jday
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Tell me if this sounds familiar: Big talent on one side of the ball leading to utter dominance in the NFL whilst the other side of the ball is outperforming expectation and “on paper” value. Cowboy’s right? Yes and no. Yes, you could certainly say that of the Cowboys, but you could also use that same description for the Eagles…or at least you could 3 weeks ago.
Since their bi-week, the Eagles are 1 and 2 following an exceptionally hot start against 2 pedestrian teams in the Browns and Bears and one decent team in the Steelers, the Eagles lost in their showings against the Lions and Commanders. This past Sunday they exercised some of their demons in what was somewhat of an ugly win against the otherwise dominant Vikings leaving many wondering what the Eagles are at this point. Both their defense and offense will give most teams in the NFL issues. At the same time, you can’t necessarily describe either side of the ball as dominant, when compared to other top tier units in the NFL. Having said all of that, I still feel as I did three weeks ago: The Cowboys road to winning the East and a playoff berth goes through Philadelphia.
Despite their recent struggles, the Eagles should not be overlooked by the Cowboys. This is the type of a team that will give the Cowboys problems. They are fairly balanced, all things considered. Their identity is on defense and as such it will be strength against strength, with a slight edge to the Cowboys offense in their upcoming meeting Sunday night. On the other side of the ball, the Eagles may have a slight edge on offense against the Cowboys defense…they have a lot of speed, and while the Cowboys have taken steps to improve their overall defensive speed, there are still throwback defenders out there (Church, Wilcox, Carr) that can be, and most likely will be burned by the Eagles speedsters.
What are the Cowboys up against?
Offensively, the Eagles are at their best when Wentz can get the ball out quickly to his playmakers in space and allow them to create. Thus far they have been the epitome of dink & dunk offensive production. This is more by necessity than design; the Eagles have struggled with pass protection making quick reads on Wentz’s part a prerequisite and an important function of their offensive success if any success is to be had. But, don’t let that get your hopes up too far. Because even when they are struggling on offense, their defense is still good enough to keep them in games…and all it takes is an open lane for their offense/special teams to put points up on the board. Be on the lookout in particular for guys like Huff and Sproles and hope to God none of them get matched up against guys not named Scandrick, Brown, Jones or Claiborne. If they do, it could be a long day for the Cowboys secondary. In addition to providing pressure that necessitates a continuation of dink & dunk, the Cowboys will have to remain disciplined in their lane integrity and gap discipline for 60 minutes if they have any hopes of stifling the Eagles attack. It can be done…but I do expect a few leaks to get sprung eventually. The key will be if it happens and what the scoreboard looks like when it does happen. If the Cowboys can do as they have done in the majority of their games this season and establish a decent lead early, it may be too late to matter should one of the aforementioned speed-demons gets loose….or so I am dearly hoping.
If you watched the Eagles Vs. Vikings game this past Sunday, there are two filters you should process what you saw through before drawing any conclusions. 1. The Cowboys wish they had the Vikings defense, but they are not even close. 2. The Vikings wish they had the Cowboys offense, but they are not even close. If you could somehow figure out a way to combine these two teams, keeping only the best players for your final 53, you would have the Super Bowl winner for the next 3 to 5 years, without question or need for further debate. That would be a monster.
(Pausing a moment to reflect on how freaking awesome that would be)
…
…
…
(Sigh)
Anywho, I bring that game up because I was watching to see which defense (if any or both) will be a problem for the Cowboys offense. The answer is most certainly both and neither. “Both,” because the Cowboys offense is not going to dominate that game like they did the Bengals or Packers, but also “neither” because at the same time, I still expect Zeke to get his one hundred yards against both regardless of early on struggles, which at this point seems inevitable. Both defenses (Eagles and Vikings) are going to come out strong and fly around the field with their hair on fire wanting to prove themselves against the reputation of the Cowboys’ offense. But because they come out flying, they will leave the field crawling.
