Can Carolina Pull Off An Upset In Dallas?

Carolina were 12-4 last season and it would be unfathomable for the team to start out the year at 0-3. They relied on the running game and defense to win games, but this season nothing has been working. Jake Delhomme's play has not helped them at all, he's been a turnover machine. Carolina are huge underdogs in tonight's Monday Night Football showdown against Dallas, but could they pull off the upset and send Jerry Jones 0-2 in his new stadium? Here are some reasons why Carolina is going to win tonight's game.

The Cowboys Have Yet To Score A Turnover So Far This Year - I know that Dallas won't go an entire season without getting an interception or fumble recovery, but if Carolina refrain from doing so, they can win this game. Dallas hasn't even notched a sack either. Their defense hasn't been very good, since they allowed Tampa Bay to score 23 points in Week 1, and the Giants scored 33 last week on Sunday Night Football. Dallas needs a few turnovers if they plan on winning this game.

Carolina's offensive line will push Dallas' defensive line back every play - DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart will be seeing the ball all night. Tampa Bay ran the ball all over Dallas and the Giants had a decent game last week. They will give up yards on the ground and Carolina can build with some play action and give Delhomme some time to hit Steve Smith on a few occassions.

Tony Romo has been known to give up some games on Monday and Sunday Nights - Romo had three interceptions last week and he tries to thread the needle, just like Delhomme. They are the same kind of quarterback, but people forget that because Romo can date Jessica Simpson and Delhomme looks like he was an extra in "The Waterboy." Delhomme and Romo will both throw around 50% tonight, but with Marion Barber hurt, the Cowboys will have to rely on him more than Carolina will rely on their QB.

The Cowboys will feel the pressure, Carolina has nothing to lose - I know this seems kind of off, because if the Panthers hit 0-3, John Fox could be feeling the heat, but this is a road game. If this same game was in Carolina, it would switch, but the Panthers want to go in to the "Death Star," which is more commonly known as Cowboys Stadium, and upset the party in Dallas. They don't want the Cowboys to get their first win at home, and the stadium could prove to be the anti-home field advantage. Fans are stuck watching the game on the giant screen and not paying attention to the game. I think this is an advantage for Carolina.

Carolina are 8.5 point underdogs and if you bet the moneyline, you can get 3:1 odds in your favor. I'm not guaranteeing a win for Carolina, but this game is going to be a lot closer than people expect. You will see more of the 2008-09 Carolina team than what you have witnessed so far this season. Are we forgetting that Dallas cracks under pressure and they will until they get a win at home. Wade Phillips is a lame duck coach and Jason Garrett can't feel too great about his standings as the "coach-in-waiting" at this point either. Their offense has been inconsistent and the defense have regressed every season since Phillips has been head coach. This Dallas team isn't the one that was favored to win the NFC a few years ago, this team will probably go 10-6 or 9-7 this year. Can Carolina win tonight? Absolutely. Will they win? We'll see, but don't count them out just yet.

Is Tony Romo Dating Candice Crawford?

I have to give it up to Tony Romo, he is racking up an impressive resume off the field. He hasn't hit Derek Jeter level, but he's shooting up the charts. The latest rumor is that Tony Romo is dating Candice Crawford, currently a reporter for KDAF in Dallas, TX. I can see a trend, Romo loves pretty blondes, well I guess he's normal. More pictures of Candice Crawford after the jump...

Tony Romo has dated Carrie Underwood, Jessica Simpson, and now rumored to be with Miss Crawford. He loves Southern blondes and he looks to have picked a smart one. She won Miss Missouri in the USA Pageant and competed for Miss USA, but came up short. She went to the Univerisiry of Missouri and also writes with our pal J-Rod over at MidwestSportsFans.com. She seems to be pretty impressive and it's nice to see that she knows her stuff when it comes to sports.

Here are a few pictures of Candice Crawford.

Unused NFL Nicknames

I'm growing tired of the nicknames players either give themselves or announcers coin a nickname by used first initial and the beginning of last name (A-Rod). Also, enough with the recycling of nicknames, LaDanian Tomlinson is not "LT," that nickname should only be used for Lawrence Taylor. My list of nicknames are ones the players never use, because most of them I made myself.
Use them in sentences and blog posts, let's get these in the vernacular of sports fan and establish them in the sports lexicon. Okay, I'll stop using words that I learned in Linguistics class.

