Brad Johnson? What is he all about? Is he the same Old Man Johnson that guided the Vikings until Dante Culpepper came of age, and eventually resurfaced in Washington? Is this the same Old Man Johnson that guided Tampa Bay to complete and utter dominance over the formidable Raiders in Super Bowl 37? It is, in fact, the same Johnson.

I make light of the term “old man”, but Brad is old. In fact he is very old when it comes to the QB position. He is the oldest active NFL QB. Consider a couple of the league’s venerable starters today. He is three years older than two time MVP Kurt Warner, who seemed rejuvenated last week after years of dehydration and playing back up in Arizona. He is one month older than Brett Favre, who some folks swear took over for Bart Starr. Heck he is older than some stars who have recently retired.

But what does age mean? It really comes down to health and longevity. On the positive, when compared again to Warner and Favre, Brad has been major injury free, like Favre and unlike Warner. He also hasn’t been taking many game snaps over the last couple of years either, so that is in his favor.

So how will he do in Dallas over the next four weeks? When we factor in the adjusted age quotient as described, I don’t think age is a factor. We can dismiss the Old Man label. The next thing to consider is his body of work, primarily through career statistics. It’s easy enough to see he is a career 62 % passer. We can also see that he has upwards of 29k yards, a respectable 164/117 TD to INT ratio, and a lifetime QB rating of 83%. That’s the good stuff. The bad stuff is he is known to be a true pocket passer with a weak arm. He is also prone to the sack, collecting a whopping 52 the last two years he was a starter, albeit he played for a pretty dismal Minnesota offense. So the stats help shape who Brad is as well. But what about the other intangibles?

Reputation and Street Cred: Brad has experience. He has been a solid starter and backup throughout his career. He has guided a team to the Lombardi trophy. He should be able to leverage his resume in the locker room and in the huddle.

Weapons of choice: He has plenty of options in Dallas and a ‘one time considered genius in the making’ coordinator Jason Garret to craft a formula on how to get the ball to those weapons. Look for him to dink and dunk early to Austin Miles, especially in 3 wide-out sets, who he teamed up with often in the preseason.

Game Plan: I also wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of double tight end sets with Barber the lone back. This should help to off set the struggles observed with the line against the Cardinals where Romo was often times scrambling right after the snap. Short passes and a pounding ground game should be in the works.

Of course this in no way addresses the concerns on special teams and the secondary. But if Garret can get the ball out of Johnson’s hands quickly, the Cowboys should be able to control the clock and put points on the board. At least this week that ought to be enough to beat St Louis, who hopefully are still glowing in the after-light of this season’s lone victory over the Giants.

Tony Romo has received far too much criticism for his 1.5 years starting in this league, all due to his poor performance in round one of the playoffs, two years in a row. It’s an unfair stigma, and one which we can expect to see broken this year.

Regardless of the Romo banter, the Dallas Cowboys are obviously one of the most talented teams on paper. In almost every position, they have star talent, and quite a bit of depth in some places. The question all over the newspapers and radio talk shows is can the celebrity Cowboys play well as a team?

It’s a question that will soon be answered. No one game is the be-all/end-all of meaning, though, so let’s give the Cows a three game space to answer that question for us all. And once we know, the rest of the season and post-season should be much easier to predict.

Stay tuned for what we hope becomes one of the best football seasons in Dallas Cowboy history.

With Patrick Crayton healthy and the Cowboys defense on the upswing, give the points on this one. Cowboys beat the Packers by 8-10 points at least this week. But don’t you worry. This won’t be a snoozer. Expect this game to be one aerial display after another.

Expect Owens to score two TDs and either Crayton, Hurd, or Witten to score another. You should probably throw in at least one rushing touchdown for good measure. Favre will put up at least three touchdowns, only to be outdone by his pupil, the soon-to-be-great Tony Romo. Yes, I nearly called him great. Romo doesn’t have the championships yet, so we’ll relegate him to “almost” status.

But mark my words. The nearly great Romo will not cease to amaze this Thursday. Only I and millions of Americans won’t know it until Friday morning since we don’t have the stupid NFL Network… How exclusionary.

Terrell Owens and Sam Hurd got the start at wide out. After that, though, who’s left? Some third or fourth string guys we’ve never heard of. Not to bag on those guys, though. We’ve seen quite a few somebodies emerge from the ranks of the nobodies around the league.

Even with such a shortage of wide receivers, Romo had a good game and the defense contributed a few sacks and an interception for a touchdown. But it’s next Thursday that really matters, folks. That’s when the top two NFC teams face off for what will likely amount to home field advantage in the playoffs. Brett Favre is having the best season of his career, and the Packers are perhaps the biggest surprise in the NFL thus far.

Both Cowboys and Packers are sitting pretty at 10-1. If the Cowboys can pull this next week’s win off against an inspired Packers team, they’ll have a much better chance of making it to the Big Show in Arizona. I haven’t seen a Cowboys Super Bowl appearance in so long, my tongue goes numb in anticipation.

Keep your fingers crossed and your coolers charged.