Bottom Line...Do we beat the Eagles on Sunday?

[BledsoetoWittenfortheTD]

Non homeristic answers please, I really want to know what the hardest of hardcore think here....

I say yes and this is why:

1) The law of averages say McNabb can't pass for 300+ yards for a 4th straight week, despite our secondary being far from dominant. Good coaching or not they are a banged up football team.

2) In 03' we beat them with a team less talented, last year we should have won in Philly if not for a few mistakes and breakdowns.

3) We are a few plays away from being a 4-0 team (I know you could make the argument we could be 0-4 as well)

4) The Eagles have owned us for some time, but it simply can't last forever. Time to step to the plate and turn the corner.

If we don't stand a chance, please tell me why....

[davidyee]

Non homeristic answers please, I really want to know what the hardest of hardcore think here....

I say yes and this is why:

1) The law of averages say McNabb can't pass for 300+ yards for a 4th straight week, despite our secondary being far from dominant. Good coaching or not they are a banged up football team.

2) In 03' we beat them with a team less talented, last year we should have won in Philly if not for a few mistakes and breakdowns.

3) We are a few plays away from being a 4-0 team (I know you could make the argument we could be 0-4 as well)

4) The Eagles have owned us for some time, but it simply can't last forever. Time to step to the plate and turn the corner.

If we don't stand a chance, please tell me why....

...we do not match up to their talent well. They have one thing that we don't have - harmony as a team on the football field. Their time together has allowed them to internalize the plays and execute as their coaches have taught them. The Cowboys aren't there yet.

[BlueStar22]

Well, in my Madden Franchise, I lost to Philly 35-31 last night...lol



Bottom line: HELL Yeah we be Philly! We show them that their grip on the NFC East is starting to slip.

[Justis]

...we do not match up to their talent well. They have one thing that we don't have - harmony as a team on the football field. Their time together has allowed them to internalize the plays and execute as their coaches have taught them. The Cowboys aren't there yet.:lmao2: harmony? HARMONY! Bryan Westbrook has given up on the Eagles, Mcnabb and To don't talk to each other! TO still wants more money. You could pick almost any word besides intelligent and healthy to better describe the Eagles franchise.

[Sarge]

I think it will be a close game.

I think we will come up short, however.

Why?

They are a better team and this week, the better team will win.

[hipfake08]

We will not win Sunday. It may be close but we are not on the same page for offense and Defense.
To win we have to be. :bang2:

[Doomsday101]

I think Dallas has a chance to win but to do so we have to cut down on mistakes.

[Ashwynn]

I agree with most, think it will be fairly close, not a blow out. But I think we end up on the short end of this stick. If we play our best game and the eagirls self distruct, we can steal one. But I dont see the second part of that scenario happening. But you never know!!!!

[Mansta54]

We WIN sunday..... We run the ball very well with JJ having his breakout game this year, Henry checks T.O. all game and plays him well. I really like that matchup, I think Henry is perfect for T.O. Its the lil speed guys that worry me about Henry. I think the rotation of our young DLINE will come up with good heat on McNabb. Westbrook out of the backfield scares me tho, we have to tackle well.

We WIN sunday!!!!

[Mansta54]

Also, look for Bledsoe to go deep a few times in the 1st half and hit on more then 1 of them.. I see Key gettin a few balls this week, he's BIG for Phillys small CB's..

[Yellow Lab]

No. Iggles win. I have a feeling this might be a blowout, too... If we can't get an effective blitz going to disrupt McNabb, the deep pass will be there, as well as flare passes to Westbrook. We have a horrible pass rush - unless it get's a whole lot better this Sunday, I say we get blown out. Eagles talent vs. our's??? As much as I hate to say it, they are a lot better, and also, as someone else noted... they have been playing together for a long time, and have a lot of "team continuity"... Hopefully I'm wrong!

[CactusCowboy]

If we play like we did against the Skins, minus about 4 minutes, we could win.

[ravidubey]

We will win the ballgame. Put it in three inch headlines; WE WILL WIN. :)

[dmq]

Bottom line, we need to score first and get touchdowns in the redzone.

