NFL
Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys
The Sunday night football match up sees two .500 teams playing well below expectations meeting at AT&T Stadium. Neither team has played a complete game yet this season. Both squads have been abysmal to begin games. Dear Jason Garrett, please have your players ready for a 7:20 CDT kickoff. This cannot be another play for 30 minutes effort. If it happens you will hear one very angry crowd Sunday night. He should have been gone long ago, but with JJ in charge, well….
Keys to the game:
Both teams are banged up in a big way. Can Collins or Smith play? At this point, they are only working on the side. Cooper and Cobb, both dealing with injuries, and the defense as well with both Byron Jones and Anthony Brown dealing with hamstring issues. The Eagles having several players injured as well. With that in mind, the importance of the “next man up,” mentality must be a focus at practice. The weakest part of the Eagles has been their secondary, so unlike most weeks I am not pushing to give Zeke the ball and pound away, instead go right after what has plagued the Eagles. Michael Gallup can break their hearts early with deep passes, but getting Witten and Swain involved will also be important, to make up for possibly not having two prime targets available. I would also use Tony Pollard in the passing game. If the Eagles linebackers have to worry bout the passing attack, then guess who can feast? Number 21.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson, said, “I know the sky is falling outside; it’s falling, and I get that. The fans are reeling just a little bit.” He then ends his thought with, ” But we’re going down to Dallas and our guys are going to be ready to play and we’re going to win that football game, and when we do we’re in first place in the NFC East, we control our own destiny, we’re right where we need to be.” That’s using a whole lot of words basically guaranteeing a victory.
There’s the bulletin board reading for every member of the Cowboys, especially the defense which has not lived up to the hopes we saw in the pre-season. Very few sacks, and turnovers. Sunday night that absolutely must change. Time to earn the paycheck defense. Force a weak rushing attack into becoming one dimensional and make them deal with the lone bright spot which has been the secondary. Don’t make them do all the work though, get to Carson Wentz, pressure him, and hit him at every opportunity. Wentz’s numbers have been pedestrian at best, though he hasn’t thrown picks. Time to do something different, the inspiration to “Defend the Star,” is right before your eyes courtesy their head coach.
I firmly believe this game will not be a nail biter. One team will exploit the other’s weaknesses, and do so often. The winner, if it’s the Cowboys, would be 3-0 in the division and pretty much have a stranglehold on the NFC East. Lose this game and it’s time to think about next year because even if you did make the playoffs, one and done will be the result. With the bye week coming up, every last player needs to lay it on the line in this game.
With Halloween approaching, I’m hoping for the treat in the form of a 31-17 Cowboys win. Although with so many question marks for both teams, a 34-20 Eagles win won’t really shock me either. That would mean yet again Cowboys Nation has been tricked by guys named Jerry and Jason. The Ghoul and the Goblin?
You can find me on Twitter @GregCowboys