I predict both offenses (Eagles & Vikings) will score, but they will do so at a trickles pace, while the Cowboys offense will eventually put up an insurmountable lead (likely somewhere at the end of the first half or beginning of the second) and will rely on their run game to put the game away for the remainder of the game, where Zeke will find the bulk of his yards. Wentz looks like the real deal, but he needs more weapons to be a true threat to NFL caliber defenses. I honestly don’t belief the Eagles have a receiver or running back that could replace anyone currently on the Cowboys current 53 man roster.
But remember, either way, the yards won’t come easy for the Cowboys. Both the Eagles and Vikings front seven our likely the best these Cowboys have seen and it will show early. Like I said, this Cowboys offense will find the endzone, but as always patience will be paramount to winning because forcing the action will likely result in costly turnovers that the Cowboys cannot afford in either case; be it against the Vikings or the Eagles.
Everything the Eagles do on defense, in particular, begins and ends with Fletcher Cox who is arguably one of the best defensive linemen in the game. He is one of those rare breeds that could be successful in any defense you want to use, be it 3-4, 4-3, nickel, 46, goalline, or dime at any position on the line; and regardless of down and distance, as a defensive coordinator you will have a difficult time pulling him off the field in any given scenario. If you are putting together a team and have the NFL pool of talent to choose from, chances are Fletcher will be one of the first defensive lineman you choose…you certainly are not going to fill up your defensive line without calling his name at some point. Sadly, the drop-off in talent to those around him is not as significant as you would like. A good way of looking at it, actually, is you could almost say they have the defensive line equivalent of the Cowboys offensive line. Not quite that good, mind you, put pretty darn close.
Similar to the Packers situation, but not exact, the Eagles secondary is merely passable. Not bad. Not great. Somewhere in between, but I struggle to say “good.” This is a secondary that is quite simply made better because of what the front 7 is able to accomplish from play to play. In fact, you might say their secondary in many ways resembles the front 7 of the Cowboys in terms of talent composition. They have some good pieces, but not a single player you would want to build your defense around.
If you watched the Eagles / Vikings game you may have noticed the Eagles brought blitzes from the secondary 13 times, which is a lot by NFL standards. I seriously doubt they will employ that same strategy against the Cowboys. Actually, let me say that different, I hope they try to bring that strategy against the Cowboys. The Vikings do not have the same weapons that the Cowboys do and therefore, they do not have the same ability to make teams pay for that brand of carelessness. Just for instance, bringing the Nickel corner on a blitz means a Safety or Linebacker has to bolt over to cover Beasley. That means one of two things: 1. Either a linebacker will be a mismatch that Beasley can exploit or 2. the Eagles will be in a single safety high look that leaves either Bryant, Williams, or Butler single covered. That is a situation the Eagles should want to avoid as much as possible. And this is particularly the case considering they will likely focus on shutting down Zeke first…which I expect them to have a small degree of success at initially.
Which brings me to, How About Dem Cowboys?
A single stat line may help us tell the story of how the Cowboys may destroy the Eagles: Matt Jones two weeks ago contributed 16 carries for 135 yards and 1 touchdown adding to a total of 230 yards on the ground against the Eagles. Now, the Eagles apologist would likely point out that they may have been a little surprised by the Commanders ground game success on that day….they won’t be surprised by the Cowboys. Everyone knows what the Cowboys are going to want to do. And, as I said before, I expect the Eagles to sell-out to shut down the run above all initially, and they will have some success in doing so. But that success will be short-lived.
This upcoming Sunday will mark the healthiest the Cowboys have been all year. Dez and Scandrick return to a lineup that has looked pretty darn dominant in their absence. And these two guys at one time were considered the best two players for their perspective side of the ball…and they may still be. Let that sink in. Dez will obviously push TWill back to his home spot as the #2 receiver while Brice will resume his reliever role. Dez is obviously the reason selling out to stop the run will only work for so long before he gets loose and subsequently throws up the X. When that happens, hello ground game, oh how we missed you. As for Scandrick, my gut tells me he resumes his role as the Nickel corner, but Brown has been a bright spot in his absence. I suspect Marinelli will find ways to get him on the field, as his speed (possibly the fastest guy on that side of the ball) could assist in nullifying the speedsters, which could potentially mean Carr sees a reduced role considering he very well could be a liability against a few of the Eagles receiving threats. Another option Marinelli may entertain is a pure corner defense in obvious passing situations with Brown playing Safety next to Byron. You wouldn’t normally go that direction but on top of being the fastest guy in the secondary, Brown may also be the best wrap tackler in the secondary. If they alternate Brown between Corner and Safety, they get the added benefit of keeping those guys he periodically replaces playing their best football.
