News: BR: Dallas Cowboys vs Philadelphia Eagles: What's the Game Plan for Dallas?

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There is perhaps no more hated rival of the Dallas Cowboys, than the Philadelphia Eagles. Once you add in the fact the NFL’s reigning Offensive Player of the Year, DeMarco Murray, migrated from Dallas to Philadelphia in free agency, it is safe to say that the Week 2 matchup between the teams has a bit of hype from fans of both teams.

However, once the teams step on the field none of the external stuff matters. It comes down to the game plans, and the execution of those plans.

Let’s take a look at some things that could show up in the Dallas game plan this week.



Offensive game Plan

The Cowboys will go into this game determined to run the ball. Besides being considered the safer alternative to passing, running successfully keeps the game clock going and helps a team control the ball and keeps drives going. However, accomplishing this goal on Sunday in Philadelphia will require some persistence.

The Eagles’ base 3-4 defense presents challenges for opponents attempting to run the ball on early downs. Not only is the 3-4 scheme itself a difficult front to run against, but the Eagles’ personnel makes it even harder. The Eagles’ defense features guys like Bennie Logan and Fletcher Cox along the defensive line, as well as Mychal Kendricks, Kiko Alonso and DeMeco Ryans at linebacker, who are all very stout run defenders.

With clear No. 1 wide receiver Dez Bryant out for the game, Tony Romo and this Cowboys offense are going to have to find other ways to attack a defense in order to keep their opponents honest allowing maximum room for running.

The Atlanta Falcons showed an interesting alignment a couple of times last week, and the Eagles had a hard time adjusting to it. It cost them a great deal of yardage and led to points.

On this play running back Tevin Coleman, along with his blockers, executed an outside zone run. Julio Jones, aligned with a short split to the offense's left, ran a quick slant. The quarterback, in this case Matt Ryan, read the alignment of the defense and was set to either hand the ball to Coleman, or pop straight up and hit Jones on the slant.

The yellow arrows in the image represent the movement of the Eagles linebackers in reaction to the run keys they are reading from the offensive line and running backs executing this play. This movement helps pull those linebackers out of any potential throwing lanes from the quarterback to the wide receiver.

Atlanta ran this exact scheme from this formation multiple times through the course of their matchup in Week 1, and the Eagles never found the adjustment to stop it. As such, expect the Cowboys to show this formation at least once in the game on Sunday.

It could be Gavin Escobar lined up in the spot occupied by Julio Jones in the example above. Playing Escobar at that spot allows him to use his size advantage, as well as setting up come constraint plays using him as a blocker on the edge.

Another way the Cowboys can improve their odds of running the ball, is by wearing down the Eagles’ defensive linemen and linebackers by making them run sideline to sideline in pursuit. Without Dez Bryant it will be more difficult for Dallas to push the ball deep down the field, but they can easily spread the defense out horizontally, as they did several times against the Giants.

Here we see the Cowboys in an empty set, with running back Lance Dunbar split wide to the offense’s left, in a stacked alignment with Dez Bryant. On the right side, the Cowboys have a more traditional three wide receiver alignment. On this particular play, Romo threw the ball immediately to Lance Dunbar and it resulted in a nice positive gain for a first down. This play is one that will likely be in the Cowboys playbook for the week because it gets the ball to the edges quickly, forcing those big interior defenders to run in pursuit.



Defensive game plan

Defensively for Dallas, it all starts with matching Philadelphia’s tempo. Chip Kelly is famous for his proficiency as a play-caller in a fast-paced spread offense. The Eagles offense moves very quickly from play to play, which creates a unique challenge for opposing defenses.

Schematically the Eagles aren’t doing much that is extremely complex, they are simply banking on the idea that by moving ultra-fast they can keep their opponent from always lining up and getting the defense called and ready to play. Once they’ve done that they can hone in on what the defense is doing, and attack it with simple plays that they can execute at high speeds and frequencies.

When Kelly finds something that works, he’s going to keep finding ways to run that play until his opponent proves to him that they’ll stop it. In one sequence of plays in the fourth quarter, the Eagles ran the same two-play sequence from the same exact formations back-to-back twice (Play 1, Play 2, Play 1, Play 2). These four plays accounted for 76 yards of an 80-yard drive that finished with the go-ahead touchdown.

The Cowboys' plan will feature the use of fewer defensive schemes than normal to help them streamline their communications to keep up with the pace of the Eagles offense.



Prediction:

Sean Lee and Anthony Hitchens will have double digit tackles, working together to keep Darren Sproles and the Eagles' other weapons under control. Lance Dunbar on the other hand, will have another big game, as will Cole Beasley and Gavin Escobar. Tony Romo will once again prove his status as one of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL by succeeding without his premier playmaker.

Prediction: Cowboys 24, Eagles 20

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