Cowboys at Eagles Week 9 Sunday Night Preview and Pick

Sunday Night football finally gives sports fans a game to circle on their TV Guide. The top two teams in the NFC East, Dallas and Philadelphia will meet for the first time this season. The last time these two teams hooked up was in Philadelphia last December. It was a game that Dallas fans would love to forget. 44 points allowed, 5 turnovers, and another December loss added to Romo’s resume. This Sunday, Dallas again travels to Philly with both teams sitting at 5-2, collectively playing their best football of the season.

The week 6 bye for the Cowboys could not have come at a better time. The team was fortunate to be 3-2 at the time after a lucky win against the lowly Kansas City Chiefs. At the time there was just something wrong in “Big D”. Romo was receiving criticism for not putting the ball in the end zone, throwing too many interceptions and of course, questioning his decision making abilities. The defense had also failed to provide any spark for the team. The Dallas defense took 3 weeks to record their first sack and it recorded only 2 interceptions through the first 5 games. It was a collective disappointment early on.

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Week 7 was a new start for the Cowboys certainly they did not resemble much of what we saw in earlier weeks. We quickly learned that Romo has a new favorite target in Miles Austin who has lead the team in receiving in each of the last three games. Austin followed up his 251 yard performance against Kansas City with a 171 yard against Atlanta, with the team going 3-0 when he is a starter. Second, the defense is playing much more aggressive. They got after Matt Ryan in week 7, recording 4 sacks and forcing 2 interceptions. Against Seattle, the team recorded an additional 3 sacks and 2 turnovers. Lastly, and this is further reinforced by the dominating win against Seattle, Dallas is finally putting up points in bunches, averaging 37.5 in their last 2 games. Tony Romo has thrown for 6 touchdowns in the past 2 games and 0 interceptions in his last 3 games. All of which leads to an offense that ranks 5th in total yards and is 2nd in the pass.

It certainly is the right time for Dallas to be playing their best football as the Eagles come in playing equally impressive in recent weeks. The 5-2 Philadelphia Eagles enter this Sunday night contest also playing some of their best football of the year. It seems a long time ago when the Eagles flew into Oakland and got embarrassed by the Raiders 13-9. The team now seems poised to make a second half statement with the return of Brian Westbrook from a concussion, the emergence of new big play threats in DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy to spread the offense, along with a healthy Donovan McNabbleading the team.

Similar to the Dallas bye in week 6, Philadelphia got a nice dose of reality the same week in their defeat to the Oakland Raiders. Since then, they have soundly defeated two divisional opponents, Washington and New York. In the two victories, the team has scored 27 and 40 points while going up against two of the league’s top 5 yards allowed per game defenses. In both games McNabb has remained a model of efficiency, throwing for 4 touchdowns against 0 interceptions, needing only 48 attempts. A major difference from the 46 attempts he threw in the defeat to Oakland. The Eagles defense also stepped up much of the year, ranking 8th in total yards, 8th in points allowed, and 2nd in the league in sacks.

So do the Eagles cover the -3 line? The answer is, yes. The home field advantage is the deciding factor that pushes this game in the Eagles direction. At home Philadelphia is 3-1 this year with their only loss coming to the best team in football, New Orleans. In each of their 3 victories, opponents have scored less than 17 points in each game, averaged more than 2 turnovers per game, and the defense has recorded almost 3 sacks per game. Combine this with the fact that Dallas has a tendency to play much less focused in road games, averaging 10 penalties per game in their last two road contests.

It’s a tough pick this week, certainly one I would not put a large chunk of the payroll on. The teams are separated by 6 points in total points scored this season and 3 points in points allowed. However, when crunching the numbers, the home field advantage emerges as our great equalizer, giving the Philadelphia Eagles the edge this week. If you bettors need a little more ammo for Philadelphia, Dallas is 3-7 in their last 10 games against division opponents.


Sunday Night Pick: Philadelphia -3

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