Maurice Jones-Drew - The Hyphen

Peyton Manning - The Good Son

LaDanian Tomlinson - The Forgotten

Hank Baskett - The NFL's Rick Fox

Terrell Owens - The QB Killer

Tony Romo - Page Six

Matt Schaub - 10-Game All Star

Brian Westbrook - Day-To-Day

Plaxico Burress - Six Shooter

Michael Vick - The Postman

Steve Slaton - The Mosquito

Brandon Jacobs - Diesel

Kurt Warner - The Octo-Dad

Pierre Thomas - The French Tickler

Vishante Shiancoe - The Kickstand

Chris Cooley - The Streak

Wes Welker - America's White Boy (I'll let him use it)

Brandon Marshall - Fast Food

Darius Heyward-Bey - Unlucky

Knowshon Moreno - Leapfrog

Shaun Rogers - BBQ Rib Combo

Jay Cutler - Huggies

Beanie Wells - Injured Reserve

Jerricho Cotchery - Armadgeddon

Torry Holt - I'm A Jag?

Steve Breaston - Bouncing

Kyle Orton - The Hillbilly

Sage Rosenfels - Paprika

Chris Brown - 3rd String

What I Learned - NFL Week 1

I try not to speculate on what will happen in the NFL before the first game of the season. I did have an NFL Prediction post last week, but that was just for fun and possibly bragging rights if any of that stuff comes close to coming true. I did predict that Tom Brady will not throw 30 TDs this season, looks like that will come true. Here is a list of things I have learned after watching week one.

- The Carolina Panthers are what many experts thought they would be last season, very good. San Diego will be good, but looks like the NFC South will be more competitive than the last few seasons.

- Matt Forte looks like Eddie George. I know the Colts haven't historically had good run defense, but they did a great job last season. If Forte keeps this up, the Bears may find the playoffs this year.

- Matt Cassel "could" be good. He hasn't started a game since high school. He should have a few good weeks since no team has any film to study on the QB. Unless they dust off some sort of high school recruiting video of Cassel, look for him to have a few good weeks coming up, after that, I'm not sure what will happen.

- The Raiders are still bad. I know this team has a few young studs and added DeAngelo Hall this offseason. Denver isn't supposed to be good this season and they completely dominated the Raiders in every area. It will be another long year in Oakland and could be headed back to L.A. after this season.

- The pre-season is still a little important. I say this from watching Peyton Manning in the Colts first game. He looked completely rusty and out of sync with all of his receivers. Anthony Gonzalez didn't help him by dropping a couple key passes, but it could be a down year for them. I am a Colts fan and it saddens me to say that, but I still expect them to win enough to make the playoffs.

- Willie Parker's job is secure. A lot of people read into this year's draft that the Steelers aren't sold on Pakers as their running back. Rashard Mendenhall was taken very high, but appears that he could be a 3rd-down back for awhile. Parker looked amazing and scoring three TDs will make his fantasy football owners approve of him.

- Buffalo looks like an AFC East contender. The Bills dominated the Seahawks and looks much-improved this season. Seattle doesn't have a great history of playing on the road and this could be a one-week wonder for Buffalo, but I think they are legit.

- Michael Turner is finally a starter in the NFL. Atlanta is going to run the ball a million yards this season with Turner and Norwood as a two-headed backfield. They will give Matt Ryan some time to throw the ball and could lead to a few extra wins for the Falcons this season.

- Jacksonville is over-rated. I have never been high on the Jaguars. I think last season they over-achieved and will fall back down to earth this year. The loss of Marcus Stroud will be too much to overcome and they really don't have much of an offense if Maurice Jones-Drew is stopped.

- Carson Palmer played like Akili Smith. I know that the Bengals played the Ravens, but this is the 2008 Ravens and not the 2000 Ravens. Palmer didn't even throw for 100 yards and Chad Ocho Cino, I mean, Chad Johnson was a ghost. Marvin Lewis could be coaching Cincinnati for the last season.

