ESPN Mosley: The gap between Philly and Dallas

[Alexander]

The gap between Philly and Dallas
February, 11, 2010
Feb 11
12:38
AM ET
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By Matt Mosley

I'll have a lot more on this Thursday, but Eagles president Joe Banner sat down with the club's Web site reporter recently and talked about the 2009 season. Banner said he doesn't think the gap between the Cowboys and Eagles is as significant as the final two games of the season seemed to indicate, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.

"The truth is, when you lose that solidly, and Andy [Reid] says this and people think he’s not really giving them a lot of information, but I think this says everything, they must have beat you in a lot of different phases," Banner told the club's Web site. "Whether they are talking about the caliber of play, the scheme they used, who showed up that day or how healthy they stayed or all of the above. When you lose 20-17, it could have been the bounce of the ball or somebody having a good day that day. When you lose that soundly twice in the span of six days, then you have to look at all of the aspects that go into the game and objectively evaluate what areas you need to upgrade to be able to change the outcome of the game … I don’t think the difference is as dramatic as one may think just looking at the scores of those two games, but there is a gap there. We have to figure out how to close that gap and be ready to go next year."

In watching those games, I think the gap was even more dramatic than the scores indicated. If Banner and the Eagles think it will only take a tweak or two, I think they're kidding themselves. And by the way, Sal Paolantonio and I are teaming up on an ESPN.com Eagles package today. Continue refreshing your screens every 10 minutes or so throughout the day to view the package.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

But wait, Banner said they had the best roster in the division and they were working on winning Superbowls while we just tried to win a single playoff game...

 

[Hoofbite]

I don't think the gap is all that big. I think confidence was the major role player in those two games. Dallas was riding so high at the time and I think Philly was literally scared ****less come the rematch.

Philly was really boom or bust. They were so inconsistent it's hard to believe that they had really good games and still managed to lose to the Raiders.

I definitely think that the gap is going to widen though. The only thing Philly really has going right now looking into the future are their WRs and with the improved play by the Dallas secondary, it almost washes out.

Philly is gonna have some crappy times coming up. As soon as McNabb goes, they will struggle. He's not the best QB but he is good enough and most of all he has had some good enough years to present himself as a leader. When he takes off, they will be up creek without a paddle.

 

[miamicowboy21]

Philly radio personalities thought the gap was wide. They really took eagles management to task for allowing Dallas to trade up for Spencer 3 years ago. Spencer dominated them especially in the last 2 meetings. They feel the need a pass rusher opposite of Cole so they don't have to blitz as much. Sal Pal won't agree with banner that's for sure.

 

[AmishCowboy]

:fact: :disseags:

But wait, Banner said they had the best roster in the division and they were working on winning Superbowls while we just tried to win a single playoff game...

 

[21Savage]

I don't think the gap is all that big. I think confidence was the major role player in those two games. Dallas was riding so high at the time and I think Philly was literally scared ****less come the rematch.

Philly was really boom or bust. They were so inconsistent it's hard to believe that they had really good games and still managed to lose to the Raiders.

I definitely think that the gap is going to widen though. The only thing Philly really has going right now looking into the future are their WRs and with the improved play by the Dallas secondary, it almost washes out.

Philly is gonna have some crappy times coming up. As soon as McNabb goes, they will struggle. He's not the best QB but he is good enough and most of all he has had some good enough years to present himself as a leader. When he takes off, they will be up creek without a paddle.

I think the gap was more scheme wise that anything else, even though there was a huge disparity in line play in all those games. In all 3 games, our defensive front dominated their O-line to the point they couldn't run the ball (even though they didn't try that hard) and we put pressue on Mcnabb. And our O-line was able to run on them almost at will.

Now back to the scheme. I think Romo has seen so many blitzes that the teams that give him trouble these days (and any QB for that matter) are teams that can get pressure with their front 4 before he picks them apart. The eagles had to blitz a lot to get pressure and at this point in his career, Romo will continue to pick that apart for years to come.

On the other side of the ball, they lean heavy on big plays from their wide outs. Guess what, Jenkins and Newman can run with any wideouts in this league. And even when we double cover Jackson, Jenkins is perfectly capable of handling Maclin one on one. And Scandrick basically shut out their slot WR, Jason Avant. Sensebaugh and Carpenter also did a decent enough job on Celek.

 

[AMERICAS_FAN]

If hte Eagles focus on making improvmeents to close their gap versus the 2009 Cowboys, what happens if they do that, but then the 2010 Cowboys improve from their 2009 state? Then the gap remains opens still.

