Posted November 8th, 2024 | 5 Comments »The Cowboys are a mess right now. They have lost three games in a row. They have two wins since Week 1, a 5-point win over the Giants and a win where they needed last second points to pull off a comeback win over the Steelers. Only the Giants and Panthers have a worse point differential in the NFC.
Dallas is 25th in offensive DVOA and 29th in defensive DVOA. Not ideal. They are 31st in points allowed and the takeaways that helped them so much the past couple of years have disappeared this season. The Cowboys are 31st in red zone offense. They are dead last in red zone defense.
And now Dak Prescott is on injured reserve. CeeDee Lamb is banged up. The OL is up and down. Multiple pass rushers are on IR. Brandin Cooks is on IR and the WRs aren’t exactly having a great year. The long run by a RB is 15 yards. Dallas is 31st in running the ball and 30th in stopping the run. Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?
It is easy to assume the Eagles will wipe the field with the Cowboys. I guess that is what makes me nervous.
Cooper Rush will take over at QB. He’s clearly not as good as Dak Prescott, but what if he gives Dallas a spark? We’ve seen a lesser QB have this kind of an effect. The other players have to raise their game because they know the star QB is out. Micah Parsons is back. He can be a game-changer on defense. He’s only got one sack this season, but averages 13 sacks and 2 FF per season for his career. He can make one or two plays that change a game.
The Cowboys still have KaVontae Turpin and he can be a game-changer on special teams. Brandon Aubrey is the best kicker in the league. Dallas is #2 in the NFL in ST DVOA. They aren’t afraid to try fakes and they can block kicks.
The biggest thing for me is wondering how the team reacts to all the negativity. Will they fall apart? Will they start to play with a sense of desperation? The team has fallen to 3-5. In a way, the pressure is off them. They are now a longshot to make the playoffs. That might free them to play more relaxed.
Dallas thought they would win last week, get back to .500 and be ready to go on a run. Instead they lost. Atlanta led almost the entire game and thoroughly out-played the Cowboys. That could serve as a wake-up call or it could send them spiraling off into oblivion, like Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter at the end of Star Wars.
It will be interesting to see how the Eagles and Cowboys play on Sunday. The Eagles are the hot team looking to stay focused. Dallas is the desperate team that needs a win to help save their season. Heck, they just want something to feel good about. The last month has been miserable with the combination of bad losses and bad injuries.
Speaking of that…
The Eagles are a healthy team. Dallas Goedert returns from injury. AJ Brown and DeVonta are good to go.
Dallas has several key players on IR and others who are banged up. CeeDee Lamb isn’t on the injury report, but he was in a lot of pain last week.
Not ideal. Cooper Rush needs his biggest weapon if they have a shot to pull off the upset.
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Posted November 7th, 2024 | 2 Comments »Domination, but not domination. That was Sunday’s win over the Jaguars. The Eagles out-gained them 447 to 215. The Eagles held a 22-0 lead at one point. The Eagles got amazing highlight plays from multiple players. But they only won by five points.
Weird game.
The Eagles led 16-0 at the half. They extended it to 22-0 in the third quarter. The Jags finally got going on offense and made it 22-8. Then Saquon Barkley ran up the middle and fumbled. Most of the world thought he was down by contact, but the officials had a bizarre explanation that since Barkley hit an OL after the initial contact the play was a stumble and not a tackle. Ugh. The Jags returned the fumble for a TD and the game was suddenly 22-16. From blowout to barnburner.
Eagles possessions from that point on:
- Turnover on downs in FG territory
- Touchdown
- Missed FG
They still had chances to blow the game open, but just couldn’t put the Jags away. Jacksonville got the ball back with 2:11 left and drove down to the PHI 13. Trevor Lawrence threw into the end zone, but Nakobe Dean made the biggest play of his young career and picked off the pass. Finally, game over.
It was frustrating that the Eagles couldn’t create more separation, but playing in a tight game will probably serve them well in the long run. It sure didn’t do much for my nerves.
COACHING
The critics are out and they’re not happy with Nick Sirianni. The key decisions in question:
- He went for it on 4th & 3 from the JAX 22. The Eagles didn’t get it.
- He went for 2 after the Eagles had gone up 16-0. There was a penalty that moved the ball to the 1-yd line and that is practically an automatic decision for Sirianni. The Eagles didn’t get the conversion.
- He went for 2 after the Eagles were up 22-0. The Eagles didn’t get the conversion.
- He went for it on 4th & inches from the JAX 25. The Eagles didn’t get it.
A conservative approach would have likely given the Eagles 8 more points (2 FGs, 2 PATs). I wrote a piece explaining why Sirianni being aggressive is a good thing. That said, there were two things I disagreed with. I think Sirianni should have kicked the PAT to go up 17-0. That is a three possession lead. Think in terms of possessions, not just points. I hated the play on 4th & inches. The Eagles went play-action. They had been stuffed on the Brotherly Shove twice so the coaches went for a different idea. The Shove got inches both times, just not full yards. They should have run that. Going for it wasn’t the problem, just the play-call.
