Week 17: Philadelphia Eagles At Dallas Cowboys

It really sucks that the Cowboys are now going to use Murray a lot more. The Eagles have a good run defense, but still...

 

Not that good. The game plan with Orton is run the ball, passes to Witten, and eat up as much of the clock as possible.

 

WTF? Where do you get that? GB, yes. Bears, yes. NE, maybe. But, Beagles fans? Are you kidding me? LOL!!!!!

 

Not really. Much like the Broncos early in the season, your run D's shortcomings are masked by the fact that teams get down big and have to give up the run game entirely for the most part.

 

just as i disagreed with your assessment on the broncos run D, i disagree with your assessment on the eagles run D. Even early in games or in tight ball games, in general, teams are not having a ton of success running against either front 7. For both the Eagles and Broncos, their run D's are not bad at all. now, their secondaries are both a different issue and may be their downfall.

 

Im sure the big leads help a bit in run def stats but those same leads hurt the passing stats even more.

 

well, not just looking at stats but actually watching teams who try to establish the run game against these teams.......... more often than not, they are not having enormous success. and most teams WANT to establish the run against both of those teams and control the t.o.p. and field position to keep their potent offenses off the field but not many have had a ton of success.

 

Check out their yards per rush, not just total rush yards. One of the top run defenses no matter how you slice it.

 

Yeah, that's not true at all, especially in the Broncos case.

 

I slice it how I see it, and I don't see a good run defense. They aren't terrible but they aren't shutting anyone down. Matt Asiata lol.

 

You mean the dude who got 51 yards on 30 rushes?

 

A guy who averaged less than 2 yards a carry in the game...

 

BTW, it's being reported that the Dallas Cowboys have signed Jon Kitna. I thought he had a bad back and had retired from the NFL.

 

My take on the game

I give the Cowboys a 40% chance of winning. That may be generous

What the Cowboys have in there favor:

- Offensive Line is hot hot right now. Smith has been playing like a Pro Bowler all season and has been an eraser that 2nd half of the season. Ryan Pickett called the Cowboys line the best zone blocking line in the NFL.

- Murray is the hot hand, and with Romo likely out he is going to be featured

- Orton is a clear downgrade from Romo. However, the offense will most likley have a different dynamic with him in there, and our playcall and formations wont be the same. Orton proved in Denver under McDaniels that he can play at a near Pro Bowl level in a spread offense. He is very good with a defense spread and and making short/mid range throws over the middle. If Dallas runs this type of offense VS Philadelphia (which IMO I think they should) expect to see alot of Cole Beasley. Cole has been very effective when called upon this year

- Now its only been two games, and Foles has grown much since the last time we have played, but so far in his young career he has struggled against Dallas. Definitely not a trend to bet on right now, but something that bears watching


Eagles win because right now they are better. However I think with Dallas running a slow paced offense, it will keep the Eagles from running there 90 plays on offense and be the best defense VS the Eagles offense. Im calling it 20-16 Eagles, with Dallas struggling to finish drives in the endzone leading to 3 FGs being the difference

 

Not great, but pretty damn good. I think Murray is a great player that is highly underutilized, sort of like McCoy under Reid. And yeah, I would think the Cowboys would run a similar game plan to that too. I expect a decent amount of run blitzes from the Eagles. Hopefully they can be effective without leading to open passing opportunities.

 

All kidding aside here, I think the Cowboys have to pressure Foles. If they don't, it's going to be a replay of the Bears-Eagles game.

 

It's more important to slow down McCoy. If he's effective it opens up things for Foles big time.

 

As plodding and unimaginative of a running back as he appeared to be, it should have been a lot less than that.

 

1.7 ypc? You're a tough critic. Most backs could average 1.7 by simply falling forward when they got the ball.

 

lolz @ bringing up asiata.

of course it makes sense to run it if you're dallas but like jj mentioned drives have to end with td's not fg's because if the eagles get up quick that gameplan goes out the window.

if the eagles jump on dallas like they did the bears the game will be over by the 2nd qtr.

personally i see it kind of close at halftime but the eagles pull away in the 2nd.

34-17 eagles