Game Review – PHI 37, DAL 9

Dallas had no chance. Everyone was sure of that. Without Tyron Smith, Sean Lee and Ezekiel Elliott, the Cowboys would need to play a flawless game to beat the high-flying Eagles.

I didn’t fully buy that notion. This was a rivalry game and I’ve seen the Eagles on the other side of the equation. I watched Bubby Brister duel Troy Aikman in Dallas in 1993 and the Eagles kept that game close. You just never know how a team is going to respond in a rivalry game.

The Eagles came out red hot and were up 7-3. They made that look easy. Maybe too easy. The rest of the 1st half was a slopfest, by both teams. Dallas was able to go into halftime with a 9-7 lead.

You know Dallas was feeling good at that point. The mighty Eagles didn’t look so mighty. Carson Wentz played less like the 2017 MVP and more like the 2016 rookie. Dallas had even been able to run the ball with some success. What world were we living in?

There was also the matter of Jake Elliott being hurt. What do you do when your kicker is in the concussion protocol? LB Kamu Grugier-Hill did some kicking on the sideline. Things didn’t look good when one of his practice kicks missed the net and went into the stands. Fore!!!!!!!!!

Thank goodness for halftime.

Doug Pederson and his staff had some problems to solve. As they have virtually all season, the coaches made the right adjustments and came up with the right solutions. That meant running the football more. Going for it on 4th downs inside the 40 and 2-point conversions after any touchdowns that might be scored. It also meant Grugier-Hill would get to kickoff, if the Eagles could manage to score.

The Eagles took the opening kickoff and marched down the field for a TD. They added a 2-point conversion and suddenly it was 15-9. That staggered Dallas and the Eagles dominated from there. They outscored the Cowboys 30-0 in the second half. 30-0. Wow.

There was a lot of hype going into the game about Dak Prescott vs Carson Wentz. Put simply, we won’t be having that argument for a while. Prescott played the worst game of his young NFL career. This was a night when his team needed him to be at his best and he was just the opposite.

This doesn’t mean Prescott is a bad QB or that he’s completely overrated or anything like that. Prescott is a good player and there are plenty of teams who would love to have that young man playing for them.

What we did see is that he can struggle outside his comfort zone, which is having a stud LT and dominant running game. Prescott took a beating the week before so Dallas made an effort to have him get rid of the ball quickly. That meant he was going to need to put together long, methodical drives. They struggled to do that and weren’t getting chunk plays (only one more than 20 yards).

Even worse, Prescott made big mistakes. He threw 3 INTs and fumbled once. To be fair, the final pick was a desperation throw and the fumble came on a strip-sack from behind. Those were tough circumstances. The first two picks were bad. Amazingly, they didn’t cost Dallas any points. Still, they hurt field position and just aren’t plays you want your QB making.

Beyond obvious mistakes, Prescott struggled with his accuracy. He overthrew an open receiver along the sideline on a 3rd down play. He put the ball too low at other times. He wasn’t giving his guys chances to make plays to help him out.

COACHING

One of the differences in the game was coaching. The Eagles had an good gameplan that had some specific plays to attack Dallas. Between the gameplan and the Eagles OL, star DL Demarcus Lawrence and David Irving were largely non-factors.

Dallas did some creative things by running from 3-TE sets (Jim Schwartz hates facing 13 personnel), but I didn’t sense anything special from Dallas.

Doug Pederson stuck with his plan of deferring to the 2nd half. I love that. If the Eagles are winning at halftime, getting the ball lets them build the lead. If they are losing, they can come right out and correct some things.

There were some interesting strategic decisions because of the Elliott injury. Pederson went with the aggressive approach, as he has all year. The one thing I didn’t like was him being aggressive late in the half. The Eagles had no kicker and scoring a TD seemed like a long shot. Wentz threw a terrible pass that could have been a pick-six, but was dropped.

The offensive gameplan had some excellent run plays. The issue I had early on is that the Eagles didn’t run enough. Wentz threw 18 passes in the 1st half, with RBs only having 8 carries. That could work, but a lot of the plays were play-action passes. The Eagles did a lot with bootlegs and waggles, but Dallas did an excellent job on those plays. They covered the receivers and pressured Wentz.

