November 01, 2023
Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports
The Eagles will have a better chance of beating the Cowboys if Jalen Hurts and the Philly offense does not turn the ball over. #Analysis.
The 7-1 Philadelphia Eagles have kind of a big football game this Sunday, when they'll host the 5-2 Dallas Cowboys. Here are our five matchups to watch.
The Eagles have turned the ball over 13 times this season. Only five teams have turned it over more.
Conversely, the Cowboys have created 13 turnovers on defense. Only four teams have created more. The Cowboys have also led the NFL in takeaways in each of the last two seasons, with 33 in 2022 and 34 in 2021.
Dallas has four defensive touchdowns this season, three of which were via Daron Bland. Let's show all four of those defensive TDs, in chronological order:
1) A hat on the ball by Trevon Diggs leads to a gift pick-six for Bland.
DARON BLAND PICK-6!
— NFL (@NFL) September 11, 2023
ANOTHER D/ST TD FOR THE @DallasCowboys!
đș: #DALvsNYG on NBC
đ±: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/DITLbvj034 pic.twitter.com/mOHKVHVIxU
2) Sloppy fundamentals by Mac Jones leads to a strip sack by Dante Fowler, and Leighton Vander Esch takes it to the house.
Leighton Vander Esch picks up the loose ball and scores!
— NFL (@NFL) October 1, 2023
đș: #NEvsDAL on FOXâ°đ±: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/Jq9JHUeqb6 pic.twitter.com/tak5vVAE8f
3) Awful decision by Jones leads to a Bland pick-six.
DaRon Bland intercepted Mac Jones #NFL pic.twitter.com/x8jmVNmj2M
— Sports US today (@Sportsustoday) October 1, 2023
3RD PICK-6 OF THE YEAR FOR DARON BLAND đ„
— NFL (@NFL) October 29, 2023
đș: #LARvsDAL on FOX
đ±: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/Quwvdzpx7G pic.twitter.com/EwrfaHMF8f
When you make mistakes against the Cowboys' defense, they make you pay. Hurts has to be on point, and the Eagles' skill position players must secure the football at all times.Â
The Eagles lost to the Jets because they turned it over four times. This past Sunday, the Commanders were only in the game because the Eagles lost fumbles inside their five yard line... twice. This would probably be a good week for Nick Sirianni and the offensive staff to stress the fundamentals.
In each of the two Eagles-Cowboys matchups last season Lane Johnson got hurt. In Week 6, he suffered a concussion and the Eagles offense went ultra conservative thereafter. They hung on for the win, but the offense did not look the same. In Week 16 in Dallas, Johnson suffered the adductor injury that kept him out for a bit down the stretch. The Eagles scored 27 points in 7 drives with Johnson, 0 points in 3 drives after he left the game. This is well-covered territory, but uh, Johnson is kind of important to the Eagles. #Analysis.
He is especially important against Dallas, who employ one of the best defenders in the NFL in Micah Parsons. The Cowboys move Parsons around quite a bit, so it's not necessarily a pure mano-e-mano matchup between him and Johnson, but he lines up most often opposite the RT and when he has gone up against Johnson in pass rush opportunities, he has mostly been erased.
The Eagles have had creative gameplans for Parsons under Nick Sirianni. For example, in Week 6 last season, the Eagles often simply left Parsons unblocked, "read" him, and allowed him to pick his own poison. For example:
Jalen Hurts to AJ Brown!@Eagles open up a 14-0 lead.
— NFL (@NFL) October 17, 2022
đș: #DALvsPHI on NBC
đ±: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/exBLpd1qy0 pic.twitter.com/vfItFNxglH
They kept Parsons thinking instead of attacking, and it worked beautifully. It will be interesting to see what the Eagles' staff has up their sleeves to try to negate Parsons in this matchup.
The Eagles have faced their fair share of great wide receivers this season, like Justin Jefferson, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Terry McLaurin x2, Cooper Kupp, Tyreek Hill, and Jaylen Waddle. If you want to throw guys like Jordan Addison, Puka Nacua, and Garrett Wilson in there as well, I wouldn't object.
CeeDee Lamb is just the next one in line, and he is by far the Cowboys' most productive wide receiver.
| Cowboys WRs | Rec | Yards | YPC | TD |
| CeeDee Lamb | 46 | 633 | 13.8 | 3 |
| Michael Gallup | 20 | 224 | 11.2 | 0 |
| Brandin Cooks | 16 | 158 | 9.9 | 2 |
| Jalen Tolbert | 7 | 71 | 10.1 | 0 |
| KaVontae Turpin | 6 | 64 | 10.7 | 1 |
Or you could look at the Cowboys' receivers like this:
| Cowboys WRs | Rec | Yards | YPC | TD |
| CeeDee Lamb | 46 | 633 | 13.8 | 3 |
| Everyone else | 49 | 517 | 10.6 | 3 |
The Eagles have probably had five games this season in which they have prepared for an offense that had one star at wide receiver, and then not much of a supporting cast otherwise:
âą Week 2, Vikings: In hindsight, we now know that Addison is really good, but at the time the perception was that it was Jefferson and then a huge drop to the next guy.
