Game 1: Cowboys at Browns

The Cowboys are following up their 13-3 season (with a bye and a goodbye)... well, with high expectations. Look for depression to run rampant throughout the DFW area when the Cowboys lose and alcohol consumption to go crazy when they win.

It is no secret that the 'Boys are favored to go to the Super Bowl. And it is no secret that the WR situation is, again, tops of concerns again this season, but this time it really doesn't have all that much to do with TO, but injuries to just about everyone else.

Despite that, I really do believe that with Romo at QB, things should go well for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys have never played at Cleveland Browns Stadium, erected in 1999 when the Browns rejoined the NFL as an expansion team. Since the new Browns have been in existence, they have only played the Cowboys once - a 19-12 Cowboys win at Texas Stadium in 2004. Dallas has dominated the series of late, but that wasn't always the case. From 1960 to 1966, when Cleveland and Dallas played each other twice a year in the regular season (except for the Cowboys' inaugural season when they met only once), the Browns won 11 of the 13 match-ups. Since 1967, though, the Cowboys have gone 9-6 against Cleveland. Cleveland still has a sizeable lead in the series, 17-11.

Cleveland was 10-6 last season. Not that it means too much, but the Browns went winless in pre-season. And Cleveland has many questions right now in the way of health. This doesn't seem all that hard on the surface...

Forecast: The question that always lingers in my mind is this: can spirit upstage talent and skill? There is no question that on paper, this game should be tight, but there is also on that same paper the skill and strength of the Cowboys. Cowboys should really just walk away with this thing come second half, if that haven't already run away with it in the first half. Still, is there any spirit in the Browns that could cause an upset? I really do not think so. Cowboys win it, 42-17.

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