Eagles vs. Cowboys: Philadelphia Hits Dallas Right on the Nose

With any and all talk about the playoffs officially squashed for the Dallas Cowboys, now we can all start looking on to the future. Better yet, we can also start looking into the glaring flaws associated with this team’s personnel.

For several years I have been quite open regarding the unique decision to start a 300-pound nose guard in their now six-year-old 3-4 defensive alignment. They do this even on running downs and the results are sometimes devastating. Sure, I’ve been ridiculed for being too critical of Jay Ratliff and also accused of not being aware that he’s a Pro Bowl caliber player and also a great pass rusher. Please.

Let me say that I am definitely a fan of Jay Ratliff. I can’t think of another player, outside of perhaps quarterback Tony Romo, that Dallas has gotten more value out of. I believe Ratliff is a pass rushing beast that more often than not is all but wasted playing inside over an opposing center and either of two guards. So this is not about Ratliff as a player. I just realize that he is in the wrong position.

Eagles running back LeSean McCoy was essentially useless to the Philadelphia offense in the first half. He totaled a meager 15 yards on just six carries, typical of head coach Andy Reid’s finesse-only offense.  We’re talking 2.5 yards per carry, but this was only halfway through the contest.  But then Reid finally realized that if he did not start running the ball effectively, his quarterback, Michael Vick, might not make it out of this game in one piece.

After trailing at the half 14-10, the Cowboys looked like they might be on their way to a victory as they scored 10 unanswered points to start the second half in taking a 20-14 lead. That scoring burst was jump-started by Vick’s second pick of the game on Philadelphia’s first possession. Then a monster we’ve seen before reared its ugly head yet again.

With a quarter-and-a-half to play, McCoy still had not touched the ball since the first half. But with 7:39 to play McCoy burst right up the middle for 56 yards. On that play Ratliff was pushed to the right by at least five yards leaving a gigantic hole for McCoy to exploit. On just a single carry the second-year running back had almost quadrupled his rushing yards for the night.

As most can tell, even despite the big rushing day against Indianapolis last week, the Cowboys don’t generally run the ball effectively. But like most stats, the devil is in the details. Many of Dallas’ productive yards on the ground come on passing situations that don’t always keep drives going. The same is true of the Cowboys run defense. It tends to perform “better” when Dallas has a two-score lead and the opponent simply can’t afford to run anymore because time will not allow it.

Sure, the 56-yard run by McCoy was just one play. But he was far from done.

In a conclusion that took me back to the final game ever played at Texas Stadium against the Baltimore Ravens, the Dallas defense just wasn’t up to the task late in the fourth quarter. In that game against the Ravens, you have to recall that literally historic defensive collapse. This was when I realized that former head coach Wade Phillips was not “Mr. Fix It” at all.

Despite two frantic touchdown drives late in the fourth quarter, Dallas simply couldn’t get the ball back from the Ravens without giving up single-play touchdown drives to Baltimore.

After the first of those fourth-quarter Dallas touchdowns, the Cowboys trailed 19-17 with 3:42 to play. Then Willis McGahee exploded for that 77-yard touchdown that basically put the game away at 26-17. At the time it tied the longest run ever given up to an opponent at Texas Stadium. But after yet another frantic touchdown drive by the Dallas offense, again placing the Cowboys within two points of Baltimore with only 1:33 to play, fullback Le’Ron McClain went 82 yards to break the record for the longest run ever given up in Irving, Texas. End of story in a 33-24 Ravens win.

Sunday night may not have been quite as dramatic of a collapse but it certainly got the same result. Following tight end Jason Witten’s 22-yard touchdown to bring the Cowboys within three points of the Eagles with 4:22 to play, the Dallas defense went to work again.

Philadelphia would start the final possession of the game from their own 10-yard line, meaning a quick stop would give the Cowboys a good opportunity to at least get into field goal range before the end of regulation. McCoy, with 105 yards on the ground to that point, had carries of 12, 19 and 13 yards to put the Eagles at the Dallas 40 just outside the two-minute warning. The rest is history.    

Sunday night’s hard-fought game against the Eagles was certainly not without merit. Dallas played hard and gave it everything they had. There were big plays for both offenses, although certainly more for the Eagles, and both defenses made big plays. But closing a football game, or in some cases coming from behind to win, is not something Dallas does well.

This game was not lost because of wide receiver DeSean Jackson’s big day. A one-dimensional receiver like this is probably going to get his plays based on sheer speed, although 210 yards on just four catches is kind of ridiculous. But just for perspective, the Eagles’ next leading receiver was Jason Avant with his three catches for just 18 yards. Put another way, the possible NFL MVP Vick passed for only 60 yards to people other than Jackson. So Dallas could have survived the 14 points credited to Jackson’s huge plays if only they had a run defense.

The offseason is now less than a month away and perhaps this franchise will finally stop embarrassing itself with this sham of a 3-4 defensive front. Get a true run-stuffer to plug the middle or scrap this 3-4 alignment altogether. The former would be much easier than the latter.