Brett's Cowboys Corner

The Cowboys are back in Arlington, they will be without their starting QB but could see Micah Parsons back on the field. It will be the divisional matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles, who come into the game 6-2, on a 4-game win streak.

As it currently stands, Philly reminds me of last years Cowboys team, where they look good in the standings but have some consistency struggles. But when you look at the opponents, you can easily say, “well they haven’t played anybody.” Which you can’t control who you play but when the competition for the Cowboys got tougher after Thanksgiving, it seemed the ugly parts of Dallas showed.

After Sunday, it will still be true that the Eagles haven’t played anyone good. But the Cowboys, led by back up QB Cooper Rush will look to take down a familiar opponent, who Dallas generally has the beat on.

OFFENSE

Kellen Moore: After spending three years as a back up QB in Dallas, Moore started his coaching career, working from QB coach to offensive coordinator for the Cowboys. Famously Moore was given to Coach McCarthy when he joined the staff in 2020 as his already established OC. Moore moved on in 2023, coaching 1 year in LA and now Philly as an OC. There have been mixed reactions from their fanbase, but the recent winning streak has kept morale happy in Philadelphia.

Barkley Keeps the Ship Smooth

It has been a bumpy ride for the Eagles offense, especially going back to the past few seasons. There have been problems with turnovers and moving the ball.

Saquon Barkley has been the equilibrium for the offense, bringing consistent play and just being their most dynamic player. He has accounted for 33.8% of the Eagles’ scrimmage yards this season, the highest share by any player in the NFL.

The Eagles win Sunday marked Saquon Barkley’s fifth game with 100-plus rushing yards in 2024, the first time in his career in which he’s had five such games in the first eight contests of a season. He now stands at 925 rushing yards on the year, and may be looking to break the 1k mark at AT&T Stadium.

Part of his contribution is being a receiver as well. Barkley is the 5th leading receiver for Philly, a great target for the dump off routes, allowing Hurts to not force throws. He will go deep as a receiver, with two wheel route touchdowns.

The Eagles are physical dominating team, they love to run the ball. Primarily because their offensive line has their best days in run blocking. They will generally line up in 12-personnel, with Dallas Goedert and Grant Calcaterra as their wing tight ends. The Eagles began the year with more runs out of the shotgun, but over the past few weeks, an injury to Goedert had them running more under center. Now that he’s back, look for a healthy mix.

Brown, Smith, Goedert

Speaking more on Dallas Goedert, he has been a big target for Hurts when he is healthy. He finds the soft spot in the defense and averages 3.4 yards of separation on each target. He gets the ball closer to the line of scrimmage and can make plays with his legs. The same goes for his backup, Calcaterra has a high catch percentage and averages 5 yards of separation per target. Over the past few weeks he jumped into the 4th leading receiver spot for Philly.

A.J. Brown is the physical receiver for the Eagles. He will usually find himself making the big explosive play after not hearing from him for awhile during the game. Hurts recording a 23.6% explosive pass rate (15+ yards) with Brown on the field compared to just 14.7% with Brown off. He has dealt with some injuries, missing 4 games early in the year, which also happened to be during the only two Philly losses. Jalen Hurts has averaged just 7.0 yards per attempt with A.J. Brown off the field this season, a 2.5 yard drop off compared to when Brown is on the field.

DeVonta Smith has been the most targeted receiver and will be utilized frequently through the game. He will line up more in the slot meaning Jourdan Lewis will have the matchup. Smith hasn’t been a deep threat this season, but that changed against Jacksonville.

Dallas will need to watch for the slants and deep crossers from him, so it will be important for Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson to be alert in the middle.

Truth Hurts

Jalen Hurts has found more rhythm with the offense over the past 4 games. The first five games of the season Hurts had 7 turnovers. In the past 4 weeks he hasn’t turned it over once. As the offense got more comfortable and more run heavy.

