Staff Writer

The first week back on the gridiron had its ups and downs, as NFL fans got their much-needed influx of football since the 130-day labor standoff started. The league kicked off week one of the regular season last weekend with the first slate of games.

On Sunday, the Carolina Panthers traveled to Glendale, Arizona to battle the Cardinals. Arizona won, 28-21, but wasn’t all for naught. Panthers rookie quarterback and University of Auburn alum Cameron (Cam) Newton passed for 422 yards and 2 touchdowns, both rookie quarterback debut records.

The Buffalo Bills, believed by many to be irrelevant in their division, surprised a lot of people with their win over the Kansas City Chiefs, 41-7. The Chiefs, who won the AFC West division last year, looked really sloppy on offense and couldn’t score at all. The defense looked just as off-kilter, allowing Ryan Fitzpatrick to throw four touchdown passes and 208 yards.

On Sunday night, the Dallas Cowboys faced off against the New York Jets in a game played literally just a few miles away from Ground Zero on the tenth anniversary of September 11^th, 2001. Dallas jumped out to an early lead and retained it through three and a half quarters. But Tony Romo, being Tony Romo, threw an interception to Jets All-Pro Darrelle Revis, who returned it 20 yards. That led to Nick Folk’s 50-yard field goal with 27 seconds left to play to put the Jets in front to stay, 27-24.

During the first of two Monday night games, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots torched the Miami Dolphins defense, winning easily, 38-24. Brady annihilated the Dolphins’ secondary, throwing for a whopping 517 yards to go along with four touchdowns. Brady’s offensive output was fifth most in NFL history.

The final game, the second on a late night of football, pitted the Oakland Raiders against the Denver Broncos. The Raiders won a close game, 23-20, but the main headline was not from an offensive player or a defensive player, but a kicker. Raiders placekicker Sebastian Janikowski teed up a 63-yard field goal right before halftime to tie a NFL record long set by the Broncos’ Jason Elam in October of 1999.

Texas lacrosse teams all started first rounds of playoffs on Tuesday April 27 all across the state.

Coppell played first round at Coppell Middle School West and playing on their home field was a definite advantage.

The undefeated Cowboys played the Plano East Panthers first round. The Cowboys shut out the Panthers with a final score of 11-0.

After a great first round, Cowboys are scheduled to play the Highland Park DII team. All second and third rounds will be played at Hillcrest High School in Dallas.

Cowboys will play the Scotts on Saturday May 1 at 3:30 p.m. at the Franklin Field.

Come support the Cowboys proceed to next round of playoffs which will be at the same field on Sunday May 2. Time undecided as of now.

After pulling out a 20 point victory in the opening round of the playoffs against Keller Coppell now faces the Plano East Panthers in a second round matchup that starts at 11 am Saturday morning at the Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium.

In the opening round Plano East escaped with a win thanks to a 16 point fourth quarter that sent the game into overtime where a guttsy call to go for two gave the Panthers a one point victory over Irving MacArthur. The game featured two strong running games as both teams had at least 40 rushing attempts and over 200 yards on the ground.

The Cowboys also featured a strong rushing attack in the opening round as Cam McDaniel rushed for 143 yards and four touchdowns on only 19 carries. Two of his touchdowns came in the final quarter as Coppell put up 16 fourth quarter points to push the lead to 20.

This weeks game should also feature the strong rushing attacks of both teams, but Coppell will look to maintain a potent passing game that has helped to keep the offense rolling through offensive line struggles early in the year. The cowboy defense should be up to the task as they have held multiple teams to negative rushing yards already this season. The key to the game, though, should be Cam McDaniel and the offensive line for Coppell. If the Cowboys can find a way to get the running game going then they should be able to control the pace of the game and give their defense a rest.

To see how the game actually plays out come to Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium at 11 am Saturday morning and help to root on the Cowboys.