This is why I'm always leary of teams that look at correting "last year's" problems, because they can fall into the trap of looking backwards, instead of also being forward-thinking enough to forecast and fix "next year's" potential problems.

Regardless of what Philly does, let's hope that Dallas takes a backward-looking AND forward-thinking approach to close their own gaps versus super-bowl-cahmpion calliber clubs. Whle Dallas is Philly's focus, Philly surely should not be Dallas' focus.

 

[CATCH17]

They just don't matchup with us very well. They are a good team but we can do everything they can do except we can also be a lot more physical.


That team needs a posession receiver desperately too. The big play is nice and all but you gotta put together drives in this league.

Get a REAL RB too and not a WR/HB.

 

[WV Cowboy]

Good, I hope the Iggles think the gap is not that big, and don't address their issues.

Because if we can stop Jackson from hitting the big play and quick score, .. they can't sustain enough drives against our defense to outscore us.

If Jackson can't hit the big play, we beat them twice next year too.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Philly is gonna have some crappy times coming up. As soon as McNabb goes, they will struggle. He's not the best QB but he is good enough and most of all he has had some good enough years to present himself as a leader. When he takes off, they will be up creek without a paddle.

I caught Florio on Fox Sports last night, and he was actually pretty decent... Much better than on his stupid blog. But he said he hears that they are getting closer and closer to pulling the trigger on going to Kolb. He said the recent claims that they're happy with McNabb are only to keep his trade value up.

It might not be true, but I wouldn't doubt it, either.

BTW, he also said he wouldn't be surprised if they gave that Ed Block courage award to Vick to help increase his trade value. Only the Eagles.

 

[Coakleys Dad]

Now back to the scheme. I think Romo has seen so many blitzes that the teams that give him trouble these days (and any QB for that matter) are teams that can get pressure with their front 4 before he picks them apart. The eagles had to blitz a lot to get pressure and at this point in his career, Romo will continue to pick that apart for years to come.

On the other side of the ball, they lean heavy on big plays from their wide outs. Guess what, Jenkins and Newman can run with any wideouts in this league. And even when we double cover Jackson, Jenkins is perfectly capable of handling Maclin one on one. And Scandrick basically shut out their slot WR, Jason Avant. Sensebaugh and Carpenter also did a decent enough job on Celek.

Great points.

 

[Hostile]

I am one who believes gaps can be closed quickly, but they can also be widened quickly.

IMO Dallas needs to do 3 things to widen the gap. These are in no particular order, and they are not the only things that can improve, just the 3 biggest deficiencies.

1. Fix the Return games, especially Kick Returns.

2. Fix the Kicking game. We left anywhere from 18 to 30 points on the field just on missed FGs and we avoided going for FGs at times because we were so erratic.

3. Create turnovers. Quite simply, if our Defense lacks anything at all it is larceny of the football. We start taking the ball away and there is no stopping this team.

 

[Coakleys Dad]

I am one who believes gaps can be closed quickly, but they can also be widened quickly.

IMO Dallas needs to do 3 things to widen the gap. These are in no particular order, and they are not the only things that can improve, just the 3 biggest deficiencies.

1. Fix the Return games, especially Kick Returns.

2. Fix the Kicking game. We left anywhere from 18 to 30 points on the field just on missed FGs and we avoided going for FGs at times because we were so erratic.

3. Create turnovers. Quite simply, if our Defense lacks anything at all it is larceny of the football. We start taking the ball away and there is no stopping this team.

Hos you are spot on in your posts, special teams took a dramatic positive push last year with McBriar and the addition of Buehler, now we need that dominant return guy to take the field position to the next level.
The kicker situation needs to be addressed yesterday and i hope we have a definite plan in place to fix it.

 

[Idgit]

3. Create turnovers. Quite simply, if our Defense lacks anything at all it is larceny of the football. We start taking the ball away and there is no stopping this team.

Anybody know or care to compare how Wade's defenses do in creating turnovers historically? Is the issue this particular team, or is it related to a scheme that gets a ton of pressure but somehow not many turnovers?

 

[Phrozen Phil]

I am one who believes gaps can be closed quickly, but they can also be widened quickly.

IMO Dallas needs to do 3 things to widen the gap. These are in no particular order, and they are not the only things that can improve, just the 3 biggest deficiencies.

1. Fix the Return games, especially Kick Returns.

2. Fix the Kicking game. We left anywhere from 18 to 30 points on the field just on missed FGs and we avoided going for FGs at times because we were so erratic.

