Week 3 of the NFL preaseason is typically the week for fans to watch. It's essentially a dress rehearsal for the regular season, and on Saturday night, the Dallas Cowboys will have their dress rehearsal as they head to Minnesota to take on Donovan McNabb and the Minnesota Vikings.
As is custom in the third week of the preseason, expect the starters to play, and play a lot. It's likely that the starters are going to play the entirety of the first half, and possibly the first drive or two of the third quarter - just to get the players used to coming out of halftime again.
There will be plenty to watch with both the first unit offense and defense as the Cowboys take on the Vikings. Defensively, it will be interesting to see how Rob Ryan has the Cowboys defense attack Adrian Peterson. With Sidney Rice, Tavaris Jackson and Brett Favre all out of the picture, Minnesota's aerial attack will be much different than in years past. Donovan McNabb will likely see his largest amount of playing time in the preseason as he adjusts to being on his third team in three years.
Offensively, Felix Jones has already been a joy to watch this preseason as he's shown both excellent power and speed. Star wide receiver Miles Austin will almost certainly be out of Saturday's game, which will give Dallas' coaching staff an excellent opportunity to evaluate Kevin Ogletree further to see if he is indeed going to be Dallas' No. 3 wide receiver this year.
Hopefully the Cowboys will be thrust into a two minute drill to end the first half as well, since it would give Tony Romo an opportunity to lead Dallas on a two minute drill in a hostile environment - something he hasn't had to do in quite a while.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CDT at the Metrodome - the first game held there since the snow caved in the roof last season.