Dallas @ San Diego preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 18, 2012 ) Dallas 20, San Diego 28

Dallas quarterback Tony Romo is off to a fast start and San Diego’s Philip Rivers has been even hotter as the two signal callers attempt to continue their strong play when the Cowboys visit the Chargers on Sunday. Romo has completed 72.2 percent of his passes for 771 yards and six touchdowns, while Rivers is thriving under first-year head coach Mike McCoy. After regressing the past two seasons, Rivers has completed 70 percent for 798 yards and eight touchdowns.

While San Diego’s offense has re-emerged, its defense has been awful and ranks next-to-last in total defense (470.7 yards per game) and is giving up an average of 27 points. Dallas running back DeMarco Murray exploded with a 175-yard effort in last Sunday’s victory over St. Louis that was his first 100-yard outing since the opening game of the 2012 season. The matchup features two of the best tight ends over the last decade in the Cowboys’ Jason Witten (822 career receptions to rank second all-time among tight ends) and San Diego’s Antonio Gates (84 career touchdown catches, second all-time for a tight end). Dallas leads the NFC East while the Chargers are two games behind AFC West co-leaders Denver and Kansas City.

TV: 4:25 p.m. ET, Fox. LINE: Cowboys -2. O/U: 46.5.

ABOUT THE COWBOYS (2-1): Defensive end DeMarcus Ware is off to a strong start with four of the team’s 13 sacks and his career total of 115 is one better than Harvey Martin’s previous franchise record. Ware is limited in practices due to a neck stinger and Dallas suffered a bigger blow at midweek when it learned defensive end Anthony Spencer (11 sacks in 2012) will undergo season-ending knee injury. The run defense was been outstanding – allowing 66.3 yards per game, second-lowest in the NFL. Receiver Dez Bryant (17 receptions) could be up for another big game – he had nine catches for 141 yards against Kansas City on Sept. 15 – against the suspect San Diego secondary.

ABOUT THE CHARGERS (1-2): Each of San Diego’s games have come down to the final half-minute, including last week’s 20-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans. Rivers is three touchdown passes away from joining Hall of Famer Dan Fouts (254) and John Hadl (201) as the only quarterbacks in franchise history to reach 200 scoring passes. Receiver Eddie Royal caught five touchdown passes over the first two games while running mate Malcom Floyd (neck) will likely miss his second straight outing. The Chargers hope to have linebacker Donald Butler (groin) back to help shore up a unit that ranks 28th against the run (130 per game) and dead last in pass defense (340.7).

EXTRA POINTS

1. Dallas has won six of the nine meetings but San Diego prevailed the last time – 20-17 in 2009.

2. San Diego LB Manti Te’o (foot) could make his NFL debut.

3. Cowboys WR Miles Austin (hamstring) didn’t practice in the middle of the week and might miss the game.

PREDICTION: Chargers 34, Cowboys 31