December 22, 2019
The Eagles are 30 minutes away from a monster win over the Dallas Cowboys, leading 10-6 at the half in a tightly-contested division battle.
Here's what I saw in the first half on Sunday.
• J.J. Arcega-Whiteside looked like a completely different man on Philadelphia's first drive of the game, finally showing some chemistry with Carson Wentz at the tail end of a miserable rookie season. They set the tone on the very first play from scrimmage, with Wentz throwing a dart over the middle for a big completion.
But the bigger play, in my mind, came on his third-down catch later in the drive, when Arcega-Whiteside used some excellent route running to create a window of separation and keep Philadelphia moving toward field goal range. It's the sort of play everyone expected him to make when they drafted him to begin with, and with a little bit more responsibility, Arcega-Whiteside's tool kit is finally starting to flash.
• Leading into this game, a lot of the discussion was about how Carson Wentz would play in what most consider the biggest game of his career. He answered that question with two emphatic drives to start the game, aided by aggressive playcalling from Doug Pederson and Co. on the sidelines.
Instead of trying to neuter Wentz because of the supporting cast around him, they put the ball in his hands and gave him the opportunity to win the game himself. He responded by delivering strikes all over the field, hitting receivers in stride and through tight windows to put Dallas on their heels from the jump.
Outside of a high throw to Zach Ertz that got him leveled in the red zone, Wentz was right on the money early, and he capped off the excellent start with a touchdown throw to, fittingly, Dallas Goedert, after drawing a bit of attention away with a quick pump fake.
Eagles outgaining Cowboys 125-14 yards after first 2 drives
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) December 22, 2019
Carson Wentz is 9-11, 107 yards
🎥 @Eagles
pic.twitter.com/Jj22P9apFE
A lot of football left, but a solid start.
• Let's give some additional credit where it is due — Philadelphia's skill position guys were stellar in the opening 30 minutes, a major change of pace from the rest of the season. They didn't make any wow plays, there weren't any huge throws for touchdowns over the top, but they dominated Dallas in the short and intermediate areas. Greg Ward continues to make it look like he should have been on the active roster a long time before they called him up from the practice squad, making tough catches in traffic and picking up precious extra yards in space.
But it was Dallas Goedert, who has not taken the leap forward many expected this season, that was probably the biggest story of the first half at the skill positions. Goedert was excellent, which was especially necessary for Philly with Ertz nursing a rib issue for most of the half. Wentz found him over and over again over the middle and in the screen game, and given the pain Ertz looks to be in, they need him to repeat that effort in the second half for the Eagles to win this one.
• It took until Week 16 and the biggest game of the season for both sides of the ball to come together, but man, did they ever come out ready to go against Dallas. The defense was aided by Dallas playing conservative early, but even before the gameplan crystalized for the Cowboys, the defense stepped up to the challenge in the trenches and made it hard for Ezekiel Elliott to get rolling on the ground.
Nigel Bradham popped up everywhere in the first half, plugging holes in the line to stop Elliott from breaking through to the second level, and hauling Cowboys players down on the rare chance they found the open field. Minimizing Dallas' gains on early downs went a long way toward neutering their third-down offense, an area where they've led the league this year.
And, it's worth noting, when the offense gave the Cowboys a chance to get something going after some baffling Pederson playcalling, the defense responded by shutting them down. That was some good two-way football.
• When all else fails, the Eagles can feel confident putting the ball in Miles Sanders' hands. His versatility was on display in the first half, with Sanders making guys miss as a runner and as a receiver.
It has been written in this space over and over again over the last month, but the difference between Sanders now and Sanders at the beginning of the season is night and day.
• Didn't love Doug Pederson kicking the field goal on their first drive of the game on fourth-and-manageable. What happened to Big Balls Doug? I understand taking the early lead and running with it, though.
While we're on the subject of Pederson decisions, didn't love the predictable third-and-one run up the middle Dallas blew up to seize some of the momentum back. You don't want to get too predictable with QB sneaks, and Dallas gets some credit for blowing up the line, but that was a dark mark on what was otherwise some good playcalling.
The real capper was their insane playcalling midway through the second quarter, when they dialed up an empty backfield throw and a shotgun throw on third-and-one and fourth-and-one respectively, dialing the latter play up after having to take a timeout to think about it in Dallas territory. I'm generally in favor of playing pass-happy football (or at least balanced football), but that felt like an unforced and bad error on the playcalling side.
Ertz's injury didn't help on this front, but Pederson couldn't seem to find a good playcalling rhythm after a strong start. Too many predictable screen passes and very little versatility. They need to come out with much better stuff in half two.
• Ronald Darby is not going to get many Christmas gifts from Philadelphia fans, let's say that. The Eagles leave him on an island a heck of a lot for a guy who always seems to get torched when they do so.
• Huge missed sack opportunity for Derek Barnett in the early stages of the second quarter. He had a chance to haul down Dak Prescott and potentially force the Cowboys into a punt, and the yards Prescott picked up on the ground after Barnett's miss allowed them to kick a field goal and pick up a valuable three points. We'll see if those come back to haunt Philly.
• Big shout out to the Cowboys for playing Jason Witten, who is old and worse than their other option at tight end.
• Despite the lead, the whole half felt like sort of a missed opportunity for Philly, who could (and probably should) have gone into the tunnel with a bigger lead. Poor playcalling, some missed execution, and costly penalties from Jason Peters allowed the Cowboys to hang around, and they get the ball back at halftime.
We’ll see if the avoidable mistakes cost them, but I would bet you very few people wearing green at the Linc feel great right now.
• If you had, "Jason Peters takes a brutal false start penalty on the first drive" on your Bingo card, you can go ahead and mark that off with a big red X. What a mood killer that was after the Eagles came out with a big throw on the first play from scrimmage. He has taken some absolutely outrageous penalties this season.
• The officials had to stop an Eagles punt because they weren't ready to officiate yet. That seems like a you problem, dawg. Perhaps they should "be ready" to call a false start on La'el Collins, who got away with several early jumps by my count in just two quarters.
• Zach and Ronald had to head back to the locker room during the first half, so we'll see how serious both of those injuries are.
The Ertz issue looms a lot larger for Philadelphia, as his mere presence on the field alters how the Cowboys defend the Eagles. He made it back out on the field at the end of the first half, and we'll see if he's able to persevere through the pain.
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