Eagles Look To Gain Turkey Leg Up On Cowboys In NFC East
By Kevin McGuire
The Philadelphia Eagles will look to give all fans tuning in another reason to be thankful. While fans are stuffing themselves with turkey and mashed potatoes, or perhaps another slice of pumpkin pie, the Eagles will be taking on the NFC East rival Dallas Cowboys. Up for gabs is first place in the division heading into December, and perhaps a turkey leg up on the competition heading down the home stretch.
The significance of this week’s game may be over-dramatized for effect, and given a nice dose of extra stuffing with it being played on Thanksgiving, but the Eagles cannot afford to treat this game much differently than other games. Philadelphia has lost some close calls on the road in NFC play this season, including games at Arizona and San Francisco. And a road game at Green Bay was anything but close. The Eagles may have swept the AFC South, but now the Eagles need to prove they can pick up a big win on the road in NFC play. Doing so now will help boost the confidence level if and when the Eagles have to take to the road in the NFC playoffs at the end of the season.
With Mark Sanchez continuing to lead the offense in place of the inured Nick Foles, Eagles offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur is not ready to break the mold too much with the play-calling. He is, however, not hesitating to suggest there could be some new wrinkles on the field even in a short week.
“I would say we have as many wrinkles in for a four‑day week as we would have if we had an eight‑day week,” Shurmur said this week, per PhiladelphiaEagles.com. “You know, we have our system, and we have the things we do and certainly we want to always have a handful of things that attack the defense we're playing specifically.”
The Eagles will be taking on a Dallas team that has been playing better than expected on defense this season. After losing some key players through free agency and losing linebacker Sean Lee to injury, the Cowboys have managed to hold just enough together on defense to get to Thanksgiving in first place. But it is the offense that has helped to overcome any shortcomings on defense as well, with Tony Romo, Dez Bryant and DeMarco Murray all having good first halves of the season. This has not impressed Bennie Logan though.
“They have to block us, and it’s all fun and games until you line up against us,” Logan said this week. “We don’t have to worry about all the high expectations and the hype and stuff, they’re the ones that have all the hype and high expectations of being such a great offensive line.”
The Eagles and Cowboys have played some memorable games over the years, and this year’s Thanksgiving game is shaping up to be another potential one for the ages. The Eagles feasted on John Madden’s turducken the last time they played the Cowboys on Thanksgiving. If all goes well for the Eagles this week, they could be celebrating with an extra turkey leg on the flight home. Or perhaps a turkey smoothie.
For more Eagles news and updates, visit Eagles Central.
Kevin McGuire is a Philadelphia area sports writer covering the Philadelphia Eagles and college football. McGuire is a member of the FWAA and National Football Foundation. Follow McGuire on Twitter @KevinOnCFB. His work can be found on Examiner.com.
