This week, the Dallas Cowboys will be in Phoenix to tackle the high-flying Arizona Cardinals, and rather than join friends at the Beer Hunter, I am going to the game and watching it for real.

We are guests of friends, one of whom is being treated to a luxury box for his birthday (it is a surprise).

We are invited to enjoy all the action sitting high above the maddening crowds and, after my trip to Dodger Stadium for the NLDS clinching game last week, thank goodness.

Professional sports fans are something else. Some Cubs fans showed up in Los Angeles and the trash talk they endured was rough and ugly. One Dodgers fan all but challenged an older Chicago man to meet outside so he could beat the tar out of him. A security guard showed up and quietly but effectively disarmed the situation and everyone took a deep breath. And I thought football crowds were tough.

Desert clash

Dallas at Arizona: People are giddy in Arizona with their Cardinals, who appear to be headed to the playoffs with the sad state of affairs in the NFC West.

Last week, Kurt Warner and company had their best outing in this young season by whipping Buffalo 41-17. Warner is again playing as he did in St. Louis when he was league MVP twice.

The Buffalo defenders were in awe of his command of the offense by using audible calls to change plays at the line of scrimmage from pass to run and vice versa. He picked apart the pass defense when he had one-on-one coverage and called runs against the double coverages. All the while, Matt Leinart was sitting on the bench and losing ground on any hopes of replacing Kurt anytime soon.

The Cardinals have one of the best receiving corps in the NFL, and Warner never has to depend on only one of them to carry the load.

One thing I noticed when watching them against Buffalo every receiver is running his routes full speed whether he gets the ball or not. You would be amazed at how many receivers loaf if they do not expect the pass to come to them.

Coaches and quarterbacks always say the ball should go to the open receiver, but people are human and certain passes do get set up for one side of the field more than another. It is a high compliment to say all the receivers run hard regardless of the play. Television does not show us everything so I will be watching from on high to confirm or deny my observations.

Dallas is Dallas one of the best teams this year and hard to beat unless you play a very good game with few mistakes. Play it wide open or down and dirty; they can play either way and make you sweat. As much as they wish to shut down the Cardinals' offense, I suspect they will plan for a high-scoring game and prepare accordingly.

That means plenty of balls in the air and a few gadget plays to catch defenders off guard. Arizona must come with the same intention since nobody has really slowed down Tony Romo yet. This is the week for the fake field goal.

Can jags rebound

Jacksonville at Denver: The Jaguars lost a cliff-hanger to Pittsburgh last week and have become another of the high-profile teams with a losing record and fighting for space.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Jaguars, and they can beat anybody so Denver will need to be sharp.

The Jags need to spend some extra time this week on defensive game planning since the Broncos are the NFL's top offensive team, averaging 435.5 yards and 33.3 points.

Mike Shanahan finally has all the pieces of his puzzle put together — quarterback, runner, long distance threat, possession receiver — so his play calling is aggressive and producing results.

It is a good thing since the defense may become the Achilles heel for them as they are surrendering 408.8 yards per game and 29.3 points.

They are in a virtual tie with San Diego for allowing the most yards passing per game at 276 yards per game. We have seen Indianapolis overcome a shaky defense and win the Super Bowl, but they were the exception. Sooner or later, the porous defense will yield too many points for the offense to counter and things might fall apart.

Finger on button

New England at San Diego: Is it time to panic in San Diego yet? I say no, but there is growing suspicion I am in the minority. Every week the Chargers get caught by something different from officials to last-second passes to the Wildcat Offense of the Miami Dolphins last week.

Norv Turner must wish he could put his finger on whatever is happening, but there is no clear cut glaring weakness. One thing the Chargers need right now is a productive LaDainian Tomlinson. The Dolphins held him to a total of 35 yards rushing on 12 attempts (2.9 per carry) hardly what is customary for him. All told, Miami gained 390 yards compared to the Chargers' 202 and controlled the clock with 36:41 minutes. San Diego played right into the hands of Miami and its slowdown approach to football. More of the same will not be good this week either. Pull out everything and let it fly right from the beginning. Challenge the offense to score at least 30 points.

The Patriots are now adjusted to Matt Cassel, who will be starting for the first time in southern California since high school. I wonder how many ticket requests he had (over/under is 78). He had better have all that business taken care of by the time they arrived in San Diego or Bill Belichick will need to yank him into some meetings to get his mind back on the game. Last week Matt hooked up with Randy Moss for a 66 yard touchdown pass, and the defense held the 49'ers to a total of only 199 yards.

San Francisco could convert only one third down out of nine tries. They held Frank Gore to 54 yards rushing. The Pats won 30-21 but the game was not that close. Look for New England to use the same approach on the Chargers.

QBs take caution

The NFL continues to make player safety a key area of attention with its officiating crews, and protecting the quarterbacks gets close attention. There might be some warning in this cautious approach to keeping the QB's from reckless tacklers.

Watching the Buffalo-Arizona game last week, I saw Trent Edwards of Buffalo take a shot from the Cardinals' Adrian Wilson that wiped him out. Could it be that young quarterbacks are not paying enough attention to what is happening because of the imposed protection of the ref?

Older guys like Brett Favre and Peyton Manning know how to get out of the way and make throws without taking so many hits. Even Ben Roethlisberger, who takes more hits than anyone in the NFL, protects himself by avoiding rushers at all cost.

Edwards was hit under the shoulder on his throwing side and driven into the ground like a spear. Wilson knew what he was doing. Yes, it can happen to almost anyone, but that is why the veterans make sure to avoid it. Edwards may be out for a couple of weeks or more — a large price to pay.

Here is a good question to ponder: Do you think Adrian Wilson would have driven Brett Favre right into the ground the same way he did to Trent Edwards?

John Mackovic is a La Quinta resident and former NFL and college coach. He is writing columns for The Desert Sun throughout the football season.