This Eagles vs. Cowboys game is going to be won at the line of scrimmage. The big boys are going to decide the winner upfront. It’s going to be quite a fight for the victory. One thing the Eagles definitely want to do is they want to take away the Cowboys running game and make Cooper Rush beat them. They want to force him to throw the ball 40 times. They want to make him carry the Dallas offense. Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon doesn’t want to let Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard be the key weapons for the Cowboys. The Eagles defense wants to take those guys away and make Rush carry the Dallas offense.
I’m confident that the Eagles are going to play their five-man Bear front, which features big rookie Jordan Davis lining up right over the center. They’re going to have Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave over the guards and outside of the tackles they’re going to have Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat. That’s the five man front and that’s very difficult to run against plus. Davis is starting to come into his own, by utilizing his size and athleticism to dominate the opposing center. Eagles inside linebackers T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White will be quick to attack the line of scrimmage and limit any yardage Elliott or Pollard will gain.
The Cowboys will be stubborn about abandoning their running game, but if the Birds defensive front plays the way they are capable, Dallas will likely try to throw the ball against the Eagles “Bear” defensive alignment.
The Birds won’t have a problem with that because they can immediately turn it into a good pass rushing unit, after the ball is snapped. I definitely think the Eagles are going to play that defense quite a bit against the Cowboys because they want to force them to throw the football and then get pressure on Rush. The Birds defense will be trying to force Rush to do something he hasn’t done yet in four games as the Cowboys starting quarterback, throw an interception.
I don’t think the Eagles starting cornerbacks, Darius Slay and James Bradberry, along with nickel back, Avonte Maddox will have much trouble covering the Dallas wide receivers, CeeDee Lamb. Michael Gallup and Noah Brown. If the Birds can limit the Dallas running game, the Cowboys will be in major trouble because I don’t think Rush and their receivers can rescue them.
When the Eagles have the football, there will be another very interesting battle going on. I’m not taking anything away from the Eagles defense in their battle with the Cowboys offensive line because that’s going to be a great battle to observe because the Cowboys the offensive line is legit and they really are at their best when they’re blocking for the run. I mean they go out and they open up holes and they can pound the ball
I know everybody’s going to be watching when Eagles have the ball. They will be going against an amazingly fast, explosive and dominating Cowboys defense led by 2021 NFL Defensive Rookie Of the Year Micah Parsons. If I were Eagles, I would run the ball right at Parsons. I don’t think they should try to run away from him because with his speed he will run plays down. If they run at him, it will slow down his pass rush. I would double team him at times with Dallas Goedert and one of the offensive tackles, Jordan Mailata or Lane Johnson pounding him.
The Eagles need to execute their offense by running the football and then going to play action passes. I think getting pass happy and not continuing to present a run threat for the Dallas defense would be a mistake.
The Eagles should never get away from their running game because it will neutralize the Cowboys pass rush. I don’t want to see the Birds get pass happy. The kryptonite that will disarm the Dallas pass rush is the Eagles running game. The Birds should let Kelce, Johnson, Mailata, Dickerson and Seumalo pound the Cowboys defensive front with a physical running game. I want the Birds to get into a two tight end formation and pound the Dallas defense.
Hurts should run some bootlegs and roll outs to move the pocket outside and keep the Dallas pass rush guessing. Hurts should take what the defense gives him. Throw the short throws on first and second downs, so the Birds will stay out of third and long. The Eagles must make sure there is a run threat every time they snap the football. They must not get one dimensional or they will play right into the Dallas game plan.
I think the Eagles have the better team because they’re able to win with their passing game or win with their running game. The Eagles defense can shut down a passing game or a running game. It’s simple, the Birds are the better football team, so I expect them to come out on top, 20-10.