The one area for concern this entire season has been the lack of an effective pass rush. Quarterbacks have enjoyed entirely too much time in the pocket against the Cowboys. I still believe Tank Lawrence will return to form; the question is when? Meanwhile, the Cowboys front four has been doing just enough for the most part this year, for the exception of the Bengals game where they somehow dominated both lines on both sides of the ball. The Eagles have had their share of pass protection struggles, so you have to hope for a wash to a slight edge to the Cowboys for the simple fact that I believe the Eagles by the second half will be forced to press the action which should lead to turnovers. The team that wins the turnover ratio battle, most likely wins. The weak link of the Eagles line is at RT Halapoulivaati Vaitai; I could see Marinelli throwing a barrage of Tank, Irving, and the Crawfords at this kid to see how he holds up. My guess is it won’t be pretty for the Eagles.
In summation, the Cowboys should beat the Eagles in their upcoming meeting Sunday night. The way I see it, there are only two ways to beat the Cowboys: 1. Have a defense that can shut down Zeke and the Cowboys offensive line (which I do not believe exist in today’s NFL) or 2. Have an offense that can keep pace and hope to have the ball last. Neither the Eagles or the Vikings (or any team on the remainder of the Cowboys schedule) have a defense or offense at the moment that matches that description, in my opinion. It is my belief that should the Cowboys lose any game within the confines of the regular season from this day forward, it will be a self-inflicted loss…and not because they didn’t have the talent to win the fight that day. But again, that is just my opinion. As I said in my last contribution, the Falcons are the one team in the NFC I presently fear the most as they have an offense (albeit for different reasons) that could possibly keep pace with the Cowboys offense. Should the Cowboys get that far and beyond, the Patriots are yet another team you would have to have concerns about…but with that discussion we are getting way too far ahead of ourselves.
Thoughts?
Since their bi-week, the Eagles are 1 and 2 following an exceptionally hot start against 2 pedestrian teams in the Browns and Bears and one decent team in the Steelers, the Eagles lost in their showings against the Lions and Commanders. This past Sunday they exercised some of their demons in what was somewhat of an ugly win against the otherwise dominant Vikings leaving many wondering what the Eagles are at this point. Both their defense and offense will give most teams in the NFL issues. At the same time, you can’t necessarily describe either side of the ball as dominant, when compared to other top tier units in the NFL. Having said all of that, I still feel as I did three weeks ago: The Cowboys road to winning the East and a playoff berth goes through Philadelphia.
Despite their recent struggles, the Eagles should not be overlooked by the Cowboys. This is the type of a team that will give the Cowboys problems. They are fairly balanced, all things considered. Their identity is on defense and as such it will be strength against strength, with a slight edge to the Cowboys offense in their upcoming meeting Sunday night. On the other side of the ball, the Eagles may have a slight edge on offense against the Cowboys defense…they have a lot of speed, and while the Cowboys have taken steps to improve their overall defensive speed, there are still throwback defenders out there (Church, Wilcox, Carr) that can be, and most likely will be burned by the Eagles speedsters.
What are the Cowboys up against?
Offensively, the Eagles are at their best when Wentz can get the ball out quickly to his playmakers in space and allow them to create. Thus far they have been the epitome of dink & dunk offensive production. This is more by necessity than design; the Eagles have struggled with pass protection making quick reads on Wentz’s part a prerequisite and an important function of their offensive success if any success is to be had. But, don’t let that get your hopes up too far. Because even when they are struggling on offense, their defense is still good enough to keep them in games…and all it takes is an open lane for their offense/special teams to put points up on the board. Be on the lookout in particular for guys like Huff and Sproles and hope to God none of them get matched up against guys not named Scandrick, Brown, Jones or Claiborne. If they do, it could be a long day for the Cowboys secondary. In addition to providing pressure that necessitates a continuation of dink & dunk, the Cowboys will have to remain disciplined in their lane integrity and gap discipline for 60 minutes if they have any hopes of stifling the Eagles attack. It can be done…but I do expect a few leaks to get sprung eventually. The key will be if it happens and what the scoreboard looks like when it does happen. If the Cowboys can do as they have done in the majority of their games this season and establish a decent lead early, it may be too late to matter should one of the aforementioned speed-demons gets loose….or so I am dearly hoping.
