PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Eagles defense has been riding a dangerous see-saw for the past few weeks. It was way up against the Carolina Panthers, then way down last week in Green Bay. It bounced back for Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans, winning 43-24, and that was fine.

But on Thursday, the Eagles will face Tony Romo, DeMarco Murray, Dez Bryant and the rest of the Dallas Cowboys offense. Another swing toward the way it played in Green Bay would be disastrous.

“They forgot about [Green Bay] real quick,” defensive coordinator Bill Davis said. “These are pros and we have a great group of veteran leadership and it’s the NFL, the life of the NFL. You can destroy someone, you can be destroyed, it can be close -- every game is a game in and of itself and sometimes it’s just not your day.”

Against Tennessee rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger, the Eagles were able to get good pressure without blitzing.

“I barely pressured,” Davis said. “It was all four-man rush and the ball wasn’t coming out as quick (as in Green Bay). Their patterns were more vertically oriented, so it took more time to get going, whereas a week ago they were just the go routes. These were vertical-concept routes and our four-man rush did a nice job.”

Outside linebackers Connor Barwin and Trent Cole each sacked Mettenberger twice. Defensive end Fletcher Cox got the Eagles’ fifth sack. They were all part of that four-man rush Davis was talking about.

“We just felt like our four could get after their front five,” Barwin said. “We did a great job communicating up front and then just winning our one-on-ones, across the board. We just kind of refocused and got back to being who we are. We look at ourselves as a group up front. If Trent gets a sack, I feel like I’m getting a sack. If Fletcher gets a sack, we all feel like we got a sack.”

Barwin has 12.5 sacks this season, his career high. There are still five more games to add to that total, two of them against the Cowboys. That means playing against an offense more like Green Bay’s, in terms of weapons, than Tennessee’s.

“When you watch the (Green Bay) film, we just made mistakes,” Barwin said. “It wasn’t like we played our brand of football or played our best football. We went against one of the best quarterbacks and we gave them some plays. We felt like we gave them way too much. You see what happens when you make mistakes. Last week was a great lesson for us.”

They applied that lesson against the Titans Sunday. On Thursday, in Dallas, it will be a whole lot tougher.