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Iamtdg said:

Jerry Jones on why he’s encouraged about Cowboys’ chances in Philadelphia

Jon Machota
Published: December 9, 2014 1:26 pm

While Tony Romo’s back problems have been a concern throughout this season, Jerry Jones said Tuesday morning that the franchise quarterback’s health with three games remaining actually gives him “additional excitement” about where the Dallas Cowboys are headed.

This final stretch will begin with a rematch against the Eagles in Philadelphia Sunday night.

Why might this game go differently than the Eagles’ 33-10 win on Thanksgiving Day at AT&T Stadium?

“I think the fact that the Thanksgiving game was just so out of step relative to really both sides of the ball, I think we can play better than that,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan [KRLD-FM]. “I think the fact that we’re playing good on the road and that we can play a lot better than we played against the Eagles here at home on Thanksgiving, I think all of that really encourages me that we have a real chance to go up there and win the ball game.”

Later in the interview, Jones said he thinks the Cowboys have overachieved this season. Sitting at 9-4 after three consecutive 8-8 seasons, Jones specifically discuessed the offensive line, Romo, DeMarco Murray and the defense.

“In the case of the offensive line, it’s jelled quicker than anyone could have imagined with the youth that’s in the offensive line,” Jones said. “Do I think Romo has overachieved? If you want to start with everybody worried about his back, everybody worried about where is he? What stage is he? He’s certainly having a great year.

“When I look at the talent of Murray, I don’t know that that’s overachieving, but it’s certainly more than we expected. Overall, we’re doing a lot more out there than we expected.

“The same thing over on the defensive side of the ball. We got holes, but boy I’ll tell you what, they are not the holes that could’ve been there. Fifty-five, [Rolando] McClain, has just absolutely been a godsend and is doing a job for our defense and for our team that it would have been a stretch to [expect that] before the season.”

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Good Christ shut up.

Genghis Khan said:

Ummm...a beatdown.

Hello? Is this thing on?

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Apparently the difference in points makes it necessary to change up your descriptor.

To fit CL's criteria, use "shellacking", "drubbing" or even "trouncing" to describe the Eagle-Cowboy game to keep things in proper perspective.

Genghis Khan said:

Good Christ shut up.

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I wasn't going to even post it, but since I had to read it, I figured you all should have to as well.

We got holes, but boy I’ll tell you what, they are not the holes that could’ve been there

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So basically he is saying that he poorly prepared for Sean Lee's injury and boy he's tellin' us what, McClain has really been a gosh durn blessing. Yessir.

L.T. Fan said:

May be hard to do if Dallas opens every series with a running play against a stacked defense. It's going to take a little imagination on Linehans part for offensive game planning. Right now Dallas is too predictable.

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Dallas needs to pass to set up the run like they did vs. New Orleans. Murray was stuffed on his first few carries, and Romo completed almost every pass to back the defense off.

Then things opened up for Murray and the defense was on its heels.

Get Witten, Escobar, and Williams involved, and Dez and Murray can destroy a defense.

And I don't GAS what the Eagles like to say, TOP matters alot. You just have to score when you have the ball.

Jeremy Mincey: Cowboys 'underestimated' Eagles' running game
December, 9, 2014

By Tim MacMahon | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas -- The Philadelphia Eagles' rushing attack apparently caught the Dallas Cowboys' defense by surprise on Thanksgiving.

"I would say we kind of underestimated them pretty much, you know what I mean?" Cowboys defensive end Jeremy Mincey said.

Actually, that's going to require some elaboration.

After all, LeSean McCoy is one of the most accomplished running backs in the NFL. He ran for a season-high 159 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries in the Eagles' rout of the Cowboys, but that kind of production can hardly be considered a surprise by anyone who has followed McCoy's career.

McCoy ranks third in the NFL with 6,541 rushing yards since the Eagles selected him in the second round of the 2009 draft. He won the league's rushing title with 1,607 yards last season. He led the league in rushing touchdowns with 17 in 2011.

It's not exactly breaking news that McCoy is a dangerous back. So how did the Dallas defense underestimate the Eagles' running game?

