FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys will head back out on the road to face the Buffalo Bills fresh off a big win against Philadelphia that pushed the team's winning streak to five games midway through December.
The conditions are expected to play a large part in Sunday afternoon's contest with wind upwards of 30 mph and heavy rain expected to impact the game.
As a result, expect a lot of action in the run game for both teams and a trench battle that will punctuate an almost certain sloppy afternoon at Highmark Stadium.
There will be a lot of matchups to keep an eye on this week. Here are the key matchups you should be watching out for.
Stephon Gilmore vs Stefon Diggs
This may not be the brotherly Diggs vs. Diggs headlining matchup that we all anticipated when the schedule dropped back in May, but Stephon Gilmore will step in and give Stefon Diggs just as big of a challenge on Sunday afternoon.
Gilmore is coming off a two-game stretch that has seen him follow DK Metcalf in the second half of the win against Seattle and A.J. Brown for the entirety of the win over Philadelphia, and the challenge of the task only increases against Diggs. While Diggs hasn't seen an overwhelming amount of production since early in the season, his big play ability still looms dangerously.
With the conditions expected to impact the pass game quite a bit, cutting off short and quick routes will be the task at hand for Gilmore against one of the league's best route runners in Diggs. Being physical off the line of scrimmage will be key for the veteran Gilmore to find success once again in coverage.
Micah Parsons vs Dion Dawkins
It seems like every week we're looking at a left tackle matchup for Micah Parsons, and this week is no different with Buffalo's Dion Dawkins looking to neutralize the Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
At 6-foot-5, 310 pounds, Dawkins is actually one of the smaller offensive linemen up front for the Bills, but his massive frame will still give Parsons fits on Sunday afternoon. We've seen Parsons become more comfortable using his strength against bigger matchups with last week's sack on Jalen Hurts against Lane Johnson being a perfect example.
This time around, he'll see an athletic Dawkins paired with a good amount of strength as well. We've also seen Dan Quinn flip DeMarcus Lawrence and Parsons from edge-to-edge, so don't be surprised if Parsons isn't the only one that will try to get past Dawkins who has only allowed one sack all season.
Terence Steele vs Leonard Floyd
Since allowing 12 pressures and four sacks to Philadelphia in week nine, Terence Steele has put together some of his best NFL performances in protecting Dak Prescott at right tackle.
He'll look to keep it going this week against Buffalo's sack leader in Leonard Floyd who has accounted for 9.5 sacks so far this season. His athletic presence off the edge will challenge Terence Steele's lateral movement as well as Zack Martin's true one-on-one play with Ed Oliver with Steele getting moved out of the gap.
With the running game expected to have a big presence on Sunday afternoon, it'll also be big for Steele to generate push to allow for Tony Pollard and Rico Dowdle to get around the right side when schemed that direction.
