Eagles Stuff...

[Genghis Khan]

Hmmm. Does he have any more cousins?

 

[Genghis Khan]

Disagree. You roll up a 4 to 1 yardage advantage like Seattle did, you kind of kicked their ass.

Exactly. That game was not as close as the score. Philly pretty much made 1 play on offense. They were thoroughly dominated.

 

[Genghis Khan]

He had a couple good games in a row (One against us) but for most of the season McCoy has been terrible.

That's true. Not sure what his deal is this year, but he did like he was getting on track until Seattle.

 

[Genghis Khan]

I don't think the offenser will have any problems if they protect Romo. My concerns are 2 fold. The pass defense of Dallas is to vunerable if there is no heat on Sanchez. The pass rush has been absent. Even though everyone thinks the key will be the running game on either side, in my view the team who gives the best protection to their QB Wiil win the game.

The biggest key to protecting Romo against a blitz happy team is to stay out of 2nd or 3rd and long as much as possible. If they stuff the run we will be in long yardage situations. If we loosen them up with the pass on 1st or 2nd early we will run better. Which means we can protect Romo better.

 

[Genghis Khan]

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

Maybe I should clarify that I was more impressed with Philly's defense. By my eye test, they were extremely physical. Because yeah, on offense, Sanchez sucks and can wreck almost any offense.

And Philly was still an easy dropped pick-six from making it a FG game with five or six minutes left.

Seattle's offense isn't particularly impressive but they rolled up over 400 yards. On the road.

It was a beatdown.

 

[L.T. Fan]

The biggest key to protecting Romo against a blitz happy team is to stay out of 2nd or 3rd and long as much as possible. If they stuff the run we will be in long yardage situations. If we loosen them up with the pass on 1st or 2nd early we will run better. Which means we can protect Romo better.

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.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

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.

The worst is we will run on first and second down and even if we create a 3rd and 3 or a 3rd and 4 we will suddenly go shotgun with no RB. We don't even keep the threat of a running play alive if we got stopped running the ball on first and second down. I'd like to see us run the ball on third down a little more even when it isn't a 3rd and 1. We average over 5 yards per run and should be able to still keep the defense honest even on third down.

 

[L.T. Fan]

The worst is we will run on first and second down and even if we create a 3rd and 3 or a 3rd and 4 we will suddenly go shotgun with no RB. We don't even keep the threat of a running play alive if we got stopped running the ball on first and second down. I'd like to see us run the ball on third down a little more even when it isn't a 3rd and 1. We average over 5 yards per run and should be able to still keep the defense honest even on third down.

That average doesn't hold up with stacked defenses like Philly. I think Dallas got about 80 rushing yards in the llast meeting.

 

[p1_]

He had a couple good games in a row (One against us) but for most of the season McCoy has been terrible.

That's when his oline was not in tact. They are back healthy, and the running game has improved accordingly.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

That average doesn't hold up with stacked defenses like Philly. I think Dallas got about 80 rushing yards in the llast meeting.

No but my point is the one time the defense isn't stacking our run is on third down regardless of the distance. It's because everyone in the stadium and watching TV knows that after we failed on first and second down to get a first by running the ball and then go to a shotgun on third down that there is no chance we run the ball. This makes it extremely difficult to convert on those third downs by passing the ball.

 

[L.T. Fan]

No but my point is the one time the defense isn't stacking our run is on third down regardless of the distance. It's because everyone in the stadium and watching TV knows that after we failed on first and second down to get a first by running the ball and then go to a shotgun on third down that there is no chance we run the ball. This makes it extremely difficult to convert on those third downs by passing the ball.

I think Dallas needs to be completely unpredictable at times to keep Philly's defense off guard and conventional.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Seattle's offense isn't particularly impressive but they rolled up over 400 yards. On the road.

It was a beatdown.

If a ten point win is a beatdown, what do you call the thing Philly put on us?

 

[Angrymesscan]

LeSean, dork.

Dammit, I was hoping it was somebody we had a chance to beat...

 

[Cotton]

Dallas Cowboys must execute plan to stop LeSean McCoy
December, 9, 2014

By Jean-Jacques Taylor | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas -- If the Dallas Cowboys don't find a way to stop LeSean McCoy on Sunday night, they have virtually no chance to beat the Philadelphia Eagles.

Two weeks ago, McCoy rushed for 159 yards on 25 carries against the Cowboys. In the final game of the 2013 season with a playoff berth on the line, McCoy rushed for 131 yards on 27 carries.

No surprise, the Eagles won both of those games.

When Dallas beat Philadelphia, 17-3, on Oct. 20, 2013, McCoy had 18 carries for 55 yards.

"LeSean McCoy is a great football player and if you don't play good sound defense and let that guy get outside he's going to make you pay for it," Dallas coach Jason Garrett said. "We've done that in the past, other times we haven't and he's had big games against us."

If the Cowboys don't control McCoy and the Eagles' running game, then it opens up Philadelphia's big-play passing game, which comes off run fakes. The Cowboys know what they have to do to stop Philadelphia's running game, it's executing the plan that's difficult.

Stopping Philadelphia's running game is all about the defensive linemen maintaining gap integrity, which means filling the gap you're supposed to fill -- even if it means not making the tackle. That's what takes away the cutback lanes McCoy is so good at finding.

But the most important thing the Cowboys have to do is play strong on the perimeter. Outside linebackers Anthony Hitchens, Bruce Carter and Kyle Wilber have to force McCoy inside where they have help and the Cowboys can gang tackle.

When he gets outside, McCoy is too hard to stop because he's terrific in the open field thanks to a litany of moves. Against Chicago, the Cowboys limited dangerous RB Matt Forte to 26 yards on 13 carries with a long of seven.

