Game Preview – PHI at DAL

Another tough opponent. Another road game. Can the Eagles pass this test?

Let’s start by talking about who will play and who won’t. It sure sounds like Andre Dillard will be making his first NFL start. That is going to be challenging because RDE Robert Quinn leads Dallas with 5 sacks this year. Doug Pederson said the Eagles would have a plan for helping Dillard out. That obviously won’t be all the time. They’ll mix in help as they see how he handles the situation.

DeSean Jackson will miss another week. The Eagles have to be creative in coming up with some chunk plays in his absence. Deep throws to Nelson Agholor have not worked well recently, but you can’t give up on that. You must take chances and stretch the defense. I’m sure there will be some plays designed for Miles Sanders as well. He’s delivered big plays the last few weeks.

Nigel Bradham is out. That is going to put pressure on Nate Gerry, Kamu Grugier-Hill and T.J. Edwards. This is a young group of LBs. They run well and have some coverage ability. Can they stop the run? These guys have to shoot gaps and they absolutely must tackle well. I’m excited to see Edwards play.

Jalen Mills will make his return to the field for the first time since October of 2018. Let’s not pretend he’s a shutdown CB, but Mills has been a solid player for the Eagles. Dallas will attack him with double moves. Mills has to be careful. You know he’s dying to make a play. He can’t be reckless. The coaches will probably rotate Mills in. I don’t know that he’s ready for 60 or so snaps.

There is talk of Ronald Darby playing. We’ll have to wait and see on that.

The good news is that Dallas also has some banged up players.

Source: Tyron Smith, La’el Collins, Byron Jones, Amari Cooper, and Randall Cobb will all try and practice today in the hopes of being ready vs. the Eagles.
Anthony Brown will not practice. Jourdan Lewis will start as the nickel corner.

— Brianna Dix (@DixBrianna) October 18, 2019

Will all of these guys be back? Will they be 100 percent?

We don’t know who’s going to play. The Eagles have to be prepared to deal with the starters. You don’t want to build gameplans around backups and then panic when Cooper is out there.

This is a big game for both teams. Dallas has lost three straight games and there is a lot of pressure on them to stop the slide. Their 3-0 start against the worst teams in the league seems forever ago. When facing tough teams, Dallas has struggled.

That doesn’t mean they will roll over against the Eagles. They know how important this game is. They will be fired up and will likely have some wrinkles in their gameplan. The Eagles must be ready for that.

The Eagles DL is the key to the game. They need to play well against the run, which is the foundation of the Dallas offense. That means getting penetration and disrupting Zeke Elliott in the backfield. The DL needs to eat up blockers when they can, to help the LBs make plays.

The DL must get pressure on Dak. That means attacking up the field, but also staying under control. If you get behind him, he’ll take off and run. Derek Barnett must play smart. He can’t chase run plays away from him. He needs to play the bootleg and then chase. Fletcher Cox has been getting better each week. This would be a great time for him to have a breakout game.

The Eagles secondary is going to be challenged by Michael Gallup, Randall Cobb and Cooper. They have to cover the initial routes and they must be prepared to stick with them when Dak scrambles.

I’ll be interested to see if Jim Schwartz blitzes. His theory is to send extra rushers against a mobile QB. That puts pressure on the CBs. Can they hold up?

This game is an opportunity. The Eagles won two in a row before last week’s tough loss. The Eagles have the talent to win. They need to run the ball well, come up with some chunk plays in the passing game and convert in the Red Zone. The defense must tackle well and keep Zeke under control. They need to limit Dak’s big plays.

Go win this and last week becomes a distant memory. Lose, and the pressure will go through the roof.

Huge opportunity.

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