Phil Sheridan, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Eagles find themselves chasing Dallas

PHILADELPHIA -- The NFC East was won last season with a league-leading running game and some otherworldly quarterback play. The Eagles are in the odd position of hoping that history doesn’t repeat itself this season.

Hard as it is to believe, the Dallas Cowboys are the NFC East team with the hottest quarterback and the history-making running back. It is Tony Romo, not Nick Foles, who has people wondering if he can sustain this rate of success. And it is DeMarco Murray, not LeSean McCoy, who leads the NFL in rushing and has a chance to run for over 2,000 yards.

All of that would be pretty hard for Eagles fans to take if their home team wasn’t 5-1 and keeping pace with Dallas. Because of the realities of scheduled bye weeks, the Cowboys won’t have their bye until Week 11, four weeks after the Eagles’ weekend off. If the Cowboys keep winning – and they face Washington, Arizona and Jacksonville before their bye – they will remain ahead of the Eagles in the NFC East race.

It seems inevitable: When the two rivals meet for two nationally televised games in three weeks, on Thanksgiving Day and Dec. 14, the division title will be there for the taking.

That was not supposed to be the situation this season. The Eagles won the division title last December by going to Dallas and beating the Cowboys. Throughout a quiet offseason, the Cowboys appeared headed for another of their 8-8 seasons, at best. Their defense did not appear much improved from the unit that was epically bad in 2013, and their offensive line was riddled by question marks.

Well, that line has somehow cohered and is paving the way for Murray to gain over 100 yards every week. On Sunday, he became the first NFL back ever to top 100 in each of his first seven games of a season.

That production is taking a lot of the pressure off Romo. Last year, it seemed as if he had to carry the Cowboys every week. This year, Romo has the time and the weapons to strafe opposing defenses to the tune of a 104.7 passer rating. Foles, who led the league last year in that category, is shuffling along at 82.0.

The defense that looked like a train wreck still does. The 2013 Cowboys gave up 6.1 yards per play. The 2014 Cowboys are giving up 6.1 yards per play. But – sssshh, don’t tell Chip Kelly – time of possession suddenly comes into play here. The Cowboys are second in the NFL with 34 minutes, 35 seconds of time possession per game. That means their defense isn’t on the field long enough to undo what the offense is able to achieve.

The good news for Eagles fans is that, although Kelly doesn’t much care about time of possession, the Eagles do have the capacity to run the ball as effectively as the Cowboys do. The return of offensive linemen Jason Kelce and Evan Mathis will improve that aspect of their game. It may also help Foles to feel more comfortable in the pocket.

To win the division last season, the Eagles had to go through Dallas. That much appears unchanged in 2014.

^ Back to Top ^