September 20, 2015
Matt Rourke/AP
The Eagles need to get better pressure on Tony Romo than they did a week ago against Matt Ryan.
Eagles-Cowboys is finally here, as the Eagles will hope to rid themselves of the stink they produced against the Falcons a week ago in Atlanta. Here are five matchups to watch:
It will be interesting to see how the Eagles deploy their nickel defense this week. In Atlanta last week, Malcolm Jenkins played slot corner, and Chris Maragos took his spot at safety. The Cowboys' slot receiver is Cole Beasley, who will be a bigger focal point of the Cowboys' passing game with Dez Bryant out. It would stand to reason that the Eagles could once again use their best slot corner (Jenkins) to cover Beasley in the slot.
No matter who plays the slot for the Eagles, they need to be aware of Beasley's fumbling history. Beasley has 95 career catches and four career fumbles. That would be one fumble every 23.75 times he has made a reception.
Many a Cowboys fans bemoaned what they perceived to be fumbling issues by DeMarco Murray, who fumbled six times on 497 touches last season, or once every 82.8 touches. However, Murray's replacement, Joseph Randle, has three fumbles on 136 touches (once every 45.3 touches). The Giants popped once on Randle last week as well, although the Cowboys were able to recover it.
In 2014, no team had more takeaways via fumble recoveries than the Eagles, who had 16 of them.
The Eagles have the talent to get to the quarterback. Connor Barwin had 14.5 sacks a year ago, Vinny Curry had nine in limited snaps, Brandon Graham has always created pressure when he has gotten opportunities, Fletcher Cox is a disruptive beast, Mychal Kendricks is a very good blitzer from his ILB spot, etc., etc., etc.
However, that didn't show up on the field last week against Atlanta, when the Falcons' max-protect style of offense stifled the Eagles pass rush. They need to do a better job putting pressure on Tony Romo this week than they did on Matt Ryan, or Romo is going to pick them apart.
The Dallas OL is often misunderstood. While they are absolutely a very good run blocking unit, as a pass protection group, they are far from elite. Including the playoffs last year, the Cowboys gave up 40 sacks. In 2014, the Cowboys gave up a sack on 7.07% of their pass plays. That was good for 21st in the NFL:
| Rank | Team | QB sacked percentage |
| 1 | Broncos | 2.83% |
| 2 | Ravens | 3.08% |
| 3 | Colts | 3.70% |
| 4 | Patriots | 4.01% |
| 5 | Raiders | 4.26% |
| 6 | Saints | 4.35% |
| 7 | Bengals | 4.60% |
| 8 | Falcons | 4.68% |
| 9 | Giants | 4.71% |
| 10 | Eagles | 4.89% |
| 11 | Texans | 5.09% |
| 12 | Cardinals | 5.10% |
| 13 | Packers | 5.17% |
| 14 | Steelers | 5.44% |
| 15 | Browns | 5.81% |
| 16 | Chargers | 6.06% |
| 17 | Bears | 6.31% |
| 18 | Bills | 6.31% |
| 19 | Lions | 6.92% |
| 20 | Panthers | 6.98% |
| 21 | Cowboys | 7.07% |
| 22 | Dolphins | 7.18% |
| 23 | Rams | 8.36% |
| 24 | Jets | 8.62% |
| 25 | Seahawks | 8.83% |
| 26 | Titans | 8.88% |
| 27 | Buccaneers | 8.92% |
| 28 | Vikings | 8.98% |
| 29 | Chiefs | 9.04% |
| 30 | Redskins | 9.59% |
| 31 | 49ers | 9.65% |
| 32 | Jaguars | 11.31% |
Here's a sampling of some instances in which the Eagles were able to exploit Dallas last season:
Cowboys OL, Part IV: Ronald Leary Smoked by Fletcher Cox. pic.twitter.com/KNTiY9JZul
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) July 16, 2015
Cowboys OL, Part V: Carbon copy of Leary getting smoked by Cox. pic.twitter.com/Sr7DBhDJuy
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) July 16, 2015
Cowboys OL, Part VI: Ronald Leary bullied by Brandon Graham. pic.twitter.com/Zz9OJMferO
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) July 16, 2015
As you can see, the Eagles picked on LG Ronald Leary quite a bit last year, which is unfortunate, seeing as he is listed as "doubtful" on the Cowboys' injury report for Sunday. La'el Collins is a bigger name, but Mackenzy Bernadeau is probably the better bet to start at LG.
Last week, the Eagles faced a Dan Quinn-led defense, which Quinn imported to Atlanta from Seattle, where he was formerly the Seahawks' defensive coordinator. One of the major principles of that defense is to keep everything in front of you. The Falcons were able to do that, as Sam Bradford and the Eagles did not take any shots deep down the field despite the Falcons committing eight defenders in the box for almost the entirety of the game.
The Cowboys also run a defensive scheme very similar to the Seahawks. A week ago, it took the Eagles two quarters to figure it out. The optimist will say that they now know how to attack it. The pessimist with wonder if the Eagles will again eschew the run game in favor of trying to hit short to intermediate throws all afternoon.
While the Cowboys' rushing attack didn't get going against a bad Giants' run D last week, it made up for it to some degree by contributing in the passing game:
| Player | Rec | Yards | YPC | TD |
| Lance Dunbar | 8 | 70 | 8.8 | 0 |
| Joseph Randle | 3 | 42 | 14.0 | 0 |
| Darren McFadden | 1 | 19 | 19.0 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 12 | 131 | 10.9 | 0 |
The Eagles caught a big break by not having to face Dez Bryant in their first matchup against Dallas. They cannot let the Dallas backs get into open space in the passing game to help offset that loss.
Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @JimmyKempski
