Week 8: Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles

DALLAS COWBOYS @ PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
Vegas Line: Cowboys + 3

Rob’s Line: Cowboys + 4.5

This is the weekend’s second juggernaut matchup. A ‘juggernaut’ contest between teams with 3-3 and 2-4 records? Yes, you’d better believe it. OK, it’s not quite orbiting the same stratosphere as the Patriots/Steelers contest, but this one has an added twist to it that’s lacking in the former…a divisional interest.
Dallas and Philadelphia both harboured playoff aspirations as the season began and this was especially the case in Philly after they plundered the marker in post-lockout free agency.
That won them few friends (us traditionalists look admirably upon teams who build through the draft) and even some of the friends they had left closed the door on them the moment backup quarterback Vince Young declared the Eagles the “Dream Team”. Any neutrals with even a passing interest in a game featuring Philadelphia would now be immediately rooting for their opponents and most of us got our wish as they slipped to 1-4, including blowing a 23-3 lead at home to the 49ers in Week 4.
However, with their season on the line and with a bye week looming, they went to Washington and took the Redskins apart 20-13. Yes, the score doesn’t lend itself to taking a team apart, but 20-13 severely flattered the ‘Skins and altered the course of Philly’s season.
Speaking of bye weeks, here’s a quite incredible statistic: Eagles coach Andy Reid is 12-0 following a bye week. All bets are off! That’s it, there’s nothing to see here, Philly moves to 3-4 before another huge game next week, primetime at home to Chicago on Monday Night. But hang on, win they might…covering the spread is something else entirely. Which brings us on to Dallas.
This is a good football team who rank highly both offensively and defensively, but the suspicion remains that they have a tendency to beat themselves before their opponents get the chance and Tony Romo has had his fair share of criticism for exactly that this season, none more so than after they blew the biggest lead in franchise history to lose a game, that 34-30 reversal to the Lions.
The Cowboys released running back Tashard Choice this week and with Felix Jones once again ruled out through injury, this leaves rookies DeMarco Murray and Phillip Tanner as the only options left to run the ball. However, this isn’t all bad as Murray ran over the Rams for 253 yards last week, which eclipsed any yards Tony Dorsett or Emmitt Smith ever managed in a single game in Dallas…quite astonishing.
The Eagles rank a lowly 23rd against the run so Murray could well have yet another good outing. The one glaring worry is if Murray goes down injured any time early. Should that happen, it leaves everything up to Romo and then anything can happen.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this contest is Dallas bringing their No.1 ranked rushing defense to face up to Philly’s No. 1 ranked rushing offense, which averages a mighty 170 yards per game. The Cowboys allow just 70 rushing yards per game so this classic example of the irresistibe force versus the immovable object is simply mouth watering.
For a team possessing so much offensive firepower, the Eagles don’t have anybody ranked in the top five at quarterback, running back or wide receiver. The running game can be explained and it’s very interesting. Those 170 rushing yards per game they average are not all about LeSean McCoy. QB Michael Vick already has 372 yards rushing this season, an average of 8.3 yards per carry.
Vick himself has thrown for 9 TDs and 8 INTs, which brings down his overall quartback rating and when it comes to his receivers, he’s been liberal when spraying the ball around, evident when looking at those leading the team in receptions: Jeremy Maclin (37 catches), Jason Avant (26), DeSean Jackson (24) and McCoy (21).
This is a must win game for the Eagles and most obviously because they can’t afford to lose further ground (and possible playoff/wildcard tiebreakers) to Dallas in the NFC East and I like them a lot being asked to win by four to cover the spread.