Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys At the end of the first quarter of the 2008 season, the Dallas Cowboys were talking about gearing up for a playoff run. Now as they approach the half way mark the Cowboys are trying to focus on salvaging their season.

Sunday, 4-3 Dallas hosts the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Texas Stadium after a humiliating loss last time out. Odds makers call the Cowboys a 2 point favorite with the total sitting at 40 1/2 as the Bucs come to town.

Dallas will look to veteran back-up quarterback Brad Johnson to lead the Cowboy offense as Tony Romo will be out until mid-November with a broken pinkie finger on his throwing hand. Johnson was 17-of-34 for 234 yards in a one touchdown, three interception performance a week ago against the Rams.

The Cowboys hope to see some improvement from Johnson as he makes his second consecutive start against Tampa Bay. Johnson will try to rekindle some of the magic he found while leading the Bucs to a Super Bowl Championship
back in 2003.

It is not going to get any easier against a tough Buccaneers defense that ranks eighth in the league in total defense (303.3 yards per game) and fourth in scoring defense (15.3 points per game). The 5-2 Bucs have been playing some very impressive football.

After an impressive 27-3 win over division rival Carolina in Week 6, the Buccaneers beat Seattle 20-10 last Sunday night. The Bucs had a more than a 2-1 advantage over the Seahawks in total yards, and limited Seattle to just seven first downs.

"I think the defense played great," Tampa Bay safety Sabby Piscitelli said. "But the biggest thing was the offense kept us off the field."

Quarterback Jeff Garcia had another good game last week, throwing for 310 yards and a touchdown.

"He was hot," Gruden said after Sunday's win. "He ran a no-huddle offense. He did some things on his own, the play selection. He was great I thought."

Look for the Bucs to stay hot. Take Tampa plus the 2 points in Dallas.