[ravidubey]

We have a horrible pass rush - unless it get's a whole lot better this Sunday, I say we get blown out.

Dallas- 12 sacks
Philly- 11 sacks

Yeah, horrible.

[Vertigo_17]

I think we'll show up ready to play. The eagles have "owned" us long enough. It will be a close one, but I think we pull off the upset.

[Mansta54]

Horrible pass rush?????? Maaaaaan, what have you been watching???

[Yellow Lab]

Wow, my mistake... I guess that changes everything.. We'll blow they out then!

[Mansta54]

Don't know about a BLOWOUT, but our pass rush is hardly HORRIBLE. Just responding to your comments...

[morasp]

We beat them. The time we beat them with Quincy Carter we pulled no punches. I think Parcells might go that route again. We didn't play rope a dope we went full throttle for four quarters. When it was over we clearly beat them and McNabb had the audacity to say they were clearly the better team on that day. On that day we beat them in every phase of the game including special teams when Randall Williams ran back their onside kick for touchdown. It was especially funny since they had gotten Campo on that one the year before. And it was like Parcells was saying not on my watch.

We are a way better team than on that day. They are more banged up than they were on that day. They barely beat the Raiders at home We should have beat them in Oakland with their backs against the wall at 0-3. It does make a differnce, just look at Arizona against SF Sunday night when they were 0-3, the players play like their season is on the line and basically it is. I think we will play like this is our season and kick their butts in every phase of the game. One thing to look for is Brian Dawkins when he tackles a receiver out of bounds likes to roll up on them and get sucker punches to vital areas while he's on top of them. I sure wish the refs would call that sometime.

[lspain1]

Let's see...Cowboys have 9th rated offense and 23 rated defense
Eagles have 1st rated offense and 9th rated defense

The Eagles have not shown the ability to run the football, but that is really an illusion. They use Westbrook outside on short routes where he is matched up on corners and LB's in space and he makes large gains making one and often two guys miss. Combine this with TO going deep and his ability to be aggressive across the middle and it makes for a potent combination. TO's abilities complement Westbrook in ways that I'm not sure is matched anywhere in the NFL, with the possible exception of San Diego and LT. The Eagles TE complements this attack as well.

Our defense has really not seen this kind of attack before because SD didn't use it against us. Everyone is talking about 'showing up to play.' I'm sorry guys, I'm not drinking that kool-aid. The Eagles are the number one rated offense for a reason, and this attack is going to be too sophisticated for our young defense on Sunday. I think with everyone healthy they move the ball well against us and win fairly easily. McNabb's injury status is really the question mark here but he has played well so far even when hurt. If the Cowboys can hit him hard early it might change the outcome, but I kind of doubt it.

[DoomsDayD]

I am with sarge on this one. They are the better team and the better team will win....as much as it makes me gag even to say it!!! If we cut down on the stupid mistakes and dont have them connecting with the long pass on the first series of downs then maybe we have a shot. If we get stupid we lose BIG time.

[dargonking999]

Better teams dont always win, it's the team that has more drive to win, and really i think the cowboys have that drive, the players are tired of hearing the media hype up the eagles, there tired of being written off. and they dont want to fall below .500 the eagles have proved they can survive, they have proven they can win. They have owned us, we will win, because of the drive to win. BP, Jerry Jones, and the team, refuses to go down 0-2 at home, against divsion rivals. We will win

[SteveOS]

I don't know. I'm feeling like the Boys can win this one. I guess I'm in the minority. Remember they almost went to Philly last year and beat them. This year McNabb can't run around for first downs. I really think the Boys keep it close, like they always do under Parcells, and win this one. It's a HUGE game for the Cowboys, HUGE... I don't think they'll disappoint, the fans were already treated to one loss in Irving, they won't lose 2 in a row at home to a division rival. It's just my gut feeling.

[BlueWave]

Philadelphia has been treated well by the schedule makers. They were given a soft start. Yes, they played at Atlanta, but then got SF and Oakland at home, before going on the road to KC. That's three teams in a row with no defense to speak of. Two of them at home. I would like to believe that we would have beaten the Raiders if we played them in Dallas. Same goes for the 49ers.