"I thought we did a really good job defending the run and I think they came into the ballgame wanting to run the football," Garrett said. "It was important for us to slow them down.

"I thought our guys did a good job having gap discipline, setting edges, tackling and running to the ball -- all of the things you need to do to play good run defense. There are some critical things that you have to do when you play this team. They were able to get to the edges and get into space and that's where they're most effective."

 

[Cotton]

Garrett says focus is on Philadelphia Eagles, not playoffs
December, 9, 2014

By Jean-Jacques Taylor | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas -- You can ask the question however you choose. Coach Jason Garrett's answer will never change.

Garrett isn't interested in the Dallas Cowboys' odds of making the playoffs, and he doesn't want to talk about whether Sunday's game will determine the NFC East champion.

All he wants is for the Cowboys to prepare this week to play their best football on Sunday. If they do that and win, Garrett figures everything else will work itself out.

"We don't spend a lot of time o what other people are doing," Garrett said. "We just focus on ourselves and what we need to do."

Still, if the Cowboys lose this game they'll essentially trail the Philadelphia Eagles by two games with two games to play. That would make it extremely difficult to win the division.

"This is a game that we have to go up there and play our best football. It starts with our preparation on Tuesday, putting good days together, and don't worry about anything else."

This is one of those things that sounds easier said than done. After all, football is an emotional game and the players don't live in a vacuum. They understand what's at stake, and they certainly understand the challenge, considering they lost 33-10 to Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago.

"One of our jobs as coaches is to try to help our team think the right way. A lot of that is taking care of the process along the way," Garrett said. "Get locked into this drill or this rep or whatever it is to give ourselves the best chance to play our best on Sunday night and we'll continue to reinforce that message."

The Cowboys have missed the playoffs each of the past four seasons. Win their last three games and that streak will end.

"The biggest thing we have to do is focus on ourselves," Garrett said. "We control our destiny as a team and if we focus on doing what we need to do to play our best football, then everything will be fine."

 

[Cotton]

Dallas Cowboys LT Tyron Smith looking forward to rematch at Philadelphia Eagles, says ‘we just weren’t ourselves’ in loss 2 weeks ago

Brandon George / Reporter
Published: December 9, 2014 2:41 pm

FORT WORTH — Before Philadelphia routed Dallas two weeks in Arlington, Eagles nose tackle Bennie Logan said he didn’t “see anything spectacular” about the Cowboys’ offensive line and said the unit was just OK.

And the Cowboys’ front five wasn’t even OK against the Eagles. The Eagles sacked quarterback Tony Romo four times and had eight tackles for loss. The Eagles held Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray to a season-low 73 rushing yards on 20 carries. It was only the second time all season a team has kept Murray below 100 yards rushing.

“For us, we just weren’t ourselves the way we played that game,” Cowboys Pro Bowl left tackle Tyron Smith said Tuesday. “Just some things we have to clean up.”

Smith was among a group of Cowboys players who made their annual holiday hospital visit to Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth.

The Cowboys’ offensive line has a second chance to impress Logan and the Eagles on Sunday night in Philadelphia in a game that will decide the NFC East leader.

“We just have to prepare the best way that we can and go up there with the right mindset and we have to get this win,” Smith said. “Well, you know, it’s always good to play the other team again for us to just kind of get back to where we are.

Smith said he likes this time of the NFL season.

“It’s definitely the exciting part of it, but it’s also a nervous part of it,” Smith said. “But it’s all fun. It’s the way football is toward the end of the season.”

The Cowboys’ offensive line didn’t have much fun two weeks ago against the Eagles in a 33-10 loss. Maybe this time will be different.

 

[Cotton]

Cowboys get ready for big game
December, 9, 2014

By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas -- As Jason Witten was walking down a hallway at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas on Tuesday, a father of one of the patients walked by with a message.

“Big game Sunday,” he said. “Good luck.”

More than 20 players met with children for roughly two hours at Children’s Medical Center with the rest of the teammates at three other hospitals in Dallas and Fort Worth as part of the teams annual holiday visits.

In between playing games with boys and girls and signing autographs, they were also reminded by what comes on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.

With a win at Lincoln Financial Field, the Cowboys would be in first place in the NFC East with two games to go and in prime position to make the playoffs for the first time since 2009.

“I know for me and a lot of other guys that focus is about going and doing it and not thinking about it from the way we had to in the past with ‘What if?’ or, ‘If that would’ve been different,’” Witten said. “It’s a great opportunity to be in, excited to see how it plays out on Sunday.”

The Cowboys were whipped by the Eagles on Thanksgiving 33-10 at AT&T Stadium. Thanks to their win last Thursday against the Chicago Bears and the Eagles’ loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, the Cowboys have the division in front of them.

If they win their final three games, they win the division and make the playoffs.

“Obviously we know what’s at stake,” running back DeMarco Murray said. “We can’t make it bigger than what it is. We’ve got to come out and not try to do too much, stick to our game plan, stick to our identity to what we’ve done in the past to get the win.”

The Cowboys couldn’t do that in the first meeting. Philadelphia scored on five of its first six possessions. On offense the Cowboys converted just 4-of-12 third-down chances.

From Jason Garrett on down, the reaction to that game was a collective, ‘That wasn’t us.” It’s easy to just say that game was a hiccup. Now they have to prove it was just a bad day.

“After the game we said we’ll see them again,” defensive tackle Henry Melton said, “and that was all that needed to be said.”

 

[Cotton]

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.”

 

[Genghis Khan]

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.

That's what I'm saying.

 

[Genghis Khan]

If a ten point win is a beatdown, what do you call the thing Philly put on us?

Ummm...a beatdown.

Hello? Is this thing on?