Thoughts from last week's game:
-Eagles defense is really feeling the effects of three off-season events: The death of Jim Johnson, Dawkins leaving in free agency, and Stewart Bradley going out for the season. Their run defense is soft as Dallas lineman are tying up the smaller Philly lineman and linebackers, and the Philly safeties don't support the run defense the way Dawkins did. The Philly linebackers or safeties are not covering Witten adequately, and haven't been able to cover TE's all year. Finally the lack of blitzes in the first half gave Romo plenty of time to be comfortable and accurate with his throws. On offense, once again, Andy Reid abandoned any attempts to try to run the ball with Westbrook, McCoy, or Weaver. This made the Eagles offense one dimensional which the Cowboys were able to handle thanks to good coverage, and a few misses by McNabb. The Eagles line actually gave McNabb enough time to throw most of the game, the Eagles just weren't able to take advantage.
Thoughts on this weeks game:
-The Eagles are going to need to get off to a better start both offensively and defensively. On offense they are going to probably need one, if not two, big TD plays from Jackson and/or Maclin, because the Dallas defense is not going to give up many long drives. On defense, they are going to have to be risky and blitz a lot more. This could help stop the pass and the run, but could give up more big plays. The Eagles have to risk it because right now if they sit back, Dallas will pick them apart the way they did last week.
Thoughts on the Coaches:
-I think both coaches should be shot for playing their starting QB's in the last 5 minutes of a 24-0 game. Reid could say he was trying to find some rhythm, but what good is rhythm when you are playing against a prevent defense. As for Phillips playing Romo, when he already had a sore back, what was the point? You may be able to justify it if all he was doing was handing off the ball, but the Cowboys were still throwing the ball. If Romo had gotten hurt, and it ultimately cost the Cowboys this weeks game, Phillips would have definitely been run out of town.
-While I think overall the Cowboys have more talent this year, they have also outcoached the Eagles in both games this year.
Prediction for this week:
-While it would not surprise me to see the Eagles win this week, I do think the Cowboys match up very well with the Eagles and will win 24-14.
-Interesting stats going into the game: Andy Reid 7-0 in Opening playoff games, Wade Phillips 0-4 record in playoff games, Donovan McNabb 9-6 in the playoffs, Tony Romo 0-2 in the playoffs. What that says to me is Reid knows what buttons to push to get his team ready in the playoffs and Wade Phillips has not figured that out yet. Despite that, I stick with my above prediction based on the matchups of the two teams.