Sirianni did challenge a play and got it overturned.
Kellen Moore called a good game. The run game worked well and was once again creative. The QB runs were really nice. The highlight call was the draw to Barkley on 3rd & 17. That went for a TD. The Eagles didn’t even have to block all that well. The Jags defense wasn’t aligned well for the play and Barkley’s speed got him to the end zone with ease. It was good to see the Eagles finally get first quarter points, even if they needed a muffed punt to do it.
Vic Fangio had his guys ready to play and they limited the Jags to 31 yards in the first half. Jacksonville played better in the second half as they made the game competitive. Fangio was aggressive on the final drive, sending extra rushers on multiple plays.
OFFENSE
Jalen Hurts played well. He was 18-24-230 with 2 TDs. He also went 13-67-1 on the ground. Hurts threw a good ball to Barkley for his TD. He made a sensational pass to DeVonta for his TD. Great touch. I thought he was throwing the ball away, but he put it in a spot where only Smith could get it. Hurts also made a good throw to Smith for a gain of 46 to set up that TD. Another game with no turnovers.
Saquon Barkley was the star of the show. He was 27-159-1 on the ground and 3-40-1 in the air. Barkley had runs of 19 and 21 yards. He came close to breaking off a 90-yard TD run, but a DB got him by the foot as he was about to break free. The highlight play was something people will talk about for years.
Mind blowing.
The Eagles got good production from Miles Sanders and D’Andre Swift, but Barkley is simply on another level. Truly a special dude.
AJ Brown left the game with a minor knee injury. He was 2-36 before leaving. DeVonta Smith stepped up in his absence and went 4-87-1. His TD grab was a thing of beauty. I wasn’t sure he caught it at first. Smith did a great job of getting his feet in and controlling the ball.
It is hard to believe that play wasn’t the highlight of the game. Tells you how freakish Barkley was.
Jahan Dotson finally made a big play. He hauled in a 36-yard gain with a tough, leaping grab. That might have been the play of the game in other weeks. Not on Sunday. Rookie Ainias Smith ran the ball once for 2 yards. He caught one pass, but didn’t gain a yard on the play. Johnny Wilson had a TD taken away when he was called for OPI.
Grant Calcaterra went 5-30. His blocking still is an issue. Jack Stoll blocked well on multiple run plays. He had good pass pro on the 46-yd pass to Smith.
The OL had a good game, especially on run plays.
The one player I thought was up and down was Cam Jurgens. He missed some blocks that he shouldn’t have and didn’t sustain well. He also had an early snap that caught Hurts off-guard.
Fred Johnson had a good game, in pass pro and the run game. Lane Johnson was pretty good too.
This OL + Barkley = trouble for defenses.
DEFENSE
Josh Sweat played well, with 2 sacks, 3 QB hits and a PD. He just missed a third sack. Nolan Smith didn’t get much pressure, but hustled and pursued well. He finished with one tackle. Brandon Graham had a batted pass. He got good pressure on the final drive, just missing a sack on the opening play and then getting pressure on Dean’s INT. Bryce Huff barely played. He reportedly had a wrist issue that limited his usage.
Jalen Carter had a monster game. The stat sheet only shows 4 tackles. That doesn’t come close to telling the whole story. He got regular pressure and gave the Jags OL fits, even when doubled. Carter was a disruptive force.
The rest of the DL played well. Jordan Davis had a couple of tackles and helped to limit the run. Milton Williams and Moro Ojomo didn’t make the stat sheet, but each had good moments. Ojomo is getting mixed into the nickel packages on a regular basis.
If not for the offensive fireworks, this would be the Zack Baun game. He had 10 tackles, TFL, INT, and a PD. He also had a big hit on Trevor Lawrence when the QB scrambled up the middle. Great showing by the new ILB. Nakobe Dean only had 2 tackles, but broke up one pass and had the game-clinching INT. Watching Eagles ILBs pick off passes is…fun.
CJGJ is having a disappointing season. He hasn’t made many plays and he’s struggled when put in man coverage. He had 4 tackles in the game. He got burned on a 2-pt conversion. He gave up a 22-yard reception to a practice squad receiver on the final drive of the game. Reed Blankenship had 5 tackles and played the run well.
Another good showing from Cooper DeJean. He had 3 tackles and broke up 2 passes, one of them coming on a fourth down. Quinyon Mitchell had a good game. Isaiah Rodgers started in place of Slay and had some good moments. He had 4 tackles and a PD. He did give up a 15-yd completion on 3rd & 13. Avonte Maddox played one snap and got called for PI.
The back seven is doing a really job of working together in coverage.
ST
Jake Elliott missed a 57-yard FG. He is now 0 for 3 from 50+ this season. That’s concerning.
Sydney Brown made the STs play of the game, forcing a fumble on a punt return. That led to the first TD of the game.
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