Pederson trying to solve Cowboy conundrum
PHILADELPHIA >> Doug Pederson’s record against the Dallas Cowboys isn’t something he’d put at the top of his job resume.
He’s hoping “Dallas” doesn’t become his reason for leaving the post.
Face it, the Cowboys are Pederson’s personal nightmare. They’re 5-2 against him, including four straight victories entering what basically is the NFC East title game when the teams play Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
If the Eagles (7-7) defeat the Cowboys (7-7) and close with a victory over the New York Giants, they win the division and host a game in the first round of the playoffs.
A fifth straight loss and the Cowboys reap the division title and the playoff spoils, having defeated the Eagles earlier this season.
Pederson’s struggles against the Cowboys came up again at his Friday morning news conference. He’s evaluated his preparation and reviewed the games ad nauseum. The more he looks at it, the less he understands why the Eagles are dominating the rest of the division, just not the Cowboys.
“The Cowboys have been a team that we’ve had trouble with,” Pederson said. “It’s something that we’ve just got to continue to work and try to overcome. They’ve had our number here in recent years. It’s something that when you look at the tape and how I prepare the football team and get ready to play and all that, I look at all that. But at the end of the day we’re focused on this game, and hopefully we can turn things around.
We do well with the other teams. It’s just this one team, they kind of have our number right now.”
The Eagles are 2-0 this season against the Washington Redskins and New York Giants, who with a combined 6-22 record, are nothing to brag about. The Eagles needed late heroics to pull both of those games out, quarterback Carson Wentz finally playing like the megabucks contract extension he received this year.
Earlier this season the Eagles all but gave up in a 37-10 loss to the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. It’s all on the line Sunday for Pederson and the Eagles, who sense a fearless urgency in their leader.
“You can see it in the meetings, you can see it at practice,” veteran cornerback Jalen Mills said. “And I think that’s what the leader of our team is supposed to do. He’s supposed to know the level of competition that we’re capable of playing at. And we weren’t playing at a high level losing those games. So, he’s pushing us either harder so we can get back to our standard. That’s what a leader does – 100 percent.”
Pederson is scrambling again to fill out a lineup card that can defeat the Cowboys, who are 1.5-point favorites.
For the second straight game the Eagles will go without right offensive tackle Lane Johnson (high ankle sprain). That means another start for Halapoulivaati Vaitai, who has done a pretty good job playing the role of sixth man on the offensive line.
The Eagles could welcome back running back Jordan Howard, who still leads them with seven touchdowns although he’s been scratched five straight games with a stinger. Howard is a straight-line runner, and that’s proven to be a problem for the Cowboys’ opponents.
Howard, wide receiver Nelson Agholor (knee), defensive end Derek Barnett (ankle) and cornerback Avonte Maddox (knee) are questionable for the Cowboys.
The Eagles obviously don’t need to disrupt the running back tandem of rookie Miles Sanders, who not coincidentally has taken his game to another level with the extra work, and Boston Scott, who has performed like a Darren Sproles knockoff.
The Cowboys, on the other hand, list only “throwing shoulder” alongside quarterback Dak Prescott, meaning he’s a full go for the Eagles.
The Eagles aren’t about to let the status of Prescott become a distraction. Mills said the Birds will know right away how much Prescott’s throwing arm is impacted by the AC joint swelling.
“Us as a defense, we’re preparing like his arm is 100 percent,” Mills said. “That’s it. At the end of the day we know that offense runs through him and 21, and we’re going to prepare that way.”
The bottom is the Eagles are just 17-15 since winning Super Bowl 52, and that’s with Pederson, who said at the end of the season he’ll evaluate the roster, his performance, his coaching staff and everything from the football side.
“Those are things that we need to find some answers there,” Pederson said. “We can fix some things. But those are all things at the end of the season that we can look at and make those changes we need to.”
The Cowboys also have some fixing-up to do. Unless they win the Super Bowl it would surprise no one if head coach Jason Garrett was fired. Pederson is the only Eagles had coach Garrett has mastered.
The Cowboys are 18-14 since the 2017 season. They haven’t won a Super Bowl since the 1995 season.
The Cowboys listed as questionable for the Eagles wide receiver Devin Smith (knee), linebacker Joe Thomas (knee) and cornerback C.J. Goodwin (thumb).