Gut Feeling: Staff Forecast for Cowboy Rams

All obstacles have been avoided, obstacles have been overcome. Now, it’s time for the Cowboys to finally close the books on this crazy offseason and get ready for football. The Cowboys travel to Los Angeles this weekend for Sunday night’s game with the Rams.

DallasCowboys.com staff give their ‘gut instinct’ for this Week 1 game:

Rob Phillips: This is my 14th season covering the Cowboys and I’ve never felt less sure of a first game. With no preseason games on, the Rams are a complete mystery to me, and the Cowboys’ training camp was so compressed (understandably) it’s hard to know exactly what to expect with new ones. programs and largely new staff. Here’s what I think: The Rams still have a chance to be prolific offensively even without Todd Gurley, but the Cowboys’ defensive front was arguably the most impressive part of the roster at camp. I’m really curious to see the spin and how much pressure they can put on Jared Goff because when he can tune his feet he’s extremely precise. Same thing on the other side of the ball: If the Cowboys’ offensive line at less than full strength can do a decent job of controlling the line of scrimmage, they’ll be in good shape. Overall, I like the Cowboys’ balance on offense and the playmakers they’ve added on defense. I’m going to take Dallas to a relatively high scoring game.

David Helman: I feel like I might as well sit down to watch the latest Batman movie – tons of excitement, with very little detail on what to expect. For months, I’ve been collecting snippets of information. Rumors, gossip, the occasional preview video. But honestly, on the eve of this 2020 season, what do we really know on Earth? We know the Cowboys have a talented group of players on offense, and the Rams have the most talented player on defense. In all other aspects, we fly completely blind. So, until we get more data, I’m not going to think about it too much. The Cowboys offense should be among the best in the league. Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey are both amazing players, but I don’t think they have enough help – and they can’t do it all alone. I think the Rams’ offense is way better than what people want to attribute to it, especially now that their offensive line is healthy. But I think the Cowboys are in a better position to stop the race than they have been in the recent past, and I also don’t trust Jared Goff to be faultless against this pass rush. In a home and away game, I trust the Cowboys to make more plays and open SoFi Stadium with a 27-23 win.

Kyle Youmans: There is so much excitement and such high expectations as the season approaches that we sometimes lose sight of the reality. Of course, on paper the Cowboys are much improved and appear to be the top team over the Rams. However, this is still a losing game. Sean McVay has never lost in a first game of the season (3-0), has never had a losing season and remembers everything as a head coach. You better believe he’s thinking back to the 44-21 loss the Cowboys took on them last season. I think the first game at SoFi Stadium will be for the home team because I’m afraid the LA receivers will help them get off to a quick start against a slim secondary. It doesn’t mean that I think the season is lost, but it’s a tough first game.

Nick Eatman: I have to be honest, I wasn’t so sure we would be doing “Gut Feeling” here on this date, but you have to give the NFL and its teams a lot of credit. They did it and here we are, about to have a real game. Now the hard part – figuring out what’s going to happen. In a situation like this, I can almost see every scenario. I see a close win for the Cowboys and Rams. I could see LA get off to a good start and get away with the game and as we saw last December I can visually see the Cowboys blowing the Rams too. Which one is it then? Give me Dallas in a close game. Michael Gallup is having the best day of all receivers. I have an interception by Anthony Brown and I have former Rams kicker, now Cowboys kicker Greg Zeurlein throwing the winning kick. Give me Dallas, 23-20.

Spanish Mickey: In honor of the last time I nailed any of these to the point, 30 years ago, when the Cowboys entered RFK to defeat the then undefeated Washington football team, even after that Steve Beuerlein had to replace injured Troy Aikman at the start of the third quarter. , the Cowboys will christen SoFi Stadium with the same score, a 24-21 victory over the Rams to start this season 1-0 for the third time in four years.