Section 215
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Philadelphia Eagles vs. Dallas Cowboys Semi-Coherent Preview

By Mike Lacy

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The Philadelphia Eagles vs. Dallas Cowboys matchup is previewed. 

Did everyone enjoy their week off from the Eagles? I hope so, because there’s no easing back into things. The Eagles begin their “second half” with a key prime time game against a division rival.

Thanks to their losing record and a 1-2 mark in the division, just about every game against an NFC East team is a “must win” at this point. While that may give them extra motivation, this game is pretty much a must win for their opponent as well.

Dallas Cowboys

Record: 2-5

Head Coach: Jason Garrett

Last Week: Lost to Seahawks 13-12

The Last Time They Met

It was an ugly performance. When the Eagles lost to the Cowboys in week two, their offense was so feeble that even announcer Troy Aikman commented at how awful the Eagles looked. Before a late garbage time drive padded their stats, the Eagles actually had negative rushing yards for the game in the fourth quarter.

Sep 20, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles running back DeMarco Murray looks at the line judge as Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Jack Crawford tackles him in the fourth quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports

The Eagles’ problems started with the running game. It seemed like DeMarco Murray was hit by a defender as soon as he received the hand off. By my unofficial count, Sean Lee had fifty tackles, and about forty of them dropped an Eagle running back for a loss.

The Eagles looked strong defensively – at least until the fourth quarter when they were clearly gassed and allowed a long touchdown pass to Terrance Williams.

On the bright side, the Eagles defense might have made the key play of the season when rookie linebacker Jordan Hicks sacked Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo and broke his collarbone. Romo has been out of action ever since, and as a result, the Cowboys are struggling.

What’s New with the Cowboys

As expected, the Cowboys suffered a drop off in their play once Romo went down. Also as expected, backup Brandon Weeden continued his career-long trend of being a crappy quarterback. Last week he was replaced by Matt Cassel who did not prove to be a savior.

Nov 1, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys quarterback Matt Cassel (16) reacts during the game against the Seattle Seahawks at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The Cowboys have now lost five straight games. They hoped to get a boost from the return of Dez Bryant last week, but he wasn’t at full strength, and the Cowboys continued to struggle against a tough Seahawks defense. They are now 2-5 and fighting for their playoff lives.

The bad news for the Eagles is that the Cowboys defense that dominated them in week two looks stronger than it was back then. Upstanding citizen Greg Hardy is back from his suspension (and super remorseful!) while cornerback Orlando Scandrick is healthy.

Featured Cowboys Player: Darren McFadden

DeMarco Murray leaving the Cowboys to sign with the Eagles has seemed to hurt all parties involved. The Eagles are paying a lot of money to a guy whose style doesn’t necessarily fit their offensive system and who hasn’t even been the best running back on the team. Murray is struggling and appears to be frustrated with his lack of success. Meanwhile, the Cowboys haven’t been able to adequately replace Murray’s production.

Nov 1, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys running back Darren McFadden (20) runs as Seattle Seahawks outside linebacker K.J. Wright (50) defends during the first quarter at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Lately, the Cowboys have tried to lean more on Darren McFadden. You may recall McFadden as a star running back in college who disappeared – as star college players tend to do – after being drafted by the Raiders. The Cowboys gambled that his lack of success was due to being on the Raiders (not a horrible assumption) and if he was allowed to run behind the Cowboys’ strong offensive line, he might live up to his potential.

Thus far, results have been mixed. He had 152 yards two weeks ago, but followed that up with only 64 last week. Then again, when your quarterback is Brandon Weeden or Matt Cassel, teams will probably gear up to stop the run.

Reason to Hate the Cowboys

While it’s nice to see the Cowboys fall on hard times, there’s just one problem: The injuries to Romo and Bryant have given Cowboys fans an easy excuse for the failure. “We’d be awesome if everyone was healthy!” they cry as if the Cowboys were the only team to suffer injuries to key players.

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The good news is that if the Cowboys keep losing, all of the team’s bandwagon followers will fall quiet and we won’t have to hear much more from them for the rest of the season.

Tweet of Importance

Good news, Cowboys fans: You’re on the verge of history!

Key Eagles Storyline: ALL the Inside Linebackers!