If you watched the Eagles Vs. Vikings game this past Sunday, there are two filters you should process what you saw through before drawing any conclusions. 1. The Cowboys wish they had the Vikings defense, but they are not even close. 2. The Vikings wish they had the Cowboys offense, but they are not even close. If you could somehow figure out a way to combine these two teams, keeping only the best players for your final 53, you would have the Super Bowl winner for the next 3 to 5 years, without question or need for further debate. That would be a monster.
(Pausing a moment to reflect on how freaking awesome that would be)
…
…
…
(Sigh)
Anywho, I bring that game up because I was watching to see which defense (if any or both) will be a problem for the Cowboys offense. The answer is most certainly both and neither. “Both,” because the Cowboys offense is not going to dominate that game like they did the Bengals or Packers, but also “neither” because at the same time, I still expect Zeke to get his one hundred yards against both regardless of early on struggles, which at this point seems inevitable. Both defenses (Eagles and Vikings) are going to come out strong and fly around the field with their hair on fire wanting to prove themselves against the reputation of the Cowboys’ offense. But because they come out flying, they will leave the field crawling.
I predict both offenses (Eagles & Vikings) will score, but they will do so at a trickles pace, while the Cowboys offense will eventually put up an insurmountable lead (likely somewhere at the end of the first half or beginning of the second) and will rely on their run game to put the game away for the remainder of the game, where Zeke will find the bulk of his yards. Wentz looks like the real deal, but he needs more weapons to be a true threat to NFL caliber defenses. I honestly don’t belief the Eagles have a receiver or running back that could replace anyone currently on the Cowboys current 53 man roster.
But remember, either way, the yards won’t come easy for the Cowboys. Both the Eagles and Vikings front seven our likely the best these Cowboys have seen and it will show early. Like I said, this Cowboys offense will find the endzone, but as always patience will be paramount to winning because forcing the action will likely result in costly turnovers that the Cowboys cannot afford in either case; be it against the Vikings or the Eagles.
Everything the Eagles do on defense, in particular, begins and ends with Fletcher Cox who is arguably one of the best defensive linemen in the game. He is one of those rare breeds that could be successful in any defense you want to use, be it 3-4, 4-3, nickel, 46, goalline, or dime at any position on the line; and regardless of down and distance, as a defensive coordinator you will have a difficult time pulling him off the field in any given scenario. If you are putting together a team and have the NFL pool of talent to choose from, chances are Fletcher will be one of the first defensive lineman you choose…you certainly are not going to fill up your defensive line without calling his name at some point. Sadly, the drop-off in talent to those around him is not as significant as you would like. A good way of looking at it, actually, is you could almost say they have the defensive line equivalent of the Cowboys offensive line. Not quite that good, mind you, put pretty darn close.
Similar to the Packers situation, but not exact, the Eagles secondary is merely passable. Not bad. Not great. Somewhere in between, but I struggle to say “good.” This is a secondary that is quite simply made better because of what the front 7 is able to accomplish from play to play. In fact, you might say their secondary in many ways resembles the front 7 of the Cowboys in terms of talent composition. They have some good pieces, but not a single player you would want to build your defense around.