I just think those offensive stats might be a bit inflated with three weak, weak defenses.

I hate to predict this game. The world is expecting the Eagles to win, some to even blow us out. It almost looks like it is set up for an upset. But, when was the last time the Cowboys really suprised in a positive manner?

[morasp]

Let's see...Cowboys have 9th rated offense and 23 rated defense
Eagles have 1st rated offense and 9th rated defense

The Eagles have not shown the ability to run the football, but that is really an illusion. They use Westbrook outside on short routes where he is matched up on corners and LB's in space and he makes large gains making one and often two guys miss. Combine this with TO going deep and his ability to be aggressive across the middle and it makes for a potent combination. TO's abilities complement Westbrook in ways that I'm not sure is matched anywhere in the NFL, with the possible exception of San Diego and LT. The Eagles TE complements this attack as well.

Our defense has really not seen this kind of attack before because SD didn't use it against us. Everyone is talking about 'showing up to play.' I'm sorry guys, I'm not drinking that kool-aid. The Eagles are the number one rated offense for a reason, and this attack is going to be too sophisticated for our young defense on Sunday. I think with everyone healthy they move the ball well against us and win fairly easily. McNabb's injury status is really the question mark here but he has played well so far even when hurt. If the Cowboys can hit him hard early it might change the outcome, but I kind of doubt it.

The Eagles held the Raiders to 366 yards of offense in Philly. The Cowboys held them to 347 yards of offense in Oakland. I know our defense needs to improve but that's not a bad comparrison.

[Alexander]

The time we beat them with Quincy Carter we pulled no punches.

That was also the game where they giftwrapped the onsides TD and McNabb had an injured thumb. Don't get me wrong, we will probably stay close, but we had some help in the one game we did defeat them.

[DipChit]

Everyone is talking about 'showing up to play.' I'm sorry guys, I'm not drinking that kool-aid. The Eagles are the number one rated offense for a reason, and this attack is going to be too sophisticated for our young defense on Sunday. I think with everyone healthy they move the ball well against us and win fairly easily. McNabb's injury status is really the question mark here but he has played well so far even when hurt. If the Cowboys can hit him hard early it might change the outcome, but I kind of doubt it.

Thats about how I see it too. They know they can move the ball and I'm sure they will. Hell, if they want to, they can probably run the ball on us too. Bout like the Radiers last week. Nobody assumed they'd be able to run it because they'd been struggling with that.. but whether it was because we were so worried about getting beat with the passing game/long ball, or whatever the reason, they ran it at will.

It's all about confidence. I'm sure both of their units are more or less entirely confident with what they're doing at this point. Conversely, neither of ours can be terribly confident. Just when we start thinking we can get in the endzone regularly, we score 13. Just when we think the D has calmed down, somebody runs all over us.

As far as that game in early '03 it doesnt mean anything now. For one thing, confidence was kind of reversed because we'd just won 3 straight and were in the process of "shocking the world" and the Eagles had started off slow. Then they "spotted us" 7 and we still only won by 2.

Sure we can win.. so can any other team on a given Sunday. But I'm not expecting it.

[Vertigo_17]

I'm not by any means guaranteeing a win, it just that on paper we don't stand a chance...therefore I feel that we might pull off the upset.

[morasp]

That was also the game where they giftwrapped the onsides TD and McNabb had an injured thumb. Don't get me wrong, we will probably stay close, but we had some help in the one game we did defeat them.