In the 2nd half, the coaches stuck with the run and the Eagles OL took over the game. DL David Irving can be incredibly disruptive, but the coaches had a plan for him. They let him attack upfield and take himself out of plays. They used trap and wham blocks on him on some plays.

Jim Schwartz wanted to keep Dak Prescott in the pocket. The Eagles did a pretty good job of that. DEs played with discipline most of the time. There was one great wrinkle on 3rd down. The two DTs rushed as they normally would. The DEs lined up off the ball, standing up. They didn’t rush, but let the play develop and then attacked. This led to pressure from Barnett and an INT. 

Dallas did use 3-TE sets to run the ball effectively a couple of times. They had a 22-yard yard from this look, their longest play of the game. Schwartz said in his PC that the defense could have done a better job with how they handled the edge. Dallas got a numbers advantage.

PLAYERS

Carson Wentz had a mixed day. He finished 14-27-168 with 2 TDs. He made some terrific throws, but also some poor ones. He ran the ball effectively and did make some good pre-snap adjustments.

Wentz started red hot and led the Eagles to a quick TD. Hot turned to cold in a hurry. Wentz made some poor throws and his receivers dropped a couple of passes. It was a collective effort. Wentz was just 7 of 18 in the 1st half. He went 7 of 9 in the 2nd half, and that doesn’t include him going 4 for 4 on 2-point conversions. He played much better and the offense piled up the points. 

Let’s start with good throws. Wentz hit Barner for a key gain on the opening drive. It wasn’t a great throw because Barner had to adjust to the ball, but Wentz kept it away from the S and gave his guy a chance to make a play. The best throw in the game was his TD to Jeffery. AJ was in a tight window and Wentz fired a strike to him. Excellent accuracy and velocity. You also love the fact he trusted his big, tough WR to catch the ball in traffic.

Shot 8 – This throw by Wentz vs Cover 2 Man in the red zone is bananas. On 4th-and-5, he hits Alshon on a rope at the goal line for six. Stuck it between the corner and the safety where only his WR could get it #Eagles pic.twitter.com/IdqKqshSzx

— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) November 20, 2017

The highlight play was when a LB came free off the edge. Wentz eluded him with a quick move, stepped up in the pocket and hit Jeffery with a good throw. You love it when your QB can escape trouble and still make a key play. There was another play where Wentz made a pre-snap adjustment and brought Jeffery into the slot. That matched him against a LB and Wentz wanted that. He hit AJ there for a 1st down.

Not everything was so good. Wentz tried to hit Ertz in heavy traffic late in the 1st Qtr. Ball was luckily batted down. That was not worth the risk. Wentz threw a pass just before the end of the half that a DB dropped. Should have been an easy pick-six. The ball was deflected by a DL and turned into a wobbler. That’s one of those moments when you have to think situationally. If you’ve got a tall DL in your face, take the sack or do something else, but throwing that ball wasn’t wise.. That could have been a disaster.

There was an odd pass to Agholor in the end zone. It sure looked like Wentz should have put the ball up since Agholor was behind the DB, but he threw it low. Agholor made a good effort to get to the ball, but dropped it. Strange play. There was another play where Wentz just underthrew a deep ball to Agholor. Didn’t step into the throw and it was broken up. There were a few plays where he threw the ball flat-footed and that seemed to affect his accuracy.

Wentz was 3-16 as a runner on non-kneel downs. Kept ball on option on 3rd/1. Easy 1st down.

RB

LeGarrette Blount was the workhorse, going 13-57. That wasn’t Doug Pederson’s intention, but it worked out that way. His highlight play was a 30-yard run. Blount had good blocking and got free into the secondary. He just weaved through traffic as long as he could after that. More of the same from him as a runner, never going down on first contact. He broke tackles throughout the game.

Jay Ajayi was the leading rusher with 91 yards on just 7 carries. He had the play of the game, a 71-yard run right up the middle. The only negative on that is that Dallas got him down before he scored. Ajayi caught a screen pass and got 10 yards on that. He had to break an arm-tackle on the play. He ran hard throughout the game and looked good. I think he would have played more if it wasn’t a blowout.

