Preview: Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles

With both teams  3-5 the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles game on Sunday afternoon has taken on added importance. It should come as no surprise that coaches Jason Garret and Andy Reid are on the hot seat as both teams have under achieved and are coming off consecutive losses.

The first game between the Cowboys and Eagles this season will be played at Lincoln Financial Field. The Cowboys are a one point favorite entering the contest with the over/under of the game set at 44.5, so the best bets may be to avoid both.

Dallas has lost their last two games by a total of 11 points. The Cowboys have racked up 382.5 yards per game (9th overall), with nearly 300 of them coming though the air.

Quarterback Tony Romo is on pace to break his career high in passing yards. However, Romo has already thrown 13 interceptions, his most since 2008. Running the ball has not been much better for the Cowboys. The Cowboys are the 29th ranked running game with just 83.4 yards a game on the ground. DeMarco Murray has been out since suffering a foot injury in the Oct. 14 contest against the Ravens. Wide receiver Dez Bryant has continued to be a head case for the Cowboys as his rout running has come into question, he’s dropped multiple game altering catches and is still dealing with a hip injury.

Defensively the Cowboys remain one of the NFL’s top teams. The loss of Sean Lee at linebacker does weaken the middle of this staff. Bruce Carter has stepped up as the play caller of the unit in Lees absence. DeMarcus Ware remaining a multiple sack threat has helped the Cowboys to be the fourth best unit in terms of yards allowed. The Cowboys are giving up a tick more then 200 yards though the air, and just over 100 on the ground. Be careful not to be deceived about the 22.6 points allowed per game, the offense has placed them in bad situations for much of the season.

The Eagles average 373.9 yards per game (10th overall) but those yards have not translated into points as they have scored just 19.9 points per game. (29th overall) The Eagles started the season 3-1 but have lost four straight games.

While the problems existed early in the season, opponents have taken advantage of an offense who struggles to maintain possession and a defense who plays extremely soft. The more touches that LeSean McCoy gets the better the Eagles are. The problem for the Eagles is that McCoy though has been virtually unseen in the red zone all season. Further Michael Vick is a turn over machine as he is responsible for 14 Eagle turnovers.

Defensively the Eagles are in turmoil. The Eagles have allowed 22.9 points per game and have not shown to be able to stop anyone in the fourth quarter, Juan Castillo was fired earlier this year and Todd Bowles has done little to turn around a unit which has been considered soft.

We will cut to the chase. These two teams are near mirror images. Both teams have shown glimpses of brilliance and times of utter failure. The key to this game will be turnovers. Both teams commit far too many turnovers. Dallas has the worst give/take in the NFL at -11, second is Philadelphia at -9.  Both teams have committed 19 total turnovers. The game on Sunday afternoon will have turnovers, probably far too many of them. The game very well could come down to who turns the ball over and where.

John Boarman
John Boarmanhttp://www.tireball.com
Founder and Owner of Tireball Sports.

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