How's this for a mid-November matchup: can the most productive offensive stretch in Cowboys history continue against the NFL's No. 1 defense?
For the first time ever, a Cowboys team has delivered seven straight games with at least 400 yards of total offense – part of an eight-game winning streak that has vaulted Dallas to the league's best record (8-1).
The Baltimore Ravens (5-4) have won two straight and lead the AFC North with the league's top-ranked run defense (71.3 per game) and fifth-ranked pass defense (210.2).
Which side will prevail Sunday? The DallasCowboys.com staff gives their gut feelings for the interconference matchup.
Bryan Broaddus: I don't see the Baltimore Ravens coming into AT&T Stadium and allowing this offense to just run over them. The Ravens are not the Bengals, Packers or Eagles, who had stout run defenses but couldn't stop Dallas. As good as Ezekiel Elliott has been, this will be a difficult matchup for him. The Ravens take a tremendous amount of pride in their ability to control the line of scrimmage, especially on early downs. My gut feeling is that the Ravens are able to stop the Cowboys' ability to have success on the ground and this turns into a struggle. Elliott has one of his worst games on the ground and the Ravens do enough with their poor offense throwing the ball against a compromised Cowboys secondary to win a low scoring game, 20-14.
Rob Phillips:The Bengals, Packers, Eagles and Steelers tried. Maybe the Ravens can slow down Zeke and the Cowboys' running game. The bigger key might be whether Baltimore has found a rhythm on offense. Can the Ravens replicate the season-high 28 points they scored in last week's win over winless Cleveland? They've now reached 20-plus points in five of nine games. The Cowboys, on the other hand, have scored at least 20 in eight of nine games and topped 30 in three of their last four. My gut feeling is this will be somewhat of a defensive struggle and Dan Bailey will break the all-time record for career Cowboys field goals made (he needs two more; I'll guess he gets four on Sunday). But like last Sunday, I think Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott will make enough plays late to extend the win streak to nine.
Nick Eatman: What an emotional week it has been, dating back to Sunday. That win was a thrilling and epic as you could get, especially considering Dez Bryant playing with a heavy heart. And then the Cowboys showing so much heart to rally and win. Speaking of heart, Tony Romo spoke from his and poured out more emotions than we've ever seen from him. Yet, what was supposed to be a statement to remove any distraction, that really hasn't worked. We're all still talking about the quarterback situation. So you've got all of these emotions, plus Romo dressing out this week. And all the while, the Ravens are just over there practicing and preparing for the Cowboys. So that means Baltimore will win? No, not exactly because I don't think the Ravens offense can keep up. This will be close for a while, but the Cowboys prevail. I've got Lucky Whitehead scoring his first touchdown of the season, a sack from Jack Crawford and Justin Tucker misses his first field goal of the season. The Cowboys find themselves in a fight but prevail again, 27-14.
David Helman: This game is going to be an all-out grind. I know the Cowboys have worn out defenses in the past, but I think this Baltimore defense is as stiff a challenge as they've seen all year. Ezekiel Elliott is going to have to fight for every yard, and I think he'll probably finish with 86 on the day – while the Cowboys run for 115 as a team. As a result, Dak Prescott is going to have to make some plays on his own, and I think the Baltimore pass rush will sack him twice. But the real story of this game is the Dallas defense. Joe Flacco is equipped to hurt these guys, who still don't have Mo Claiborne or Barry Church. I think he's going to hit them for some big plays, and Steve Smith Sr. is going to finish with eight catches for 135 yards. But the Cowboys will come through with something we haven't seen in a while, which is takeaways – two of them, to be exact. It's going to be a tough, ugly game. Ultimately, I think Prescott does enough to put Dan Bailey in position for a game-winning field goal to sneak out with a 20-17 Dallas win.
