NFL WILDCARD WEEKEND – EAGLES vs. COWBOYS
Wade Phillips needs one more win to keep his job as HC of the DC, and no one is rooting for him more than owner Jerry Jones.
It’s an uncomplicated relationship between Phillips and Jones.
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Time: Saturday 8:00 ET
Venue: Cowboys Stadium, Dallas
MoneyLine: Eagles +175 (-110) / Cowboys -200 (-110)
Spread: Cowboys -4 (-110)
Over/Under: 45
If things are going well, the amiable Phillips stays in the background while the players and Jones are in front of the cameras, taking credit. If things go bad, well, Jones can purse his lips, shrug his shoulders and send the coach a one-way ticket to Somewhere Else.
The heads-Jones-wins, tails-Phillips-loses motif will be in full display Saturday night when the Philadelphia Eagles return to Cowboys Stadium for the second time in seven days, hardly enough time for everyone to forget last Sunday’s 24-0 Dallas victory that enabled Jones to get what he has coveted all year – a home playoff game in the new Cowboys Stadium.
The decisiveness of the result left the Eagles scratching their heads as well as licking their wounds on the flight home, and perhaps planted more than a few seeds of doubt in a team that had riding both a 6-game winning streak and a wave of confidence heading into the game that decided the championship of the NFC East.
Dallas won by basically entombing all the Eagles big-play threats. Donovan McNabb didn’t throw any interceptions but was clearly off his game and was outplayed by Tony Romo.
Brian Westbrook gained a whopping 17 yards rushing, and wideout big-play threat DeSean Jackson was held to three catches and 47 yards.
Together Jackson and Jeremy Maclin dropped three passes.
Not much went right for the Eagles. McNabb got sacked four times as the offensive line struggled with replacement center Nick Cole. The defense wasn’t much better, giving up a combined 182 yards rushing to Marion Barber and Felix Jones. Romo had time to text-message routes to receivers, and he completed passes to nine different teammates.
So it’s back to square one for the Eagles and coach Andy Reid, who have a limited amount of time to figure out a way to go on the road again and this time defeat a Cowboys team that seems to have somehow stolen every ounce of momentum like a sixth-grade bully stealing a third-grader’s lunch money. Eagles coach Andy Reid has taken the team to the playoffs seven times, and in the first playoff game each season the team is 7-0.
Given the problems that need fixing and the time available to fix them, 8-0 seems like a large mountain to climb.
The motto in Dallas this week is Keep on keepin’ on, and the Boys will spend the week of practice tuning up their engine while the Eagles utilize the next several days trying to keep things together with duct tape.
The line opened at Dallas -4 and hasn’t budged.
Pick: Eagles
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Lawrence Paul is a regular contributor to the Cappers Picks Blog, and is a free-lance gambling and travel expert from Massachusetts.