"It was the run scheme pretty much," Mincey said. "Like you would dominate your man and then you'd peek inside and that little bit of discipline, it was costing us big chunks of yardage. You've just got to remember what type of player you're dealing with and you've just got to be focused. Once you get in your lane, you stay in your lane and you don't move until the play is over or he's somewhere past you where you can get off and make a tackle.

"I think we'll get it this go-around."

The Cowboys have been thinking about this go-around almost constantly since walking off the AT&T Stadium turf after their embarrassing loss to the Eagles. Mincey said he wishes the rematch was tomorrow instead of Sunday, although he quickly acknowledged that the Cowboys needed a little bit more time to game plan.

"We'll show up with our play," Mincey said. "We're going to talk with our pads. And I'm so excited for all the men in the locker room, because they're excited for this game. That's all we've been talking about. Even during the Chicago game, I had to [say], ‘Hey, hush, man. We've got to finish beating Chicago and then we'll get to it.'

"But it's exciting, man. I'm very excited, definitely ready to play the Philadelphia Eagles."

Genghis Khan said:

Good Christ shut up.

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I'm applying this to Mincey, too.

Chocolate Lab said:

Well we know Kelly doesn't care about TOP...

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Sure, especially when they're scoring TD's rather quickly. Not when they're scoring 14 points and going 3 and out over and over.

In a lot of Eagles game TOP means nothing, but in this game it actually meant something. Seattle had long drives and held onto the ball and Philly was going 3 and out. Not what Chip wanted. Seattle dominated from start to finish.

boozeman said:

So basically he is saying that he poorly prepared for Sean Lee's injury and boy he's tellin' us what, McClain has really been a gosh durn blessing. Yessir.

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It's ironic that the one season JJ publicly states he expects the season is going to be "uphill" and not claim the Cowboys are a contender before the season even starts, ends up being the season that the team actually over-performs expectations.

Tough to not eat the cheese when your joke of a GM is constantly offering it to you every time he opens his mouth...

Tony D said:

Sure, especially when they're scoring TD's rather quickly. Not when they're scoring 14 points and going 3 and out over and over.

In a lot of Eagles game TOP means nothing, but in this game it actually meant something. Seattle had long drives and held onto the ball and Philly was going 3 and out. Not what Chip wanted. Seattle dominated from start to finish.

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It's all about the number of plays run. If their offense runs more plays then the other teams offense but has less TOP then who gives a shit. Their hurry up offense is going to tire the other teams defense way more in that situation even without winning TOP.

Cowboysrock55 said:

It's all about the number of plays run. If their offense runs more plays then the other teams offense but has less TOP then who gives a shit. Their hurry up offense is going to tire the other teams defense way more in that situation even without winning TOP.

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What are you talking about? We all know that, but we are specifically talking about the "beatdown" the Seahawks gave to the Eagles the other day. Did you watch the game or just see the score?

And total plays were 85 for Seattle and 45 (28 plays below their league leading average) for Philly. Is that another barometer to show how much of a "beatdown" that was or no?

Tony D said:

What are you talking about? We all know that, but we are specifically talking about the "beatdown" the Seahawks gave to the Eagles the other day. Did you watch the game or just see the score?

And total plays were 85 for Seattle and 45 (28 plays below their league leading average) for Philly. Is that another barometer to show how much of a "beatdown" that was or no?

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No doubt that was a beat down. Someone pointed out that TOP is ultra important. I was just pointing out that TOP isn't what is actually important, it's the number of plays that your offense runs verse the number of plays that the other teams offense runs. Now usually that will lead to a domination in TOP but in the Eagles case that wouldn't necessarily be true. Hurry up or not the Eagles would have gotten destroyed in TOP in that game against the Seahawks.

Kinda crazy that we're 9-4, best record in years, solidly on pace for a potential 11-5 or 10-6 finish, yet if we lose this game we probably miss the playoffs.

mschmidt64 said:

Kinda crazy that we're 9-4, best record in years, solidly on pace for a potential 11-5 or 10-6 finish, yet if we lose this game we probably miss the playoffs.

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If we miss the playoffs, was the season a success, considering it was the best in years?

p1_ said:

If we miss the playoffs, was the season a success, considering it was the best in years?

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Define success. Given our defense, we're never going to take the next step into legit year-in year-out contender until that is fixed with serious resources being poured into DL.

Could we have squeezed out another win or two this season with better luck or better decisions? Maybe.

