The Dallas Cowboys, along with the Detroit Lions, are one of the traditional Thanksgiving game hosts, and this year they will be hosting the resurgent Miami Dolphins. Resurgent? Yes – there may be no hotter team in the league right now.
The Cowboys are tied for first place in the NFC East at 6-4 and the Dolphins are at 3-7 and all alone in last place in the AFC East, but there’s more to this game than the records would indicate.
Both teams bring 3 game winning streaks into the holiday game. Dallas dominated the Buffalo Bills two weeks ago (44-7) and survived a scare against the Washington Redskins with an overtime victory last week.
After starting 0-7, the Dolphins have improved steadily and have won their last three games by a combined score of 86-20.
They have been playing shut down defense and have not surrendered a touchdown during the winning streak. They have also held opponents under 250 total yards in each of the last two games.
“We’re playing good defense,” Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said. “I think we’ve taken advantage of some opportunities, made a couple of critical stops in different times down there on the goal line. The group just keeps fighting, keep swinging pretty good.”
Since quarterback Chad Henne was lost for the season, backup Matt Moore is starting to look like a potential quarterback of the future. In their last three games, Moore has a passing efficiency of 118.6, and has completed over 70 percent of his passes with 6 TDs and only 1 INT.
“Matt’s done a tremendous job right now and it’s all about what you do with your opportunities in our league,” Sparano said. “He’s got good touch on the ball, a lot, (Chad) Pennington like, those kind of things, guys that can get up and down that way. He’s got a good feel for what’s going on in the middle of the field.”
Not only has Moore been playing extremely well during the current winning streak, his intensity and emotion have inspired the players around him, like a good leader must.
“I like his fire. I like his passion,” Sparano added. “Obviously, right now the players are responding to what Matt (Moore) is and I don’t think Matt is doing anything out of the norm.”
While the Cowboys are the big favorites this Thursday, the Dolphins look to have found their identity. It includes a dominating defense and a quarterback that is efficient and doesn’t turn the ball over. They’ve also improved at running the ball and stopping the run. During the winning streak, the Dolphins have been averaging over 100 yards per game on the ground, while giving up only 73 yards per game.
This could be a big upset brewing on Thursday – watch out for Miami to certainly keep the game close, and perhaps still a win in big D.
