The 2-4 Dallas Cowboys travel to Lincoln Financial to face the 2-4 Philadelphia Eagles this week on Monday Night Football. Here are three keys to the game.
Run. The. Ball.
We sound like a broken record at this point. If the run game is working, coach Brian Schottenheimer needs to keep the ball on the ground. If the run game is not working, the offense still needs to remain balanced. They cannot once again afford for Dak Prescott to throw the ball over 50 times this week.
According to SumerSports, the Eagles are one of the league’s worst run defenses, ranking 28th with a 44.2% rush success rating allowed. The Cowboys should be able to attack this defense on the ground should they choose to do so.
We saw a similar situation in last week’s keys before kickoff article, with Green Bay ranking as one of the league’s least competent run defenses. It was imperative that Dallas attacked them on the ground. When they did, it worked well. But the play-caller got away from the run too early, leading to a completely unbalanced offense.
This week, Dallas simply cannot afford to do the same. The Eagles are terribly beat up, on the brink of implosion (if they haven’t imploded already). Running the ball at will and controlling the flow of the game will suck the remaining soul out of Philadelphia quickly. It’ll be up to coach Schottenheimer to decide if he wants to stick with the run game this week or if he wants to attack the Vic Fangio defense primarily through the air.
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Exploit Tanner McKee
The Eagles are without their star quarterback Jalen Hurts for the remainder of the season. While Tanner McKee is a capable backup, he’s limited in what he brings to the field.
The 2023 sixth-round pick is a classic pocket passer that lacks the mobility of modern NFL quarterbacks. He also struggles under pressure, as displayed last week versus the Panthers. He has slow feet and a long release, meaning sacks and turnovers are on the table for Dallas this week.
McKee also struggles in tight window throws. Last week, he completed just 3-of-15 throws in tight coverage and was inaccurate on 8-of-9 throws further than ten yards downfield and outside the numbers. With DeVonta Smith and Dontayvion Wicks out this week, the Cowboys corners must show up on the outside. They simply cannot allows the Eagles’ backup receivers to get open on a consistent basis. If they are able to tighten up, this will be a long day for the Philadelphia offense.
Limit the remaining Eagles weapons
After a slew of injuries, the Eagles have essentially two weapons remaining on their offense.
Saquon Barkley is expected to return this week to play on Monday night. The dynamic back has averaged 5.1 yards per carry this season, totaling 182 yards on 36 carries. Interestingly, 59 of those yards came on just two carries. Without those two big gains, the yardage shrinks to 3.6 per carry. Barkley could be in for a boom or bust game, and Dallas cannot allow him to boom.
To stop Barkley, the Cowboys must take advantage of this Eagles offensive line that’s seen Lane Johnson retire and Cam Jurgens traded mid-season. They’ve also dealt with shifting assignments due to injuries. They are a patch-job at the moment, struggling to both run and pass block. This is a game for Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark, and Otito Ogbonnia to show up.
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The other weapon, Dallas Goedert, is always a point of focus for opposing defenses. With Smith and Wicks out, the Eagles tight end should be the primary receiving option for McKee on Monday night. The Cowboys will need to disrupt him at the line of scrimmage and force the backup quarterback to look elsewhere, outside of his comfort blanket. We could see plenty of DeMarvion Overshown and Caleb Downs matched up against Goedert this week.
The rest of the Eagles weapons are more situationally dangerous than consistent threats. But you can’t put it past this Cowboys defense to break a coverage or to slip, allowing a player like Hollywood Brown to blow by for a deep touchdown. While that’s never great, this is certainly a week where this Eagles offense can be contained by simply playing mistake free football.