EAGLEMANIACAL.com

TO many Eagles fans, this game is the most important one of the season. For some fans, beating Dallas in Philly, is as big as it gets. If we were to ever go 1 – 15, that one win has to be here, against the Cowboys. (Personally, my favorite regular season win of the year, is beating the ‘skins IN Washington.) However, to some fans, the only wins that could trum- (Need another word there.) The only wins that could be bigger than this week, are playoff wins. When it comes to “the star”, for Eagles fans, the hate runneth deep.

The Cowboys are next on the schedule, but they aren’t what’s important to the Eagles this week. That doesn’t mean the Eagles are looking past the Cowboys. In fact, it means that beating them, has our undivided.

Our opponent comes to town, fresh off of a beat-down, which they took in front of a national audience.

Questions are swirling about the future of their leadership on the field, on the sideline, and in their front office. At 3 – 5, they are one more loss away from buying Oakland something really nice, in the 2019 Draft.

Speaking of something really nice, WR Golden Tate will make his Eagles debut this Sunday night. Between his route running and QB Carson Wentz’s accuracy, there could be a catalytic impact on the entire Offense, as soon as the second half of this game.

Lot going on, Eagles fans. Our fans want to beat the Cowboys. Our team wants to catch the Redskins. Our rivals are all becoming the giants.

So let’s talk about the Four Things we need to focus on this week versus the Cowboys :

1) Come out aggressive: This is a opponent whose confidence is on the ropes. An early score puts them in “Here we go again.” mode. We need to take their heads, and their hearts out early. Don’t let them hang around. From the opening whistle, this whole game should be an exercise in closing a game out.

2) Be the Eagles: There is no need to do anything drastic to cope with the Cowboys “Top 10 defense”. Of their three wins, they beat the giants (27^th in scoring), the Lions (20^th in scoring) and the Jaguars (30^th in scoring). New York, Detroit and Jacksonville also rank (respectively) 20^th, 21^st, and 22^nd in yardage. Everyone else has given the Cowboys problems, and thus has also given them losses. We rank 22nd in scoring, but have been trending up since Wentz returned. So we just need to do what we do.

3) Wrap it up: Poor tackling on our part, is the only thing that can give the Cowboys any chance of winning this game. So none of that holding the ball-carrier up and clawing at his arms for the ball. Just drop ‘em like a sack of shit, and move onto the next down.

4) RAC ‘em up!: Run After Catch. Also known as YAC (Yards). The Cowboys LB’s don’t figure much into pass defense, nor do they make a ton of tackles. So spread them out, use short passes off of play-action, throw in some Screens, and Bob’s your uncle. We should be able to control the ball, control the clock, and control the game.

If we do all these things, we’re just about guaranteed to win. Now that we’ve covered what should happen, let’s get into what likely will happen:

Everyone has figured out that to beat the Cowboys you have to take away the run, because their QB can’t beat decent to good teams. In order to scare people out of loading the box, the Cowboys mortgaged their future on trading for a decoy that doubles as a weapon. That ploy has a track record of 0 – 1 so far.

The Eagles are going to take away the run early, and force the Cowboys to substitute short passes for runs. MLB Jordan “Cowboy Killer” Hicks missed both games against them last year, but he’ll be back in the saddle for this one.

The run game will see room inside, when the opposing LB’s try to stem the bleeding from all the quick passes they give up. To this point the Cowboys LB’s are liabilities vs the pass. It’s doubtful that they’ll discover the Fountain of Competence by Sunday. Let me make a correction. All their LB’s except for Sean Lee, are liabilities against the pass. When he’s in, they- He’ll what? Why this time? Again? Jeez! Well there’s the excuse we’ll hear on Monday. If he was a horse, they’d shoot him.

Well at least they can’t say that Zeke was out.

PREDICTION: EAGLES 24 – Cowboys 17