âą Week 4, Commanders: It's McLaurin, and then a lot of mediocrity.
âą Week 6, Jets: Wilson was by far the Jets' best receiver.
âą Week 8, Commanders: McLaurin again.
The Eagles also keyed in on Hill once Waddle was injured during the Eagles' win over the Dolphins.
In other words, the Eagles have a lot of experience this season game planning for offenses with a receiver who gobbles up the majority of the targets. Mixed results there.
Lamb is a player without holes in his game.
"He's big, he's physical, he's fast," Sean Desai told reporters on Tuesday. "He's got a big catch radius. He can win underneath. He can win after the catch on short throws in the quick game, and he can make you miss in space and go up and catch a contested ball. He's a really good all-around receiver."
The Cowboys' offensive line looks like so:
| LTÂ | LGÂ | CÂ | RGÂ | RTÂ |
| Tyron Smith | Tyler Smith | Tyler Biadasz | Zack Martin | Terence Steele |
I am stunned that this starting five is likely good to go, intact for a game in November, given the injury histories of these players.
On the interior, the Cowboys have a really good set of guards in Tyler Smith and Zack Martin. They are by far the best guards that the Eagles' interior defensive line will have faced all season, to date. Tyler Biadasz is just a guy at center, and can be pushed around a bit, but again, he's playing in between two very good players.
It's the tackles where the Cowboys could perhaps be vulnerable. Let's cover them both individually:
âą RT Terence Steele: Steele suffered a major injury last December, when he tore his ACL, MCL, and MPFL. Amazingly, he recovered enough in time to play Week 1 this season. Still, I'm not a doctor, but if you tear three ligaments in your knee, you're going to have stability issues, and your lateral movement is going to be compromised. Steele notably had a brutal game against the 49ers Week 5, and Haason Reddick should be a tough matchup for him.
⹠LT Tyron Smith: Through his first five seasons, Smith only missed one game. Over his last seven full seasons, Smith has missed 45 games. He missed 13 games in 2022, six games in 2021, 14 games in 2020, and three games every season from 2016-2019. We won't list his entire injury history here, but the Cliff's Notes version is that he has had issues with his back, neck, elbow, knee, groin, ankle, and God only knows what else never got reported.
Smith was held out of the Cowboys' Week 8 against the Rams last week at the last minute, as he was still experiencing pain from a stinger. He is expected to play this Sunday against the Eagles. Filling in for Smith last week at LT was Chuma Edoga, who left that game on a cart with an ankle injury, although he likely escaped with minimal damage. Edoga was replaced by fifth-round rookie Asim Richards. Smith is probably at the point in his career where he is at a matchup disadvantage against an edge rusher like Josh Sweat.
#FeastinMeter: 4/10 turkey legs đđđđ
Surprise! The Eagles are ranked 3rd in the NFL in special teams DVOA. In fact, they've been so remarkably improved this season, we wrote about them last Friday. So go check that out. Done? Cool, right?
Well, the Cowboys' special teams units are good every year.
| Year | DVOA |
| 2023 (so far) | 6th |
| 2022 | 10th |
| 2021 | 6th |
| 2020 | 7th |
KaVontae Turpin is arguably the best returner in the NFL. If you'll recall during the Eagles' Week 6 matchup with Dallas last season, the Eagles had completely dominated the Cowboys for the first 28 minutes, when Turpin sparked Dallas with a 63-yard kick return. That led to a field goal just before the end of the first half, and gave the Cowboys at least something to feel OK about heading into the third quarter.
The Cowboys have also gotten perfection from their kicker so far this season on field goal attempts. I bet you can't even name who their kicker is. I'll just tell you. It's Brandon Aubrey. He's 18 for 18 on field goal attempts, though he did miss a PAT (he's 17 of 18).
They also make plays on their kick/punt block units. Here's they are blocking a kick Week 1 against the Giants and housing it:
COWBOYS BLOCKED FG TOUCHDOWN
— NFL (@NFL) September 11, 2023
đș: #DALvsNYG on NBC
đ±: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/DITLbvj034 pic.twitter.com/PRfVox0ykN
And here they are blocking a punt for a safety:
Cowboys block the punt for a safety!
— NFL (@NFL) October 29, 2023
đș: #LARvsDAL on FOX
đ±: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/Quwvdzpx7G pic.twitter.com/9PaFbrUBeH
"Bonesy [John Fassel] has done a great job his entire career from when he was with the Raiders and to when he's with the Rams," Michael Clay said. "Now in Dallas, they help their offense and defense out with a short field with their returner in Turpin. They do a great job on their punt rushes with Dorance Armstrong and Sam Williams out there.
"[Cowboys punter] Bryan Anger has been doing this for a long time. I remember watching Bryan Anger at Cal and playing against him. He does a great job flipping the field.
"So, for Dallas to come in here, they have done a great job in all four phases. On special teams, we have our work cut out."
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