Main priority must be to attack Dak
PHILADELPHIA » Let’s see if we’ve got this right.
The Eagles drop 51 points on the Broncos and their top-rated defense, heal over the bye week and emerge as — get this — only three-point road favorites against the Cowboys, who likely will be without three of their top four players for the second straight week. Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, in his 16th year in the NFL, doesn’t calculate point spreads. But he intimated this one might have something to do with the skills of Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who “can threaten the whole field.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a better thrower on the run than Dak Prescott,” Schwartz said Tuesday. “He can throw scrambling to his left. He can throw scrambling to his right. There are not many quarterbacks that can do that. He can threaten the whole field on the run. He doesn’t have to reset the throw, and he’s very accurate on the run. There are a lot of mobile quarterbacks and a lot of guys that can throw from the pocket. There are a lot of guys that can run read option. But I think what really makes him stand out is that he can throw on the run. And for a young player, he makes very few mistakes, and that’s impressive.”
The Cowboys (5-4) are on the verge of becoming irrelevant. A loss to the Eagles, who own a league-leading 8-1 record, and Cowpoke fans will want to sue Jerry Jones, who has threatened to sue the league.
Prescott at least gives the Cowboys a smidgen of hope. He is 18-7 quarterbacking the Cowboys, which puts him in the rarified company of Roger Staubach, a franchise-best 20-5 in his first 25 starts. For the sake of comparison, Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz is 15-10 in the same stretch.
Prescott is among just four players since the NFL-AFL merger to account for at least 50 touchdowns in their first 25 career NFL games, having thrown for 39 touchdowns and rushed for 11.
The 6-2, 229-pound Prescott has used his running back size and wheels this year to rank second on the Cowboys in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns, the latter with five.
It was Prescott’s JUGS-powered arm that first got the attention of Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich, who during a pre-draft trip to Philly, marveled about the Xs and Os show put on by the prospect.
“I had very, very high grades on Dak in every aspect,” Reich said. “I thought his college tape was really, really good. I really liked the way he threw the ball, his timing and anticipation. When he came in here and we sat down and interviewed him, it was really high in all areas. Then you could just tell he had that X-factor as far as natural leadership ability. So I enjoyed getting to know him a little bit.”
The Cowboys (5-4) have won three of their last four games largely due to the spark provided by Prescott. He threw for five touchdowns and rushed for two to help make it happen. And he didn’t commit a turnover.
Last Sunday Prescott gave the Cowboys, who played without suspended running back Zeke Elliott and All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith, a 7-0 lead over the Falcons with an 11-yard run. Prescott then was sacked eight times, losing two fumbles as the Falcons scored 27 straight points.
Adrian Clayborn dropped Prescott six times, killing Smith replacements Chaz Green and Byron Bell. It was the most sacks by one player in a game since Osi Umenyiora dropped six on Winston Justice of the Eagles in 2007.
Three of those sacks of Prescott came on third-andeight or more, one on fourth down and another on second down late in the game.
Schwartz explained the sacks resulted from the same formula preferred by the Eagles: Stop the run, creating pass situations, beat the blocker, hold pass coverage long enough for the rush to get there and finish the pass rush.
“All those things go hand in hand for us to have a good day at rushing,” Schwartz said. “You can’t just assume we’ll have a good day rushing based on what (the Falcons) did last week. I’m sure they’ll work really hard to shore up some of their spots. They know us pretty well. We know them pretty well.”
This week marks the second game of a six-game suspension for Elliott, who leads the Cowboys with 793 rushing yards and nine total TDs.
Smith is iffy, at best, to play against the Eagles due to a groin issue.
Linebacker Sean Lee, the Cowboys’ best defensive player, will miss this week with a hamstring strain suffered early in the last game.
Wentz leads the NFL with 23 TD passes and his 104.1 passer rating is the best in the NFC. He’s thrown four or more touchdowns in three games this season, most recently in the 51-23 humbling of the Broncos. Did we mention the Eagles traded for Jay Ajayi, the every-down running back who would help any team travel well on the road?
And yet the Eagles are just three-point favorites.
It must be the Dak Prescott factor.
“Some guys will scramble and you have time to chase a guy in coverage or to plaster your coverage or chase him and get an extra guy to him,” Schwartz said. “With Prescott, he doesn’t give you that opportunity. The ball could come out at any time, and you have to be ready for it at any time.”