Dallas Cowboys: Matchups to watch, Week Four

The Dallas Cowboys will square off against the Los Angeles Rams this weekend in a Week Four showdown. Here are some key matchups for this contest.

Week Four has begun and the Dallas Cowboys have an early date with the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. The Cowboys are coming off of a huge win against the Arizona Cardinals on Monday Night Football and will look to carry some of that momentum into the game on Sunday.

The Rams are coming off of a big victory against the San Francisco 49ers in a game that went right down to the wire. This week there are some key matchups to focus on that will have a big impact on the final result of this contest.

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DeMarcus Lawrence VS Rob Havenstein

The NFC Defensive Player of the Month, DeMarcus Lawrence has shown this season that he is a force to be reckoned with. Lawrence has piled up a mind-boggling 6.5 sacks over the course of the first three games.

He is on pace to not only notch a personal best, but he may shatter the single-season sack record if this level of play continues. Rob Havenstein and the Rams new-look offensive line have performed much better as a unit than they had in 2016.

Still, Havenstein should be in for a rough ride come Sunday as Lawrence has made a habit of making right tackles and other offensive lineman look incredibly silly as he runs them over en route to a sack.

Havenstein and the rest of the offensive line know that Lawrence can be a game wreck and will likely have a plan in place to give the young right tackle some help if he needs it.

As far as pass rushes go, the Cowboys are seemingly equal to if not better than the Washington Redskins which is the only team that has been able to hand the Rams a loss during this young season.

Goff will likely be under heavy pressure for a large portion of this contest.

Cowboys defense VS Todd Gurley

Rams star running back, Todd Gurley has looked like his old self as he has amassed 241 rushing yards throughout the first three games of the regular season.He is averaged 3.8 yards per carry and has 4 rushing touchdowns already.

There is one performance that is fairly interesting, his game against the Indianapolis Colts. In that contest, we saw what it would take to slow down Gurley as he only accumulated 40 yards on 19 carries.

He did find the end zone for a touchdown but averaged only 2.1 yards per carry, to the Colts. If we are looking at the situation from an NFC East perspective, the Washington Redskins allowed him to have 88 rushing yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, that is pretty bad for a defense that shut down Oakland Raiders star running back, Marshawn Lynch last Sunday. 

The strength of opponents clearly falls on the side of the Dallas Cowboys as they have had a murderers row to begin the season playing the New York Giants, Denver Broncos, and Arizona Cardinals.

These physical games have left the Cowboys secondary banged up and star linebacker, Sean Lee’s status for Week Four a question mark. If Lee cannot go Jaylon Smith will likely be asked to play his role which does help alleviate some worry about the situation.

Whether or not Gurley can get going early will set the tone for this contest. It will be important to keep the Rams behind the chains on their first drive of the game to keep them uncomfortable.

Dez VS Trumaine Johnson

This will be an interesting matchup as Dez has had some really chippy battles with opposing defensive backs over the last few weeks. Johnson recorded seven interceptions during his contract year but in his first year after being re-signed only recorded one interception for the entire season.

Dez, on the other hand, has had a touchdown in two of his last three games and is clearly becoming more involved as the season goes on. It does seem like he will be trending upward as the Cowboys offense starts to click.

He is not worried about his performance and there is some reasoning for it. The Dallas Cowboys are a run first team now which is a lot different than when Rams defensive coordinator, Wade Phillips was there as the head coach.

Bryant will not see 10 targets in this contest as the Dallas Cowboys will focus on the ground and pound but he will have his moments as the contest goes on. Much like Zeke, Dez has faced some of the best defenders at his position this season, Janoris Jenkins, Aqib Talib and Chris Harris Jr, and then Patrick Peterson.

Right from the beginning, he was thrown into the fire and this should be his best matchup to date. I would not be overly surprised if Bryant had a monster game but that will have to occur on limited targets. As for Johnson and the Rams secondary, they have done a worse job in the last two weeks than the Cowboys secondary has done all season.

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Cowboys offense VS Wade Phillips defense

Rams VS Indianapolis Colts/San Francisco 49ers: 8 sacks, 3 interceptions, 2 fumble recoveries, 2 touchdowns.

Rams VS Washington Redskins: 2 sacks

Over the last two weeks, the Rams have allowed 66 points from their opponents which bodes well for Dallas. To highlight how bad that is the Cowboys have only allowed 56 points all season long.

They also have given up four touchdowns and the 3rd most fantasy football points to opposing running backs all season. All signs point to Ezekiel Elliott having an opportunity to have an incredible day.

This is the best matchup he has had all season long, as he has gone up against the toughest defensive fronts the NFL has to offer. Rams safety Lamarcus Joyner will miss this contest and that will make it tougher for them to stop Elliott.

Elliott has been hungry for another 100-yard game and this could be the time we see him feed on one of the worst defenses at stopping the run. Realistically if the Dallas Cowboys get their ground game early this game could be over fairly quick.

Next: What does the return of David Irving mean for the defense?

Each week we have seen the Dallas Cowboys become more and more potent on offense and that trend should continue against the Rams. Dak Prescott is coming his best game of the season and he only had 18 passing attempts.

Now The Rams have given up the 8th fewest points to quarterbacks but keep in mind they have only faced Scott Tolzien, Kirk Cousins, and Brian Hoyer which are not exactly elite matchups.

All of those teams also do not have as balanced of a running game as Dallas does and that will become evident on Sunday.