3. Create turnovers. Quite simply, if our Defense lacks anything at all it is larceny of the football. We start taking the ball away and there is no stopping this team.

The Eagle's side of that argument centers on three areas:
1) Rushing game. If the Eagles get a consistent rushing game, they could be scary. Westbrook may or may not have much left in the tank. McCoy isn't at Westbrook's level and I'm not convinced he's a 25 - 30 carry guy.
2) Linebackers. I realize that injuries palyed a role here with Philly last year, but, imho, it's an obvious weakness in their D. Bringing back Trotter was a move that smacked of desperation.
3) Leadership. Dawkin's departure left a real gap in that area. When it came to crunch time late in the season, the Eagles just didn't have the leadership in that locker room.

 

[sonnyboy]

I caught Florio on Fox Sports last night, and he was actually pretty decent... Much better than on his stupid blog. But he said he hears that they are getting closer and closer to pulling the trigger on going to Kolb. He said the recent claims that they're happy with McNabb are only to keep his trade value up.

It might not be true, but I wouldn't doubt it, either.

BTW, he also said he wouldn't be surprised if they gave that Ed Block courage award to Vick to help increase his trade value. Only the Eagles.

This is the key. Sometimes I get a very strong feeling on a player. I have ot for Ogletree. Can't explain it. It's just a certainty in my opinion based on what I've seen in his play.
I'm digressing here, but Ogletree's got it. It's just a matter of him putting in the work and of course that's not a certanity.

As far as McNabb goes.....he's a liability for them.
The eagles will not beat us again with McNabb starting.
I just hope to God Reid doesn't see it, or at least he's too stubborn to make the change.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I am one who believes gaps can be closed quickly, but they can also be widened quickly.

IMO Dallas needs to do 3 things to widen the gap. These are in no particular order, and they are not the only things that can improve, just the 3 biggest deficiencies.

1. Fix the Return games, especially Kick Returns.

2. Fix the Kicking game. We left anywhere from 18 to 30 points on the field just on missed FGs and we avoided going for FGs at times because we were so erratic.

3. Create turnovers. Quite simply, if our Defense lacks anything at all it is larceny of the football. We start taking the ball away and there is no stopping this team.

I agree with every one of those especially #3. #3 would go so far in making this team so tough to beat it makes me light headed at the thought of how good we could be with that.


As for what Banner said, reading between the lines, and in my case making things up that I'm just hoping for cause I'd love to see it, he's indirectly telling you that they feel the need to upgrade their QB play in order to close the gap.

I'm hoping, praying (Even though I'm sure he wasn't indicating this in anyway and it's wishful thinking) that they trade McNabb the hell out of there and then he, and the Eagles fans, will get whats coming to them. They'll learn real quick that they might want to be careful what they wish for.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Anybody know or care to compare how Wade's defenses do in creating turnovers historically? Is the issue this particular team, or is it related to a scheme that gets a ton of pressure but somehow not many turnovers?

Repeating yesterdays post........two words - playmaking safety.

 

[sonnyboy]

I am one who believes gaps can be closed quickly, but they can also be widened quickly.

IMO Dallas needs to do 3 things to widen the gap. These are in no particular order, and they are not the only things that can improve, just the 3 biggest deficiencies.

1. Fix the Return games, especially Kick Returns.

2. Fix the Kicking game. We left anywhere from 18 to 30 points on the field just on missed FGs and we avoided going for FGs at times because we were so erratic.

3. Create turnovers. Quite simply, if our Defense lacks anything at all it is larceny of the football. We start taking the ball away and there is no stopping this team.

Good post Hos. But I'd probably rank these 4, 3 and 2 behind improving our OL talent across the board.

More forced turnovers would be huge. I believe we'll force more, but an upgrade at FS would help.

Fixing the kicking game is as simple yet difficult as finding a good kicker. We will.

But improving the OL unit has to be priority one. We need to have a better and deeper group of 10 make the final 53. We almost can't throw enough money and picks at the problem.

 

[Idgit]

Repeating yesterdays post........two words - playmaking safety.

I'd like to think that, too. Just looking back at the teams he's head coached, it looks like his teams are generally in the top third of the league in terms of forced fumbles, but they are generally in the bottom half of the league in terms of interceptions. This makes sense given how much pressure he puts on the QB. It doesn't give me a lot of hope that we'll necessarily setup the defense in the offseason to start taking the ball away more. If we do, it'll have to come through an upgrade at FS if there's one available someplace.