Corey Clement was 6-50-1 in the game. He had a 17-yard run and an 11-yard TD run. Great effort on TD run. Took a big shot right by the goal line, but still managed to get into the end zone. Clement ran hard every time he got his hands on the ball. He scored on a 2-pt conversion. Eagles lined up a bunch set and threw a quick screen to him behind them. He had to get by one tackler for the score.

Kenjon Barner had a great sequence on the opening drive. Made an amazing catch down the left sideline. I still don’t know how he got his second foot in. Crazy. Stayed on the field for 1st/goal. Got the handoff and started left, then cut back to the right and fought his way into the end zone. Great effort for the TD.

Shot 9 – #Eagles are one of the best in the NFL at creating matchups & diagnosing coverage out of 13 personnel. Here's a 2-play sequence on the 1st TD drive. Barner matched up vs a CB 1on1 outside signals zone. Wentz puts throw right in 'Turkey Hole' for big play to set up TD run pic.twitter.com/EdT5hjZx9M

— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) November 20, 2017

WR

Alshon Jeffery is playing his best football of the year and had another big game, 4-67-1. Also had a 2-point conversion. Made a big catch in the 1st Qtr. Got behind LB and in front of DB. Took a big hit, but held onto the ball. Highlight play was his TD. AJ was in the middle of a group of defenders. He had to fully extend for the ball, leaving himself vulnerable to a big hit. No DB hit him and AJ was able to snag the pass as he fell into the end zone. He hasn’t been a volume receiver for the Eagles this year, but has made impact plays.

Torrey Smith caught the first two passes of the game and helped get the drive going. Simple, short catches along the right sideline. Had a bad drop in the mid-2nd. Would have put the Eagles down around the 30. Made up for that with TD catch in the mid-3rd. Had to fight through contact to get open. Finished 3-28-1.

Nelson Agholor had a quiet game, catching one pass for -2 yards. Wentz hit him with a quick throw and the defender was able to get his knee down. Agholor didn’t stop and scored on the play, showing great effort. They reviewed and saw the knee was down, taking away his TD.

Mack Hollins caught one pass for 7 yards.

TE

Zach Ertz was back on the field, but had a quiet game, going 2-8. Dallas put DB Byron Jones on Ertz for virtually the whole game and he did a great job. He was all over Ertz. Jones is a freak athlete (he’s also the guy who chased down Ajayi on the long run). We don’t know if Ertz was at 100 percent yet. He did have some good blocks in the game.

Brent Celek was 1-28 as a receiver. I think he did his best work as a blocker. Sealed the DE to inside on Barner’s TD run. Executed wham blocks on DL. He was a big help to the run game.

Trey Burton had a 2-point conversion, but didn’t catch any passes other than that.

OL

The Big Sexies had a really good showing. Great job by the guys up front. They didn’t allow any sacks. RBs were 27-202 on the ground. Take away the long run and you’re still at 5 yards per carry. That’s impressive.

Lane Johnson was outstanding. He squared off with Demarcus Lawrence for most of the game. Lawrence had 5 tackles, PD and TFL. He didn’t have a sack or get much pressure on Wentz. Johnson kept him under control. No impact plays. Johnson was also very good as a run blocker. Pulled on Tackle Trap and was good vs LB. Good block on Barner’s TD. Went to double DT with Brooks, but BB didn’t need help so Johnson quickly peeled off and got a LB. Barner had lots of cutback room because of that.

Halapoulivaati Vaitai played well again. He got some help on pass plays, but more than held his own. I’m impressed with how he’s developed as a run blocker. Big V can do a bit of everything. There was a play where he caved in a DE. A bit later he pulled and led an outside run. You’ll see him get up to the second level and block LBs. Outstanding job on Clement’s TD run. Got upfield and took out LB. Pulled inside and blocked LB on Ajayi’s long run.

Shot 2 – #Eagles also ran a version of 'Tackle Power'. Ran it to both sides. Watch Jason Kelce on both of these runs as well. Eagles are 2nd in the NFL with 144.6 rushing ypg. pic.twitter.com/0NjxFxL84H

— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) November 20, 2017

Jason Kelce was a force against the LBs all game long. Drove a LB off the ball on early run and helped Ajayi get 6 easy yards. Great block on Clement’s TD run. Sealed the DT and gave Clement serious hole to hit. Pulled and had great block of LB on run by Clement in the late 3rd. Sprung him for 9. Had key block of LB on Ajayi’s long run. Kelce did have a low snap on a pass play.