The Eagles expected inside linebacker to be a position of strength this season. Mychal Kendricks is an exciting playmaker, and Kiko Alonso had a very strong rookie season two years ago. Unfortunately, both men have been plagued by injuries throughout their careers, and have had trouble getting on the field this season. I’m still not completely convinced that Alonso is an actual player rather than a theoretical concept.

Sep 27, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall (15) looks to avoid tackle attempts from Philadelphia Eagles inside linebacker DeMeco Ryans (59) during the fourth quarter at MetLife Stadium. The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New York Jets 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Steven Ryan-USA TODAY Sports

Thanks to an impressive level of depth, the Eagles didn’t suffer much of a drop off. DeMeco Ryans may be old, and is far from the Pro Bowl player he once was, but he can still make some big plays. Meanwhile, rookie Jordan Hicks has been a standout, and seems to be involved in at least one game-changing play each week.

Everyone appears to be healthy now, which is great except for one little problem: All four guys can’t play at once. In fact, in some obvious passing situations, three of these guys might find themselves on the bench.

This is in striking contrast to the outside linebacker spot where starters Brandon Graham and Connor Barwin can’t ever come off the field. Just look what happened in the Panthers game when Marcus Smith entered the game.

There are worse problems to have than too many good players at one position. It just makes you wish that some of that talent could be spread out elsewhere.

Nick vs. Sam

Since they were traded for each other, it’s only natural that fans would want to compare how Nick Foles and Sam Bradford are faring on their new teams. I’ll take a weekly look at the two quarterbacks and decide who holds the edge.

With the Eagles on a bye, Sam Bradford was unable to change his stock last week. Before that came a game against the Panthers where it was almost impossible to gauge his performance because his receivers played so poorly. That said, Bradford didn’t do much to distinguish himself either.

The Rams beat the 49ers last week, but that had little to do with Nick Foles. Running back Todd Gurley was tearing apart the 49ers defense, so all Foles had to do was not screw things up. He didn’t screw things up, throwing for 191 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.

For this week, I’ll once again consider the two men to be even.

Mocking the East

Part of the fun of being a football fan is taking pleasure in the misfortune of your favorite team’s rivals. Each week, I’ll find a reason to make fun of one of the other teams in the NFC East. (Note: Although I’m sure I could feature the Redskins every week, I’ll try to spread around the mockery a bit.)

Nov 1, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson (82) catches a touchdown over New York Giants free safety Landon Collins (21) and outside linebacker Devon Kennard (59) during the second half of a game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The Saints defeated the Giants 52-49. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

The good news for the Giants: They scored 49 points against the Saints last week. The bad news: They gave up 52 and lost the game.

How the heck do you give up 52 points? Sure, seven of those points were scored on an interception return, but that means the defense was still responsible for 45 points. The Saints didn’t have a lot of short fields to work with either. The average length of their touchdown drives was 79 yards.

In other words: The Giants defense kind of sucks.

Super Bowl Year Song of the Week

The Eagles have not made many appearances in the Super Bowl (Two, to be exact). I’m hopeful that this season will mark their third appearance in the “big game,” so each week I’m going to take a song from one of the franchise’s Super Bowl seasons (1980 and 2004) that somehow relates to this week’s game.

The Second Time Around – Shalamar, 1980

The Eagles fared poorly the first time they played the Cowboys. Will they do any better this time around?

Prediction

Both teams are desperate and need this win. Both teams have also huge question marks on offense. The Cowboys’ problems stem from their poor quarterback play, while it isn’t entirely clear what is causing the Eagles’ problems.

On paper, it doesn’t look good for the Eagles. They were dominated by the Cowboys the first time around, and the Cowboys didn’t even have Hardy and Bryant in that game. Plus, Sean Lee is still playing well, and it has become clear that teams with speedy linebackers give the Eagles’ offense all sorts of problems.

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Then again, the Eagles dominated the Cowboys in their first matchup last season and fared poorly in the rematch. Why can’t the same happen this year? After all, the Eagles are coming off a bye and are as healthy as they’re going to be.

I may be a little too optimistic when making these predictions. I have picked the Eagles to win every game except for one. (In case you haven’t paid attention, the Eagles are not 6-1.) But they’re going against an offense led by Matt Cassel and Darren McFadden. If they can’t win this week, they will no longer deserve my optimism.

Eagles 20 – Cowboys 17

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