Dallas & Houston battle in Big D

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With nothing to lose and everything to gain the resurgent Dallas Cowboys (3-1) enter a high noon affair with their instate rivals the Houston Texans (3-1) today at AT&T Stadium for the "battle for Texas." 
The relatively upstart Houston franchise comes in with a stout defense that is hungry and intense. After early wins against lesser opponents (Redskins and Raiders) they stumbled against the Giants and had to fight hard to defeat a scrappy Buffalo team at home 24-17 last week. Riding the stellar efforts of defensive standout JJ Watt, the Texans are more than confident coming into the Cowboys backyard looking for a road victory. 
But, which Dallas Cowboys team will they see?  
Will they see the error prone and confused team that we saw give away game 1 against San Francisco? Or will the resilient Cowboys team we saw rise above the early road adversity against the Rams to comeback, then totally dominate the once mighty Saints from start to finish last weekend at home show up?
To the casual fans and many media pundits, the 2014 Dallas Cowboys are in many ways just beginning to mature as an offense and surprisingly through four games are coming together quite nicely as a patchwork "no name defense." 
However, the #CowboysNation knows all to well the roller coaster ride that has been the Dallas Cowboys team under Jason Garrett so, excuse our tempered excitement as we collectively apply the "wait & see" approach to the offensive commitment to running the ball and a revamped defensive secondary that plays to win and not to lose. But most importantly, we're hopeful for improved game management in the winning moments of the 4th quarter.   
Yet after four games, the Dallas Cowboys have the league's top rusher so it wouldn't surprise most that they would continue lean on that ravenous offensive line and ride the legs of DeMarco Murray again.   
If they are successful running the ball and can allow the Tony Romo rehab experience to continue its week to week improvements this Dallas team will have everyone remembering and making comparisons to those championship teams the '90s.
The Houston Texans however,  are not just another fluffed up AFC paperweight team by any stretch.  Although,  they are still finding their way on offense behind Pro-bowl running back Arian Foster,  their young defense is ranked 19th against the run. (allowing just over 100 yards a game) And don't forget that they have one of most terrifying pass rushers in the game today in defensive end JJ Watt. Watt will be matched up at times against Doug Free so the Cowboys will have to be creative in their protection of Romo.
 The Cowboys and Texans have only matched up three times with Dallas holding a 2-1 advantage winning the last two games in '06 & '10.  I expect a better than average game with Dallas taking the home win 30-24.
This is the first time that Dallas has been 3-1 to start a season since '08 when they finished 9-7 and failed to make the playoffs under the head coach Wade Phillips.