Philadelphia Eagles vs. Dallas Cowboys Semi-Coherent Preview

A preview of the matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys.

After knocking off the previously undefeated Minnesota Vikings, the Philadelphia Eagles face another big challenge. They’ll have to travel to Dallas to take on the first place Cowboys who are led by a couple of rookie stars.

Dallas Cowboys

Record: 5-1 (First place in NFC East)

Last week: Bye (Defeated Green Bay Packers 30-16 in week six)

Head coach: Jason Garrett

The last time they met

In what might have been the high point of the 2015 season, the Eagles traveled to Dallas in week nine and defeated the Cowboys in overtime. Despite being led by Matt Cassel, the Cowboys’ offense was still able to move the ball against the Eagles and tied the game with a last second field goal.

After receiving the kick in overtime, Sam Bradford found Jordan Matthews across the middle, and he took the ball to the house. The Eagles were unable to build on the momentum from this game, but this was a rare exciting moment for them.

What’s the deal with the Cowboys?

It looked like the Cowboys were headed for a poor season. First, Tony Romo reportedly showed up to training camp looking a bit obese. As it turned out, he wasn’t really fat, but that didn’t keep us from having a good chuckle or two:

Romo’s backup (Kellen Moore) was injured in preseason, so when Romo went down with his inevitable injury, the team was left in the hands of fourth-round draft pick Dak Prescott.

The Cowboys have wisely not asked Prescott to do too much (Dallas is 31st in the league in pass attempts), and he has excelled in a limited role. He has a 68.7 completion percentage and has thrown seven touchdowns with only one interception. Combined with a strong rushing game, the Cowboys are third in the NFL in offensive yards.

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On paper, the Cowboys don’t seem to have a strong defense, but they are seventh in points allowed. Having such a strong run game probably helps in this regard. The less time the defense spends on the field, the fewer times they can be scored upon. (Please take note, Chip Kelly.)

The Cowboys don’t sack the quarterback often, and rely on their coverage units. With cornerback Morris Claiborne questionable for the game (concussion), we’ll see if they have to alter that strategy.

Featured Cowboys Player: Ezekiel Eliott

Many Cowboys fans are crowing that they were able to get a quarterback just as good as Carson Wentz (this is very debatable) in the fourth round, while the Eagles had to sacrifice extra draft picks to take Wentz. Of course, the Cowboys might have blown some of that supposed advantage by taking Ezekiel Eliott with the fourth overall pick.

Cowboys fans will likely shout, “What??? Zeke’s been the man! He’s leading the league in rushing! Obviously that was a good pick!”

Those fans conveniently forget that the Cowboys may have the best run-blocking offensive line in the league; one that allowed DeMarco Murray to lead the league in rushing two years ago. In fact, the Cowboys thought their line was the real key to Murray’s success which is why they let him leave as a free agent. Remember that this line allowed Darren McFadden to rush for over 1000 yards last season.

As Jimmy Kempski pointed out, taking a running back – even a good one – with the fourth pick is a bad use of resources, especially when the Cowboys have much greater needs on defense.

Reason to hate the Cowboys

You know what will be awesome? When Prescott eventually struggles, and all the fans who claimed he was the GOAT will start crying for Romo to come back. And then they’ll claim that they were ALWAYS on “Team Romo.”

Super important Eagles storyline: The regressing receivers

The Eagles’ receivers have become an increasing liability over the past few weeks. Despite many attempts to get him involved with the offense, it seems that Josh Huff‘s only value is as a kick returner. Nelson Agholor is looking more and more like a bust, and it’s becoming more clear why the Titans gave up on Dorial Green-Beckham.

Even the supposedly dependable receiving options like Jordan Matthews and Zack Ertz haven’t contributed much in recent weeks. It’s possible that because teams are unafraid of getting burned deep, they’re flooding the underneath routes. At some point, one of the Eagles’ outside guys is going to have to do something to keep them honest. Considering the Cowboys tend to drop a lot of men into coverage, this week’s game would be an ideal time for that to happen.

The receiving group is still young, so it’s too early to give up on them. But you’d like to see some sign of improvement, and if anything, it feels like they’re moving in the wrong direction.

Elsewhere in the NFL

It’s almost as if the NFL isn’t quite sure if Thursday Night Football should be a thing (it shouldn’t), and that’s why they keep scheduling awful matchups for the game. Does the league think there’s so much demand for their product that people will tune in to watch the Titans play the Jaguars?

Speaking of the Jaguars, it’s amazing that they haven’t fired coach Gus Bradley yet. Every week, the Jaguars look unprepared to play, and they are consistently one of the worst defensive teams in the league. He also seems to be ruining the career of quarterback Blake Bortles.

A couple of years ago, I wrote how head coaches’ fates are often tied to how good their quarterbacks are. But the reverse is probably true as well. Bortles’ career hasn’t been helped by being forced to constantly compensate for a lousy defense. And he was sacked more than any other quarterback in the league his first two seasons.

On the other hand, Bortles could help himself by not throwing the ball to the other team. He led the league with 18 interceptions in 2015, and with nine picks in seven games, he’s somehow on pace to surpass that total.

Would Bortles fare better with a different coach? Or is he as much of the problem as Bradley is?

Tweets of unimportance

Poor Dak Prescott. Life has treated him so unfairly.

So you want your elected officials to miss a lot of time and come up small in big situations?

I once dreamed I could fly. It was awesome. But when I woke up, I realized that not all dreams come true.

The Wentz Watch

Carson Wentz didn’t have a great game last week. There were a few “What was he thinking?” throws into coverage, and a few times where he missed wide open receivers. Still, if this is what Wentz’s “bad” games are going to look like, I can’t complain.

The good news is, the Cowboys’ defense is much weaker than the Vikings’. They don’t generally get much pressure on the quarterback, so Wentz should have time to find open receivers – assuming there are any.

The coaches have also been reluctant to call many designed running plays for Wentz, but they might start to go that route more to give defenses a little more to think about.

Next: Which Eagles Have Impressed So Far

Prediction

The Eagles have done well in Dallas recently (three straight wins), but I have a feeling that might come to an end. After the way they struggled against the Redskins two weeks ago, I’m not sure the Eagles will be able to slow down the Cowboys’ running game. And until an outside receiver can make something happen, I think the Eagles’ offense will be limited.

Cowboys 20 – Eagles 17