Eagles/Cowboys: A Wild Card NFC East Clash
Philadelphia Eagles (11-5) @ Dallas Cowboys (11-5)
8:00 PM ET, January 09, 2010
Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, TX
TV: NBC
For the third time this season (and second time in consecutive weeks), NFC East bitter rivals Philadelphia and Dallas will mix it up. This time, though, it’s win or go home in a NFC Wild Card clash on Saturday night.
Dallas comes into the contest on a roll, having won three straight games and pitching back-to-back shutouts including a 24-0 beatdown last Sunday of the same Eagles. The Eagles were the hot team in the NFC, winning six straight games until their demolition in Dallas last week. The Cowboys won the earlier game in Philly back in November, 20-16.
SB Nation blog Blogging The Boys has the breakdown on the success of the Cowboys running game in the contest last week, arguing that Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett outsmarted Eagles defensive coordinator Sean McDermott by going against tendencies showed in their previous meeting. The Cowboys ran for 179 yards on Sunday with Marion Barber and Felix Jones both having success.
Both Marion Barber and Felix Jones finished with 91 rushing yards and each contributed an explosive run. Barber gashed the left side of the Eagles' for 32 yards on Dallas' first play from scrimmage. Jones put the outcome beyond doubt with a 49 yard romp up the left sideline late in the 3rd quarter.
A closer look at both runs shows that they resulted from superior self-scouting. Jason Garrett went against the tendencies he showed in round I and left his counterpart Sean McDermott one step behind. The challenge this week is to stay one step ahead, while McDermott hopes he's not fighting the last battle, as he did last week, with such dismal results -- for Eagles fans anyway.
Over at Bleeding Green Nation, they're putting to bed the mini-controversy that smoldered from Donovan McNabb's comments about "showing their youth" in the previous loss. With young receivers DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin having poor games along with RB LeSean McCoy, some interpreted the comments to be a jab at them. Not so.
There was a little mini controversy over Donovan McNabb’s post game comments that admittedly I fell someone victim to myself. The quote everyone saw was “we showed our youth.” People took that to mean he was blaming young players and not taking responsibility for himself. However.. that was incorrect.
[snip]
If the question was whether the Eagles’ young players struggled, the answer is an obvious yes. When actually asked about “who is to blame?”, McNabb said this.
”It all starts with me. I have to raise my level of play, and everyone else has to, as well...
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