Overall given our personnel I think the year was ok. The black cloud of the defense falling apart has been hanging over our heads too much for me to get excited though, and the last few weeks it's become reality.

But if we go 11-5 and miss the playoffs I'm not gonna say we underachieved.

Josh Brent a game-time decision
December, 11, 2014

By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys defensive end Josh Brent did not practice Thursday because of a calf strain, but he believes his availability for Sunday’s matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles will be a game-time decision.

Brent was hurt at the end of Wednesday’s practice and subsequent testing showed a minor calf strain. With three games to play in the regular season, that’s good news for Brent, who played in his first game in two years last week against the Chicago Bears.

Brent said he does not believe the injury stems from his lack of practice time.

“Football is a physical game,” Brent said. “It’s a survival sport, so you’re bound to have injuries. I don’t think anyone plays this game at 100 percent at this time of year especially.”

Brent played in 22 snaps against the Bears and had two tackles. After the Eagles put up 256 yards on the ground against the Cowboys in the first meeting, they are hoping he will be well enough to help contain LeSean McCoy in the rematch.

If Brent can’t play, “we’ve got the men who we’ve had all year before Josh was up,” defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli said, “and we just got to go out and play our gaps and be physical. We’ve got to be physical. They’re a very physical offensive line. Very physical. And fast. They probably one of the most athletic groups that we’ll play.”

Quarterback Tony Romo was a full participant in his return to practice on Thursday after sitting out the previous day as was cornerback Tyler Patmon, who was limited on Wednesday with knee and ankle injuries. Safety Jeff Heath (thumb), defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence (rib), linebacker Rolando McClain (knee) and defensive end George Selvie (thumb) also took part in full practices.

Defensive end Jeremy Mincey returned to practice Thursday after attending the funeral of a friend on Wednesday. Linebacker Dekoda Watson did not practice because of a hamstring strain.

Terrance Williams: If Eagles show Tony Romo same looks during rematch, ‘he’s going to kill it’

Jon Machota

During Thursday’s game, it appeared like Terrance Williams quit on a comeback route near the Dallas Cowboys sideline, resulting in a Tony Romo third-quarter interception.

“I just don’t think he saw the ball,” Garrett said Friday after watching film of Dallas’ 33-10 loss to the Eagles. “The ball was thrown a little bit inside, he was coming out of it. Sometimes you don’t get your head back or you anticipate that ball being out on the sideline, and he wasn’t able to react back inside and knock it down.”

Williams’ production has been steadily declining. The Cowboys’ No. 2 wide receiver only has five receptions for 75 yards over the last four games. During the first eight games, Williams hauled in six touchdown passes and averaged 50 receiving yards per game.

“I think some of that has to do with opportunity,” Garrett said. “Other guys have stepped up. Cole Beasley has made a number of the plays the last couple of weeks. We have seen [Lance] Dunbar and [Gavin] Escobar and some of those other guys make plays.

“Obviously, we’re getting the ball to [Jason Witten] and to [Dez Bryant] as much as we can. We’re trying to run the football so sometimes a certain player doesn’t get as many opportunities. But the biggest thing for those guys is to stay ready and take advantage of the opportunities when you get them.”

Williams has been targeted only six times over the last three games. Is he bothered by the lack of opportunities?

“Nah, because Tony goes through a lot of stuff that he has to call and see,” the second-year receiver said. “I just have to be ready whenever he decides to look my way.”

One of the problems the Cowboys faced Thursday was that the Eagles didn’t give Romo much time to survey the field.

“He had to get the ball out quick, so it’s one of those things you just got to go back in and look at it for the next time we go back down there,” Williams said. “The stuff that they ran forced him to get the ball out quick. Sometimes the receivers weren’t ready when he was ready.

“It’s just like one of those things where we just got to go back and [fix it] because once we beat it the first time, they won’t run it again.

“The first time we see it and get to watch it on film, [Romo’s] going to find a way to correct it. There’s no doubt when you see the same thing, he’s going to kill it.”

And Williams isn’t blaming any of his statistical slump on his fractured left index finger.

“You’ve got guys, Tony playing with bad backs, Dez and Wit, it’s one of those things where you throw it out the window,” he said. “After the game, you can worry about the pain.”