The second of Saturday's two divisional round playoff games, the battle between the and a lot of similarities to the game between the and .Like the Chiefs, the Rams jumped out to a huge start this season behind a high-flying, damn near unstoppable offense led by an inventive offense coach, sparkling quarterback play, and weapons all over the field. Like the Chiefs, the Rams won their division but not without a late-season stumble.Like the Colts, the Cowboys started the season poorly before catching fire toward the middle of the year. Dallas was 3-5 at one point before winning seven of eight games to end the season, with a fast, athletic defense and a handful of offensive stars carrying them to a string of close victories. More NFL As is the case in the earlier matchup, the theory of the case for the underdog road squad in this NFC divisional round game is that they should run the ball into one of the NFL's lightest defensive fronts in order to control the clock and keep the opposing offense off the field. And as is also the case in that game, the home favorite's pa s offense seems to have several advantages that would make the "run-to-win" strategy seem wises than it usually does. Of course, it's not always that simple. It often comes down to the specific matchups on the field. And it likely will on Saturday (8:15 p.m. Rusney Castillo Jersey ET, Fox). Here's what to watch for in Rams vs. Cowboys.Rams' play-action pa sing attack vs. Cowboys' back seven defendersPerhaps no group of players gained more esteem this season than the back second level of the Dallas Cowboys' defense. Long derided as the reason a team with a potent offense couldn't take the next step, the Dallas defense this season was by far the better Fred Lynn Jersey of the team's two units. The Cowboys finished the year seventh in yards allowed, sixth in points allowed, and ninth in defensive efficiency, per Football Outsiders' defensive DVOA. Pa s-rusher is the team's best defensive player, but the Cowboys had three breakout stars on the second level as well. Cornerback , who moved back to the perimeter full-time this season after shuffling between corner and safety for his first three NFL seasons, emerged as one of the NFL's best cornerbacks under the tutelage of defensive backs coach and pa sing game coordinator Kris Richard. Jones allowed only 0.79 yards per snap in coverage, per Pro Football Focus, the third-best mark among the 30 corners with at least 525 snaps in coverage. He was named a second team All-Pro at the end of the season.Third-year linebacker , playing only his second full season after the devastating knee injury he suffered during his final collegiate game, recaptured damn near every bit of the brilliance that had him looking like a lock to be a top-five pick in the 2016 draft prior to his injury. Smith broke out as one of the handful of best inside linebackers in football, the rare inside backer who is a force against the run, in pa s coverage, and as a blitzer, where he was one of the best in the league. And rookie linebacker , after easing his way into the lineup early on, made a heck of a run at Defensive Rookie of the Year. Vander Esch finished the season with 140 tackles, seven pa ses defensed, and two interceptions, and he was so good that the Cowboys had to take out Andrew Benintendi Jersey of the lineup in order to keep him on the field. Keep in mind that the Dallas defense had damn near fallen apart every time Lee left the field in previous seasons -- including last year.Even players like second-year corner , who started opposite Jones, as well as third-year slot corner and second-year safety , all came into their own this season, taking ma sive leaps from where they were a year ago. (Woods was terrific in coverage, posting similar numbers to players like and .)The one area where the entire back seven of Dallas' defense struggled, though, was against play-action pa ses. The ethos of both Richard and defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli is to be as aggre sive as po sible in flowing to the ball, and that aggre sion helped the Cowboys sport one of the best run defenses in the league. They went a little bit too all-out to stop the run on some occasions, though, and because they did, they allowed a 112.6 pa ser rating on play-action throws. That figure ranked 26th in the NFL. And it just so happens that this week's opponent, the Los Angeles Rams, runs more play-action than any team in the NFL. On the balance of the season, 34.6 percent of throws were of the play-action variety, per PFF, the highest rate of any quarterback in the NFL. And Goff was absolutely dynamite on those throws, completing 120 of 197 for 1,971 yards, 13 touchdowns, two interceptions, and a 112.3 pa ser rating that ranked seventh-best in the league. Goff's play-action performance, though, came with heavy splits.As we wrote after the Rams' Week 15 lo s to the , teams began beginning with a game against the in Week 13.What the Lions did against the Rams that week set the blueprint for what the Bears Dustin Pedroia Jersey and Eagles have done since: they simply ignored all the bells and whistles that come along with the Rams' offensive play design, steadfastly refusing to react to play-action fakes and daring McVay to run the ball or Goff to complete short pa ses against soft zones and methodically work the ball downfield....On his play-action throws, Goff has e sentially gone from being better than to being worse than Ryan Leaf. And that's not the only area of struggle for either him or the Rams. Because teams are no longer reacting to play-action like they used to, they are able to either sit back in a soft zone -- which helps neutralize the cro sing routes that form so much of the basis of the Rams' offense -- or pin their ears back and come after Goff -- which has resulted in his being pre sured far more often over the past three weeks than he was earlier in the year.Those last two notes are important as well: the Cowboys play a lot of zone coverage under Marinelli and Richard, which helps neutralize some of the cro sing routes. And Lawrence, , , and have been increasingly strong getting pre sure up front, which gives the Rams le s time to allow their play-action game to develop. Goff held the ball more than 2.5 seconds before throwing on 60 percent of his throws this season, per PFF, the highest rate in the league. Against teams that play more man coverage, that just gives guys more time to spring open. Against zones, it often gives the rushmen Boston Red Sox Jersey more time to get after Goff himself.That's often where the play-action comes in for the Rams, as the run fakes sucks linebackers and safeties up toward the line and lets Goff fire pa ses into large windows over the middle. We saw exactly this sort of thing happen last week when went 9 of 10 for 111 yards on play-action throws against Dallas. If the Rams can find similar succe s on throws after faking the run to , it could be a long day for the Dallas defense.But if the backers and safeties hang back, let Gurley rip off h