Stefen Wisniewski had the key block on an early screen that got Ajayi loose for 10 yards. Got LB on Clement’s TD run. Strong seal of DT on Ajayi’s long run. Wiz isn’t dominant at all, but he is both athletic and tough. He can win in space or at the LOS.

Brandon Brooks had another outstanding game. He did a terrific job on Barner’s TD run. DT went hard inside and Brooks just put him on the ground. Guys can’t tackle when they’re eating turf. Pulled to the right and had good block on opening run of the 3rd Q. Paved the way for Clement later in that drive by sticking on a LB and giving him a big lane. On the next play, used a trap block on Irving and Clement ran past that for a TD.

*****

DL

Vinny Curry was in on 4 tackles and had a TFL. Didn’t generate a lot of pressure on pass plays. Was unblocked off the edge and forced Prescott to get rid of the ball quickly. Blew up 3rd Qtr run by shedding the LT and getting the RB for TFL. Moved to DT on final series and was disruptive up the middle.

Fletcher Cox did his usual thing, disrupting the offense on a regular basis. Stat sheet shows 3 tackles and no impact plays, but the film says different. Shed Martin on 2nd/3 and stuffed RB for no gain on opening drive. Fought through block of pulling OL and got RB by the foot on run inside the RZ. Great effort by Cox. Shed the RT and stuffed the RB late in the half. Got pressure on multiple plays, just not always in dramatic ways. Once drove RG back and forced Prescott to throw a quick pass that only gained 1 yard.

Brandon Graham was in on 4 tackles and had a sack. Showed great effort in chasing down Morris after 22-yard gain on 1st Qtr run. Generally played bootlegs well. Stayed outside in. Dallas didn’t block him on run play and he tackled RB for just gain of 1. How do you not block BG?

Tim Jernigan had 3 tackles and a sack. Used a vicious swim move to get by Frederick and stuff run for minimal gain. Got way out of his gap on 3rd Qtr run and opened up big lane for Morris. Dallas ran at him on 3rd/2. TJ took on double team and stood them up. RB was stuffed for no gain. Fought his way past the LG for a sack in the early 4th.

Shot 10 – Not sure how many DT duos in the NFL are better than Fletcher Cox and Tim Jernigan. Huge reason why #Eagles are No. 1 in the NFL against the run (71 ypg) pic.twitter.com/LRyrqLqim3

— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) November 21, 2017

Derek Barnett played his best game of the year. Made his first impact late in the 1st Qtr. Got pressure on Prescott and forced a quick throw that was picked off by McLeod. Got his first sack in the 2nd Qtr on bootleg play. Barnett stayed outside and kept Prescott to inside of him. Really impressive that he made an open-field tackle of Prescott on his own. Dak is very elusive in space. A couple of plays later he came off the edge and hit Prescott as he threw. That pass was picked off by Darby. Came up with strip-sack in the 4th.

Chris Long made the stop on 3rd/2 run as he hustled in from DE. Just missed sack when Barnett got the strip. Both were at QB at almost the same time. Credited with a couple of tackles.

Beau Allen got flattened by down block from LT and Morris got up the field for a good gain on that play. Good vs the run outside of that play. Was in on a couple of tackles.

Destiny Vaeao deflected a pass.

LB

Mychal Kendricks was in on 4 tackles. Blitzed on early play and forced Prescott to throw quicker than he wanted. Still a completion. Blitzed off the edge late in the half and forced overthrow on 3rd down. MK’s highlight might have been his blocking  for Bradham. Nudged a Cowboy from the side and kept him off Bradham. Didn’t want to block him from behind or hold the guy, so MK just ran beside him and made contact to slow him down. Worked. TD.

Nigel Bradham was in on 6 tackles and made one impact play. He scooped up a fumble in the 4th Qtr and ran it back for a TD. There was one odd moment. Morris got loose on a run to the right side. Bradham had a chance to go for the tackle, but instead took on the blocker. Looked like he should have gone for Morris.

Joe Walker played MLB in base sets. Tackled RB for no gain to open second series. Terrible blocking effort by Dallas TE. Walker just isn’t around the ball as much as you want a MLB to be. He will take on blockers, but needs to shed them and get to the ball.