Philadelphia Eagles
Date Pos Player Injury NFL Status Fantasy Note

10/7/05 MLB Jeremiah Trotter Quadricep PROBABLE
10/6/05 DT Paul Grasmanis IR I-R. Out for the season
10/5/05 K David Akers Right Hamstring OUT Out for Week 5 at Dallas
10/5/05 DE Trent Cole Hamstring QUESTIONABLE
10/5/05 SS Sean Considine Hamstring PROBABLE
10/5/05 C Trey Darilek Ankle PROBABLE
10/5/05 FS Brian Dawkins Ankle QUESTIONABLE
10/5/05 G Artis Hicks Ankle PROBABLE
10/5/05 WR Terrell Owens Shoulder PROBABLE Probable for Week 5 at Dallas
10/5/05 DT Mike Patterson Back PROBABLE
10/5/05 DT Hollis Thomas Ankle PROBABLE
10/5/05 DT Darwin Walker Thigh DOUBTFUL
10/2/05 QB Donovan McNabb Abdomen/groin PROBABLE Probable for Week 5 at Dallas
10/1/05 RB Correll Buckhalter IR I-R. Out for the season
10/1/05 DE Jamaal Green IR
10/1/05 WR Justin Jenkins IR I-R. Out for the season
10/1/05 RB Eric McCoo PUP PUP
10/1/05 DE Jerome McDougle IR PUP. Out at least until Week 7 vs. San Diego
10/1/05 WR Todd Pinkston IR I-R. Out for the season
10/1/05 DB J.R. Reed IR
10/1/05 LB Greg Richmond PUP
10/1/05 RB Thomas Tapeh PUP PUP
9/28/05 CB Roderick Hood Hamstring PROBABLE

He's injured again. The onside kick I attribute to coaching and arrogance. Parcells preparation and Reids arrogance that he was smarter than us twice.

[Alexander]

He's injured again. The onside kick I attribute to coaching and arrogance. Parcells preparation and Reids arrogance that he was smarter than us twice.

McNabb has been injured for three weeks. Unless we hit him and knock him out of the game, he will be effective. Dare I say if Tim Rattay can do well against us, I don't see him having a problem.

[Canadian BoyzFan]

I say we lose a close one. We show them that the gap is closing fast as we take their best punch and don't get knocked out. The good news....we win our next 3 games following this tough loss.

5-3.

[Givincer]

Dallas- 12 sacks
Philly- 11 sacks

Yeah, horrible.

You have to look at the number of sacks/attempts to really measure this you can't just place up sacks. Philly is on pace to set a record for most attempts in a season right now so obviously they've had more attempts than us.

[Jarv]

I think it all comes down to how well our offense can move the ball vs. how we take care of Westbrook.

I think I'm ok with Henry or Newman on TO, with Davis's help over the top. Our D-line handling McFlab who is a little dinged up.

Westbrook is who we must stop. I fear him more than TO or McFlab.I would "spy" Ware or (Actually wish we had coakly to spy Westbrook) maybe even Roy to stop Westbrook.

Their defense is dinged (DT out and Dawkins probably), MacFlab is dinged...Even TO has a shoulder issue.

We are at home.

To win against a better team, and Sarge says they are :)...We must take chances. We HAVE to open the O and take our chances. If we get ahead and they have to play from behind, we may be able to force them into the mistakes that BP is always afraid that we will make.

[dragon_mikal]

If we get to McNabb and disrupt their passing game, we could win this game.

The Eagles throw the ball four times for every one running play. Our safeties are horrible in coverage. If we don't get to McNabb and disrupt his timing we lose by 20 at least. If we do get to McNabb and hit him hard and often, we have a chance.

I hope we win but think we'll lose.

Eagles 38
Cowboys 28 (Score 2 TDs in the 4th)

[Givincer]

I think that our style is very low risk and that theirs is a very high risk. Parcells said its probably better to complement your opponents style when it's high risk. So if we don't turn the ball over don't have any minus plays that will increase our chances of winning against a team that gives you lots of opportunity (many passes) to cause minus plays and turn the ball over. If we can execute our conservative offense even half as effectively as we did last week and we are able to rattle mcnabb early like we did in the game last year where we lost 12-7 I Think we can pull this game off.

I remember before the @phil game last year I was saying we have a real chance to beat these guys if we can just create pressure/turnovers and get mcnabb to play a bad football game. We did that and almost won and of course almost winning counts as a loss... but we had more of a chance than any other time we've faced them here in recent history.

[DipChit]

If we get ahead and they have to play from behind, we may be able to force them into the mistakes that BP is always afraid that we will make.

