ago, and we’re rectifying that situation this time around on our way to nine wins. Welcome to my 5 Bold Predictions. Let’s roll.
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Dan Bailey And Justin Tucker Will Cover Over 200 Yards Through Successful Field Goals
An underrated element to this Sunday’s game against the Ravens is the matchup of the kickers. Yes, kickers!
Dan Bailey and Justin Tucker are arguably the two best in the game today, in fact they are arguably the two best all time. Bailey and Tucker, respectively, have the best and second-best field goal percentages in NFL History. Yowza!
Considering the Ravens are bringing a top-ranked defense to town and the Cowboys will be able to limit the Ravens struggling offense, I expect there to be a fair share of field goals attempted on Sunday. When you add up all the yardage… it’ll be over 200 yards. Bam.
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Dak Prescott Sheds A Would-Be Terrell Suggs Sack
This week Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs did exactly what Rex Ryan did with Julian Edelman got creative and playfully took on the persona of “Hacksaw Smithers” to interview Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
Suggs has been playing fairly well in 2016, and he’s a huge reason for Baltimore’s top-ranked run defense. Here’s the thing though, Dak Prescott isn’t human. I’ve seen enough football games and cool superhero movies to know that the good guy always wins, and Dak Prescott is the good guy.
Close your eyes and imagine this. Suggs tears through Lance Dunbar a la Ryan Shazier (that was sad, by the way), he opens his arms, Dak Prescott shimmies his way out of it, Suggs falls to the ground with a big Lennay Kekua hug, and Dak scores. Huzzah.
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Alfred Morris Breaks Free For A 77-Yard Touchdown
You might ask yourself… why is RJ being so specific here with a 77-yard touchdown? Why Alfred Morris? I’ve got you, friend.
It was a 77-yard Willis McGahee touchdown that effectively sealed the deal for the Baltimore Ravens in their victory at Texas Stadium in 2008. Wills McGahee was Baltimore’s back-up running back, so it stung a little bit more than usual. It’s time for revenge.
Alfred Morris got the most carries (save for the Browns game, and I mean… it was the Browns) he’s had this season since Cincinnati when the Cowboys won in Pittsburgh. Considering Dallas will be on a short week following Baltimore (they play Washington on Thanksgiving) it’s not beyond normal reason to expect Morris to get work.
Work your way to a 77-yard touchdown, Butler. Work work work work work.
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Jason Garrett Wins A Challenge For The First Time In 2016
The 2016 Coach of the Year Jason Garrett – yes, acknowledge it now please – has only thrown that glorious red challenge flag once this season. That lone instance happened on Sunday Night Football when Dallas hosted Chicago and Jason Garrett foolishly thought Jason Witten broke the plane. It was not a good challenge to be honest. It wasn’t even kind of good.
This is seemingly going to be a rough-and-tough type of game with Baltimore’s feisty defense looking to try and prove itself against the league’s MVP Ezekiel Elliott – yes, MVP.
There’s going to be a point where Jason Garrett reaches for that red handkerchief and tosses it out to an imaginary person running a go route, and he’s going to win. Huzzah.
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Gavin Escobar Gets Back In The Endzone
The Cowboys put tight end Geoff Swaim on IR earlier this week, so Gavin Escobar (who’s in a contract year, mind you) will see a lot more work as this team’s second tight end once again.
For some reason Gavin Escobar fell out of grace with the Cowboys and went unused for what felt like forever. Once upon a time he was a lethal redzone threat that many members of Cowboys Nation barked over and over for to be used more.
With Swaim on IR the Cowboys aren’t going to have much of a choice. The Ravens are smart and they’re going to pay attention to the top threats on the Cowboys offense, and that’s going to free Gavin Escobar up for a chance to score. Boo-ya.
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Bonus Bold Prediction #1
Remember, if you want YOUR Bold Prediction featured here, tweet it at me! It’s that simple! Here are this week’s contributions, thanks to all those who shared!
@rjochoa bold prediction for Sunday: dad gets nicked up a little bit and Romo has to play a few plays
— Nico Tusconi (@taserface5) November 16, 2016
Rob K send a follow-up tweet to this specifying that he meant Dak and not Dad, but either way it’s spicy. The Tony Romo press conference from earlier in the week was very powerful, and many Cowboys fans are still trying to deal with the aftermath.
Despite Jerry Jones’ comments about Tony Romo – stop talking please, Jerry – it seems like this team has made its choice for the present and future at the quarterback position. The only way Romo is likely to get in is in fact via injury to Dak, but that’s incredibly difficult to predict.
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Bonus Bold Prediction #2
https://twitter.com/donnykf5stk/status/799026085912571904
Donny and I clearly park our cars in the same garage. Terrell Suggs did indeed play around with Dak Prescott, and it’s going to be awesome to see Dak return the favor this Sunday.
While we’re on the subject… how awesome is the word “spinnaroo”?
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Bonus Bold Prediction #3
@rjochoa bold prediction: Dak has a TD to 3 different players, and zeke breaks a long run at some point in game
— Chase Aguiar (@chaseaguiar) November 18, 2016
Chase here thinks Dak is hitting a hat trick of aerial touchdowns, and that they’re going to multiple people. Who could these receivers/tight ends be? Dez Bryant, Jason Witten, and Gavin Escobar maybe? Does Terrance Williams get involved? Brice Butler back in action? I like all of these options!
We saw Ezekiel Elliott take a screen pass 83 yards to the house last week, his longest play as a Dallas Cowboy. We’ve also seen Zeke take a handoff 60 yards for a score. This feels solid!
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Bonus Bold Prediction #4
BOLD: The cowboys will score their first special teams touchdown or a defensive touchdown @rjochoa
— Tony (@TonyHl) November 18, 2016
This is awesome. The Cowboys have yet to score a touchdown via special teams or defensively this season, and it feels like the perfect time to end that drought.
Lucky Whitehead has come very close at points this season. Let’s see him finish one off!
[signoff author=”rjochoa” source=”rjoshow”]
What are YOUR Bold Predictions for this week’s Cowboys/Ravens game? Let us know! Comment below, Email me at RJ.Ochoa@SlantSports.com, or Tweet to me at @RJOchoa!