S

There is no stat for talking, but Malcolm Jenkins was the team leader in this game. Let every Cowboy hear something from him after every play. Got in Dak Prescott’s face after pushing him out of bounds on run. Jenkins also played some defense. He had 4 tackles, PD and his first INT of the season. That came late in the game, but was in the end zone. You always love keeping the opponent from scoring, even in a blowout.

Rodney McLeod came up with his 3rd pick of the year. Lined up 15 yards deep and broke on the pass. Darby caused the ball to pop up and McLeod was there to snag the ball. Wasn’t able to return it for a score. Didn’t seem like a big deal because the Eagles were in the RZ, but they ended up missing the FG. Generally good in run support. Attacked downhill aggressively. Missed a tackle of Morris on 22-yard run in the 1st Qtr. Would have held him to less than half that. McLeod just went too high. Can’t do that against a strong, thick runner like Morris. Needed to explode through his legs.

Corey Graham didn’t make any plays.

CB

Welcome back, Ronald Darby. He looked great. If you saw his ankle in the opener, you would never expect that dude to play like Darby did on Sunday night. Bryant caught short pass in the RZ and Darby tackled him instantly, giving up only 2 yards. Spun him to the ground. Might have gotten away with PI on 3rd down. I go back and forth. Darby is almost 10 yards down the field when he contacts Bryant, but both are trying to play the ball. Helped to break up a pass that McLeod picked off. Darby got a good break on the ball and got a hand in to disrupt the catch. Picked off a pass in the 2nd Qtr. Prescott just threw the ball up to avoid a sack and Darby went up and made a nice catch. Led the team with 8 solo tackles.

Patrick Robinson played the slot and was outstanding. Dallas tried to go to Beasley on quick out on 3rd/4. Bread and butter play for them. Easy 1st down. P-Rob ran the route better than Beasley and knocked the ball away. So good. Made a good tackle on Terrance Williams on crossing route. Williams is at his best when running after the catch. Robinson exploded through his legs and put him down hard after a short gain. Covered Bryant on key play late in the half. Dallas was near the RZ and put Bryant in the slot on 3rd down. Eagles went Cover 0 (no S help) and Robinson covered Bryant like a blanket. Pass was way off target.

Jalen Mills got the finger wagging underway early. Broke up 3rd down pass to Bryant to stop the opening drive and limit that to just a FG after the long KOR. Big play. Physical throughout the game. Good vs run. Got a big hit on Bryant in the 2nd Qtr on inverted Cover 2. The S covered short and Mills went deep. Bryant tried to catch the pass along the sideline. Mills flew over and hit him like a ton of bricks. No catch. Dez Bryant caught a quick pass in the mid-2nd and Mills dragged him down by his arm. I thought he might hurt Bryant that was such a tough, awkward tackle. Slammed Williams to the ground to make sure the ball came loose on attempted catch in the 3rd. Love seeing a corner play with that kind of physicality.

Rasul Douglas and Jaylen Watkins made sure no one stole anything from the sideline area.

*****

ST

KOR – Barner returned one KO for 22 yards.

PR – Kenjon Barner fair caught four punts. No returns.

Donnie Jones – Averaged 45.8 yards per punt. Only one was downed inside the 20. Did have one clutch kick. 61-yard punt in 2nd when Eagles were backed up. That flipped the field.

Jake Elliott – Took a hit  while making tackle on opening KO and later was diagnosed with concussion. Missed a FG and left the game for good.

MISC –

Eagles gave up a long KOR to open the game. Looked like Mack Hollins, Joe Walker and Malcolm Jenkins were all at fault. Hollins was out wide and got too far upfield. Walker was inside and went too far in. Jenkins was there to clean up, but stumbled and Switzer got by him. Jenkins and Jake Elliott pursued and made the tackle, where Elliott got hurt.

Kamu Grugier-Hill took over the kicking duties. He warmed up on the sideline. While kicking “into” the net, he missed the net and the ball went into the stands. I think that convinced Pederson to forget about extra points and FGs. KGH did a great job with kickoffs. They had no hang time, but he put the ball into the end zone a couple of times, even coming up with a touchback. Crazy. Don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. Just amazing.

***

GAMEBOOK

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