Yeah that would be good. Course it would be good to just get *any* points in the 1st quarter for once. Kinda freaky that we havent scored in the 1st yet considering our offense isnt *totally* anemic.

Just one of those weird things I guess. Kind of how like back in '02 we didnt run a play from scrimmage inside the opponents 15 yard line til like the 6th game or something stupid like that.

[morasp]

McNabb has been injured for three weeks. Unless we hit him and knock him out of the game, he will be effective. Dare I say if Tim Rattay can do well against us, I don't see him having a problem.

I think all we need to do is hit him. That's what Atlanta did of course he may have been feeling the effects of the hit the rest of the game. Getting to him is hard, their offensive line really good.

[dragon_mikal]

I think it all comes down to how well our offense can move the ball vs. how we take care of Westbrook.

I think I'm ok with Henry or Newman on TO, with Davis's help over the top. Our D-line handling McFlab who is a little dinged up.

Westbrook is who we must stop. I fear him more than TO or McFlab.I would "spy" Ware or (Actually wish we had coakly to spy Westbrook) maybe even Roy to stop Westbrook.

Their defense is dinged (DT out and Dawkins probably), MacFlab is dinged...Even TO has a shoulder issue.

We are at home.

To win against a better team, and Sarge says they are :)...We must take chances. We HAVE to open the O and take our chances. If we get ahead and they have to play from behind, we may be able to force them into the mistakes that BP is always afraid that we will make.


You guys seem to think that if we shut down Westbrook we'll win. That isn't the case. The Chiefs did just that and they lost. McNabb hit 7 different receivers last week. L.J. Smith is playing well, Greg Lewis is playing well. If we focus on Westbrook we lose this game. If we focus on T.O. we lose this game.

We have to focus on McNabb. He is the key. Hit him hard. Hit him often. Disrupt his timing and make him pay when he tries to run it. He's banged up, we need to take advantage of that.

If we get to McNabb and make him dance around in the pocket all day, we have a good chance. If we decide to focus on Westbrook or T.O. we lose big.

They have too many weapons. We have to go after the one with the largest calibur.

[MS17]

I guess Ill say what several others already have; Cowboys have to minimize mistakes, penalties and hold McNabb at bay to have a chance. If not, a long afternoon.
Strangely, if the Cowboys show improvement through the bye week, I think they have a better chance of pulling the upset next month in Philly on the Mon. nighter after the 15-day rest. Philly is a banged up team, and it will continue to get worse.

[sonnyboy]

Yes we can and will.

I think many on this board are overwieghting the stats in this matchup. Eagles are ranked 1 in offense and 9 in defense and we are 4 in offense and 23 in defense and so on and so on.

I also think we have a bit of a defeatist attitude regarding this matchup because of the Eagles pounding us for five years.
Throw out the history and give less weighting to the numbers. Come on... do you really think T. Owens is going to finish the year with 2000 yards receiving.
Stats after only four weeks are often skeewed.

Another trap I see people falling into is comparing talent over matchups. It's not how much better thier WR's are, it's how much better thier WR's matchup against our CB's and vice versa.
With all that said...Yes the Eagles have played better which means they are better. But not by much!
Here's how I see the matchups and why I believe we should win. You'll notice I said should because their are no guarantees.

Our O against thier D.

When you consider their injuries that have robbed thier depth and their propensity to play pass first... this may be the easiest front seven to run on that we have faced. I believe Parcells will go alot of two TE's and plan to run early and often. 60%/40% run pass
Some may see this as conservative, I just see this as taking advantage of an apponent's weakness.
This is the number one key to victory. J. Jones has to get off and I'm convinced he will. I see total team runs in the 32-40 range for 140-170 yards. The longer this game is within one score the longer we can stick with the running game and ware out that front seven. We must be patient and stick with the run game....we must break their will.
This heavy run mix will render their blitz less effective. And Jones must hurt them at least a couple times with longer runs against the blitz.
In the pass game we need to be smart. Understand that Glenn and Crayton and Johnson will not uncover often against Brown and Shepard. It's just not going to happen. I do like like Johnson's size advantage on short slants and possible fades close to the endzone. Outside of that I believe our WRs need to run double and triple moves, long crossing routes long post patterns that cross the whole field.
These routes take time and pass protection will be key. The good news is that the Eagles have not exactly been killin it with the pass rush. Their blitz package is tough but we have actually done well against it in the last few meetings. Since our receivers will be running alot of slow developing routes, Witten and Jones should see alot of opportunities for hot reads and dump offs when Bledsoe dosen't have enough time. What they do with the ball will also be critical. Their gonna need to break some tackels and make something out of nothing a few times to keep drives alive.

