This week, the Detroit Lions welcome the Dallas Cowboys to Ford Field for their matchup. The Cowboys come in riding high on their horses sporting an 11 - 1 record and fresh off of their lopsided victory over the previously once beaten Green Bay Packers.

I must admit, this is an always hoped for type week. My favorite two teams in the NFL are the Detroit Lions and whoever plays the Dallas Cowboys. I hate no team worse than the Cowboys despite having lived in Dallas for 12 years. Having grown up in the Detroit area and being a Lions fan my whole life, I also grew up hating the Cowboys because in those days, my second favorite team (and they were much less liked than the Lions) was the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the 70’s there was no way you could like the Steelers and Cowboys. So, hence I have hated them my whole life.

I met my wife living in Dallas and at the time she was a fan, but then they went through their thug and criminal time and she forever left them as fans. Her parents still live in Dallas and are avid fans.

This is a big week for the Lions, as are all the remaining games. Technically, they are alive in the playoff race, but need some wins against some stiff competition if they hope to get the last wildcard spot.

The Lions will be missing the service or Roy Williams at wideout this week as he sustained a knee injury last week against the Vikings. Roy is hoping to be back for the last game of the season against the Packers. His injury means that Calvin Johnson, Sean MacDonald and Mike Furrey will have to step it up this week. The offensive line will have to give Kitna time to find his receivers and make some holes for Jones. The Lions will struggle in the four and five wideout sets, so we have to establish some sort of running attack this week. I expect Johnson to have a good game.

This week has been a war of words between the two teams. Last year, after the Detroit - Dallas game, Kitna made some remarks about Bradie James and the Cowboy defense that has had them circling this date on their calendar. They have fired back their own verbal remarks. Terrence Newman, a thug in his own right, even claimed he was willing to take a penalty and fine for late hitting and hurting Kitna in the game. Of course, those remarks got him a letter from the NFL warning him that they would be watching him. How stupid can you get? Now, he says it was all a joke. Yeah, right… It just shows him to be of questionable character.

This little incident is surely to have emotions high at the start of the game, but these guys are pros. They don’t need something to fire them up. It may give them a quick burst at the start, but they will get down to business real quick. I don’t expect it to have much impact on the game.

The Lions have struggled recently in the Red Zone. Dallas is going to score some points this week. If the Lions don’t come away with six every entry into the Red Zone this week, we will be in for another lopsided loss. Kevin Jones and Jon Kitna have to step it up this week.

On the defensive side, we haven’t stopped anyone or anything in many weeks. It seems that the guys have plain and simply forgotten how to tackle. The Cowboys have a potent enough attack on offense, we can’t afford to help them out with shoddy tackling once again. The defensive line needs to figure out what kind of unit they want to be. The defense has tended to go the way they play. Lately, its poor at best. This week, the Lions have activated rookie Ikaika Alama-Francis at defensive end. He shows a lot of promise but has progressed slowly as a rookie. Perhaps this week, he gets his chance to show the coaching staff and fans why the Lions drafted him. The defensive unit needs to get back to the early portion of the season when they were winning the turnover battle.

I also suspect there is a rift between Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz and the Lions front office and maybe even Rod Marinelli. I am not sure anyone has understood the game plans drawn up recently by Martz. It seems as if he has been getting pressure from above to do things he is not comfortable with. I don’t expect Martz to be with the team next year, so maybe he gets serious, does it his way and trys to look good for job opportunities next year. We need a good gameplan for a change.

I think this will be a rough week for the Lions. I don’t think the Lions defense will have an answer to the Cowboys high scoring attack. The Lions have been struggling immensely in the Red Zone and won’t have Williams this week. To me that means a bunch of points for the Cowboys and not so many for the Lions. I can only hope the Lions pull together as a team and fight for that last playoff spot. Still, I am picking the Cowboys to beat the Lions this week by a score of 41 - 21.

Go Lions!