Cowboy's Clinch!
Well, they clinched a playoff spot today. Congrats to the Cowboy's for turning the season around for the most part and getting into the big dance. It remains to be seen if the Boy's have a team that has what it takes to take it the distance. Offensively, I think they have the ingredients to be a contender, but they seem to win games like this in spite of their defensive play. I really think the Saints game exposed them quite a bit to other teams in the mix.
The Christmas Day game will give us a good barometer of where we are at as a team. This is a huge game with the Division on the line. We haven't faired too well in situations like this where we have the chance to shut the door for good. Trust me... this game will be an all-out battle. Forget the lines. Forget the injuries. Forget the home field advantage. The Eagles are a team that is sparked by their emotional style of play and they are capable of pouncing on teams that may look better on paper. I don't think that the Cowboy's will be overconfident... they really have no reason to be. But I hope that Bill Parcells has them ready and I hope they understand the magnitude of this game.
The bottom line is, the Cowboy's defense needs to show up and prove to themselves that they can be a true playoff contender. If they can get some momentum and confidence going into the playoffs, then you never know what can happen. They have to be up for this game... and Philly is the type of team that plays to win, while it seems that the Cowboy's sometimes play not to lose.
- S
posted by Shawn @ 7:22 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Eagles on Christmas.
This one scares me, just like the Saints game did, two weeks ago.
Big problem here:
This Offensive system is the Achilles' heel for our Defense.
The Cowboys D couldn't have tougher over-all match-ups unless the names included Craig, Rice and Montana.
It's obvious in hindsight Jim Mora watched every snap of the Saints debacle,
noting among other things how our LBs completely overlook the RBs once they leave the backfield. However, Jeff Garcia is a much better QB than Michael Vick, and he's playing in the perfect system for his skills.
You can bet Andy Reid is licking his chops.
One potentially GOOD thing:
Garcia is more likely to throw the ball away than McNabb, if nothing is immediately evident. It follows that our CBs won't need to cover Brown and Stallworth as long.
Also, while Garcia WILL scramble to buy time on occasion he doesn't have McNabb's sheer strength. This limits the long-bomb bail-out option McNabb enjoys, meaning the broken-play-60-yard-TD becomes less likely. Again, a point in our favor for the secondary.
Still, if we play a soft, vanilla "prevent" defense Garcia will take what we give him,
all day long,
up and down the field,
and won't mind giving David Akers seven attempts.
While that doesn't sound TOO bad it means our Defense will be on the field for a lot of plays, and by the 4th quarter they'll be ripe for the plucking...
Fundamentally, it all comes back to what you and Mike have steadfastly maintained for months now: We need constant, well-disguised pressure on the QB.
Hit him a bunch, rattle his cage, force some mistakes.
We also need 21 and 24 to come out swinging.
Watch for Tuna to run it, run it, and run it some more,
take time off the clock,
with an occasional shot downfield on second-and-one or when we see 8 in the box.
Man, this is just like 1992 all over:
An end-of-season NFC East slugfest with a ton on-the-line.
How can you not LOVE this?!!
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