- How 'Bout Them Cowboys! Cleveland did look bad, but I think Dallas made them look worse than they really are. Dallas is already loaded on offense and having a guy like Felix Jones coming off the bench shouldn't even be fair. I will definitely watch the Cowboys/Eagles games this season, they should be great.

- Brett Favre is still Brett Favre. He is made the Jets look amazing. I know they played Miami, but he didn't look rusty at all. The Jets should be much-improved, but it is still too early to put them as a playoff team.

"Hard Knocks" Is The Best Thing On TV

I didn't get into the television series "Hard Knocks" until last season. I didn't have HBO, so I didn't get to see this amazing series. Last season the series followed the Kansas City Chiefs through training camp. It made the uninteresting Chiefs into something must-see. Even though I got to know more about Bobby Sippio and Larry Johnson than I should, it gives you an insider's view of what goes on in the preparation of an NFL team.

"Hard Knocks" is following the Dallas Cowboys this season and it is as interesting as it sounds. You get to see a different side of every major player on "America's Team." I've seen the first four episodes of the season and episode five will be shown this weekend. My only suggestion is that they show Marion Barber, he must be a pretty bland guy. They have been showing how well Felix Jones is playing, yet the starter, Barber, hasn't even been mentioned. Here are some of things I've noticed about the players that they are featuring.

Tank Johnson - He loves the "f" word and when they end team meetings, you see him almost running out of there. He seems like the guy I thought he was, so far I haven't seen him strapped or carrying any kind of weapon. It's only training camp, stay tuned.

Keon Lattimore - He's best known as being the younger brother of Ray Lewis. He hasn't had much playing time and he's probably a long shot of making the team. Ray Lewis is good television, so he should stick around until the end of the last show and he'll be cut.

Tony Romo - He actually seems like a good guy. Yeah, he reminds me of a typical jock from small-town American, but you would be lucky to pick up some secondhand ladies that probably attach themselves to his entourage.

Terrell Owens - My perception of T.O. has been totally contradicted by this show. I'm not sure if he is playing it up for the cameras or if he is actually a really good guy. He was even shown playing with Jerry Jones' grandchildren. I think he may have actually matured.

Martellus Bennett - I hope this guy eventually takes Jason Witten's job in a few seasons. He's a big, talented, and pretty funny. He may not be the brightest guy in the room, but he'll be a productive tight-end in the NFL.

Todd Lowber - Is it me or does this guy always have the "I don't have a freakin' clue what is happening right now" look on his face? He is a converted basketball player turned wide-receiver, but I don't see any legitimate shot of this guy making this team at all. If by some slim chance that he makes the roster, he will be replaced by a proven receiver who was a cap casualty cut at the end of training camp from another team. Terry Glenn could even come back, Jerry Jones said in the first episode that it is still a possibility.

Jason Witten - I haven't learned much about Witten other than he has a kid that can't hold a helmet on his head without falling over. He better have another amazing year or that Bennett kid could creep up and take his job.

Pacman Jones - T.O. and him had some battles early on in camp that was fun to watch. He also showed his skills of catching six punt returns in a row, while keeping all the previous balls in hands. He is a talented guy and I hope he keeps out of trouble.

Roy Williams - This guy just loves to hit people. Coach Phillips told him to just tag players during a scrimmage and by the end of it he was trying to lay out dudes. Williams changed his number back to his college '38' and looks like it could have changed his focus back towards football and less towards banging members of Destiny's Child.

Zach Thomas - He's an old guy, but if he can rejuvenate his career by playing for a contender, he's in the right situation. The dude was a beast early in his career with Miami, he's a good addition.

Patrick Crayton - Any guy who comes into a team meeting wearing just a towel gets an A+ in my book. He also tied Pacman's punt return total by catching six with all the balls still in his hand. He is definitely ready to step into the 2nd wide-receiver position left open by the cutting of Terry Glenn.

Bobby Carpenter - The television show has not been kind to Mr. Carpenter. They have shown him as a pretty boy and that he is soft. Guys from the team were even talking crap to him by calling him Barbie Carpenter and a punk bitch. Later on in the fourth episode the coaches and players were talking very positively about Carpenter, but seeing him getting the rookie treatment while he's in his third season is always fun to watch. Maybe he can talk the Cowboys into trading for A.J. Hawk or trading him to Green Bay, seems like he was only useful with Hawk on his side.