Ultimately I believe we will prevail because of Bledsoe. After 4 games I can now say I have been converted. I'm a believer. He will make enough correct reads, good decisions and superior throws to beat this defense.

Our D against thier O

Contary to popular opinion. I like the match up. This is the best CB group we have had in a long time. No liabilities here. Just three guys who can play and make plays on the ball.
I have a feeling Henry will do fine against Owens. Can't explain it just a gut feeling here. He will get alot of help but he will also be asked to play man up on a number of plays. This may sound nuts with the numbers he's put up, but I've seen just about every minute of the Eagles this season and I think Owens may have lost a step.
I like Newman and Glenn man up on Lewis, Brown or Westbrook. I also like Williams man up on J. Lewis.
We need to and I believe will blitz more than we have in any game this year. Especially on first and second down when Westbrook is lined up in the backfield to turn him into a blocker.
We will blitz and stunt goining after McNabb hard and make him prove he can beat us running in his current state of heath.
I favor Ferguson and Glover over Fraley and that will be key to contolling the LOS. I also like Canty to make some noise. Ware should do very well against Thomas who has struggled against speed guys this year.

FINAL SCORE COWBOYS 23 EAGLES 13

[DallasKnight]

The Iggles are all beat up. We dont' match up well with them my left lugnut. I think we take this game as long as they call our offensive plays offensively instead of defensively. They have tons of ways we can beat them. One good hit on McFlabb and he's out, Sic Roy on T.O. again... heh heh (I'd love that one personally), Stuff Westbrook all 1st quarter and watch them bench him (then he blows up on the sidelines causing a ton of commotion and distractions), etc... etc... etc...

We can and will win this game.

[tigertrac]

This is the game that can define Dallas's season IMHO. Lose and I can see us stuggling to get to the 0.500 mark as doubst set inas to if this team has what it takes to be a winner. Win and the confidence of knowing we can play with the Big Boys creates momentum for the rest of the season.

Parcells will have the 'Boys ready. My gut tells me we win this one: 27 - 17

[ravidubey]

You have to look at the number of sacks/attempts to really measure this you can't just place up sacks. Philly is on pace to set a record for most attempts in a season right now so obviously they've had more attempts than us.

Caesar, these are the sacks WE'VE made against other teams! Not the other way around! The Dallas defense has 12 sacks through four games while Philly's has 11. The comment was that our pass rush was "horrible"-- well here's some evidence that it's been more horrible for the oppenents than Philly's has been!

[BledsoetoWittenfortheTD]

Good mix of responses, and some good points made:

Philly has put up these big numbers against 3 of the worst defenses in the league. They crushed SF at home, we barely beat them on the road. The Raiders should have upset them at home, we fell short on the road against them. KC has been exposed and their real defense has reared their ugly head.

Do I expect them to score points? Sure, but can we score against them, especially in the air? ABSOLUTELY.

The bottom line is we need to come out firing, we can't attempt to play a 'ball control' game like we did against the redskins. We need to get pass happy, and I don't care if Bledsoe is sacked 8 times doing it.

We lose this game and we are 0-2 in the division at home and looking at a wildcard at best, we win and we prove we are a contender and will be in the mix for the division an first round bye. It's that simple, this is Bledsoe's chance to truly silence the critics. He couldn't beat New England in Buffalo, but obviously that was his former team that knew him better than anybody. If he can beat the Eagles he will truly be a god among men here in Dallas given their recent struggles with this hated division foe.