3 Massive Sunday Storylines

1. 'New' Cowboys First Real Test

Since droppng to 5-4 with that head-caving they took from the Giants on November 2, the Cowboys have beaten Washington (nice), the Niners (meh) and the Seahawks (also meh). At 8-4, they have engendered much giddiness among their fanbase. Yet they're still a whisker behind the Falcons in the race for the final NFC wild card and are now traveling to Pittsburgh to face the NFL's best defense (statistically). This is in many ways their biggest game of the season. The Steelers dismantled New England last weekend. They clearly showed that an average quarterback playing well (Matt Cassel) can be brought to Earth with a resounding thud if he's put under enough duress. Now Pittsburgh faces a good quarterback (Tony Romo) playing well. Romo's inclination when under pressure is to refuse to take the sack or negative play and try to make something big happen. That leads to turnovers and points. And with a defense led by legit MVP candidate James Harrison, those plays will arise for Romo to deal with. The matchup I'm going to be fascinated by in this one? Jason Witten and Troy Polamalu.  

2. The Starcaps Imbroglio

Frankly, this whole thing's a crock. The NFL knew Starcaps contained a banned substance but didn't share that information with the employees? What's this, the Marion Barry case? Once I hear words like "litigation" "injunction" and "court order" I tend to glaze over a bit. What's pertinent here is that, the injunction granted by Judge Paul Magnuson in St. Paul, Minnesota on Sunday may free up Kevin and Pats Williams to play Sunday against the Lions but if their four-game suspension is ultimately upheld, the tradeoff will be that they miss playoff games now (if they are forthcoming for Minny).

As much hand-wringing's being done over the legal aspects of the case, the only thing that matters to the team and their teammates is the answer to the question: Are they playing or not?

"It's not a distraction to us," said Viking Jared Allen to Minny media. "I mean, not to be jerks, but... you guys are the ones that create the distraction. It's always, 'Oh, we got another question about it. We got another this about it.' We're just playing football. So many circumstances happen through a year that if you get hung up every time (something happens), then we wouldn't be successful.

3. Make or Break for Washington

After looking so good early in the year, the Redskins have faceplanted. On NBC's Sunday Night Football, they have precisely the kind of defense you don't get right against - the Ravens. Can Jason Campbell and Jim Zorn hatch anything to help a team that's lost four of its last seven? Washington's scored 6, 10 and 7 in its last three games against playoff bound opponents. They're in trouble deep.