If you watched the Eagles / Vikings game you may have noticed the Eagles brought blitzes from the secondary 13 times, which is a lot by NFL standards. I seriously doubt they will employ that same strategy against the Cowboys. Actually, let me say that different, I hope they try to bring that strategy against the Cowboys. The Vikings do not have the same weapons that the Cowboys do and therefore, they do not have the same ability to make teams pay for that brand of carelessness. Just for instance, bringing the Nickel corner on a blitz means a Safety or Linebacker has to bolt over to cover Beasley. That means one of two things: 1. Either a linebacker will be a mismatch that Beasley can exploit or 2. the Eagles will be in a single safety high look that leaves either Bryant, Williams, or Butler single covered. That is a situation the Eagles should want to avoid as much as possible. And this is particularly the case considering they will likely focus on shutting down Zeke first…which I expect them to have a small degree of success at initially.
Which brings me to, How About Dem Cowboys?
A single stat line may help us tell the story of how the Cowboys may destroy the Eagles: Matt Jones two weeks ago contributed 16 carries for 135 yards and 1 touchdown adding to a total of 230 yards on the ground against the Eagles. Now, the Eagles apologist would likely point out that they may have been a little surprised by the Commanders ground game success on that day….they won’t be surprised by the Cowboys. Everyone knows what the Cowboys are going to want to do. And, as I said before, I expect the Eagles to sell-out to shut down the run above all initially, and they will have some success in doing so. But that success will be short-lived.
This upcoming Sunday will mark the healthiest the Cowboys have been all year. Dez and Scandrick return to a lineup that has looked pretty darn dominant in their absence. And these two guys at one time were considered the best two players for their perspective side of the ball…and they may still be. Let that sink in. Dez will obviously push TWill back to his home spot as the #2 receiver while Brice will resume his reliever role. Dez is obviously the reason selling out to stop the run will only work for so long before he gets loose and subsequently throws up the X. When that happens, hello ground game, oh how we missed you. As for Scandrick, my gut tells me he resumes his role as the Nickel corner, but Brown has been a bright spot in his absence. I suspect Marinelli will find ways to get him on the field, as his speed (possibly the fastest guy on that side of the ball) could assist in nullifying the speedsters, which could potentially mean Carr sees a reduced role considering he very well could be a liability against a few of the Eagles receiving threats. Another option Marinelli may entertain is a pure corner defense in obvious passing situations with Brown playing Safety next to Byron. You wouldn’t normally go that direction but on top of being the fastest guy in the secondary, Brown may also be the best wrap tackler in the secondary. If they alternate Brown between Corner and Safety, they get the added benefit of keeping those guys he periodically replaces playing their best football.
The one area for concern this entire season has been the lack of an effective pass rush. Quarterbacks have enjoyed entirely too much time in the pocket against the Cowboys. I still believe Tank Lawrence will return to form; the question is when? Meanwhile, the Cowboys front four has been doing just enough for the most part this year, for the exception of the Bengals game where they somehow dominated both lines on both sides of the ball. The Eagles have had their share of pass protection struggles, so you have to hope for a wash to a slight edge to the Cowboys for the simple fact that I believe the Eagles by the second half will be forced to press the action which should lead to turnovers. The team that wins the turnover ratio battle, most likely wins. The weak link of the Eagles line is at RT Halapoulivaati Vaitai; I could see Marinelli throwing a barrage of Tank, Irving, and the Crawfords at this kid to see how he holds up. My guess is it won’t be pretty for the Eagles.
In summation, the Cowboys should beat the Eagles in their upcoming meeting Sunday night. The way I see it, there are only two ways to beat the Cowboys: 1. Have a defense that can shut down Zeke and the Cowboys offensive line (which I do not believe exist in today’s NFL) or 2. Have an offense that can keep pace and hope to have the ball last. Neither the Eagles or the Vikings (or any team on the remainder of the Cowboys schedule) have a defense or offense at the moment that matches that description, in my opinion. It is my belief that should the Cowboys lose any game within the confines of the regular season from this day forward, it will be a self-inflicted loss…and not because they didn’t have the talent to win the fight that day. But again, that is just my opinion. As I said in my last contribution, the Falcons are the one team in the NFC I presently fear the most as they have an offense (albeit for different reasons) that could possibly keep pace with the Cowboys offense. Should the Cowboys get that far and beyond, the Patriots are yet another team you would have to have concerns about…but with that discussion we are getting way too far ahead of ourselves.
Thoughts?