The Eagles have used offensive motion near 60% of the time, they have averaged 6.4 yards per play when using motion this season. When dropped back in the pocket, Hurts has had 3.09 seconds to throw, among league high. He will sit back there and look for the right guy to throw to.

If he can’t find him, Hurts has not been afraid to use his legs. With 300 rushing yards and 8 rushing TDs this season. Due to past injuries he has moved away from being reliant on running, but if you give him the option to kill you with his legs, he absolutely will. Philly will come out with 3rd and short, and call a passing play, with a QB keeper as an option.

It will be important for Dallas to create pressure on the edges for this game. Hurts has been sacked 22 times. The left side of the offensive line has struggled, with Fred Johnson at left tackle. If Parsons can play Sunday, Dallas should line him up and let him go all day against Johnson. The left guard and center are young players newer to their roles. This is an offensive line that really misses Jason Kelce right about now.

DEFENSE

Vic Fangio: A very familiar opponent for Dallas. He has given the Cowboys teams a lot of problems as an offense, predating Mike McCarthy as HC. If there is a formula for stopping Dallas, Fangio has it. As a head coach for Denver, in 2021 he stopped a red-hot Dallas team on a 6-game win streak, beating the Cowboys 30-16. In 2017 he had a 42-17 win against a young Dak Prescott. Fangio has been a bane in the existence of Prescott his entire career. Even a brief stint in Miami as DC last season, where he beat the Cowboys on Christmas Eve 22-20. Now Vic Fangio will see Dallas twice this season as the defensive coordinator of the Eagles.

Rankings

The Eagles come in as a top defense in the NFL. They have players all over that will slow down any offense. They are the 5th ranked pass defense and the 5th ranked run defense.

The Eagles play a 3-4 base defense, and rely on solid defensive tackle play to create pressure.

Other than there opening game in Brazil, the Eagles have kept their opponents under 20 points in wins. They create turn overs and will not allow many yards.

Full Of Great Players

Starting with the defensive line. 22 sacks on the season and a 32% pressure rate. The Georgia defensive tackles, Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis create a lot of havoc in the middle. With combined 4 sacks and 26 pressures on the year. If it weren’t for a shaky Zack Martin season, I wouldn’t be as worried as I am in the middle.

Josh Sweat has given Terrence Steele nightmares before coming off the edge. Already with 5 sacks and 24 pressures on the year. He may line up a little bit against the rookie Tyler Guyton as well.

Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean man the middle are 1 and 2 in tackles for Philly, both having an interception on the year as well.

The safeties play with a lot physicality. C.J. Gardner-Johnson is always trying to fight someone and Reed Blankenship always has a big hit ready. They combine for 3 interceptions on the year, but C.J. stands out as allowing 4 touchdowns this year.

Solid corner play from the two rookies, Quinyon Mitchell, who takes the outside position and the slot corner Cooper DeJean. Neither have allowed a touchdown this season. Of course Darius Slay is the veteran outside corner to point out, who has allowed some plays on him but leads the Eagles in keeping a tight window at 28% of the time.

How to Attack

The Eagles have allowed 4.4 yards per carry on the ground, which is not great. But teams usually don’t run against them often. The Cowboys should commit to the run the game and attack them. Run it to the edges, Bryce Huff and Milton Williams have troubles setting the edge in the run game. As long as you stay away from veteran Brandon Graham who is better in the run game.

Don’t test the middle of the field, and stay away from the deep ball, just move the ball slowly and in small increments and keep control of the ball.

The Eagles allow QB’s around 2.77 seconds to throw. Cooper Rush in his 6 starts has averaged 2.43 seconds to throw. He always looks to get the ball out quickly and efficiently. The Cowboys offense will not be able to afford any mistakes this week.

Going into this game with your back up QB, in a season that is slowly turning its ugly head. This is a team that you are familiar with, but are not better than. They dominate time of possession and will try to make this win as easy as possible, keeping the ball on the ground.