NFL Week 8 Predictions: Why Cowboys vs. Eagles Turns into a Defensive Struggle

Everybody and their mom thinks the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles are going to sail past the over/under in total points this weekend on Sunday Night Football.

Everybody but me.

The current line stands at 50.5, meaning each team has to reach the mid 20s to get there.

It’s not happening.

Tony Romo may get all the credit and all of the criticism for everything his team does, but it’s defensive coordinator Rob Ryan that should be getting a big thumbs up from the Cowboy faithful.

In his first season at the helm, Ryan has turned the Cowboys into a force against the run.

Combining exotic formations with an extremely aggressive mind-set, the Cowboys are allowing the fewest rushing yards in the NFL. They haven’t allowed a single touchdown in the first quarter and only five teams have allowed fewer yards per play.

All of those stats are great, but the most impressive thing about the Cowboys defense happened when they held the No. 1 offense to 17 points. The Patriots had previously scored at least 30 points in 13 straight games dating back to lat year before the Cowboys were able to contain them.

So it will be very interesting to see how they defend RB LeSean McCoy and QB Michael Vick—a duo that has given the Eagles the top ranked running attack in the NFL to this point.

The Eagles are fresh, and have a 12-0 record the week after a bye under head coach Andy Reid.

The defense has been the big issue in their disastrous 2-4 start, but it looked much better two weeks ago at Washington, when the Eagles intercepted Rex Grossman four times.

With the way Romo likes to take some extremely risky throws—expect multiple turnovers from the Cowboys.

The Cowboys running game was infused with fresh life last week with DeMarco Murray running for over 250 yards, but that was against the worst run defense in football in the Rams.

The Eagles are getting stud DE Trent Cole back this week, who will really help shore up a front-four that is dominate when it wants to be.

It looks like all of the new pieces are finally figuring out how to play together and the communication on defense is improving, as well.

I’m not saying this is going to be a 6-3 game, but it’s hard to see both teams putting up 25-plus points on these defenses.

Prediction: Take the UNDER (50.5) in the Cowboys-Eagles divisional matchup. 

(Point total courtesy of Covers.com)