Cowboys Keys to Victory Against Eagles

The Cowboys and Eagles have been on a collision course and it’s time to see who is going to gain sole possession of first place in the NFC East.

For the Cowboys, this Thanksgiving game gives Jason Garrett the opportunity to finally get his team over the 8-8 humps. A victory would send the Cowboys to 9-3 and then there should be talk about running the table for homefield advantage or a bye week.

First things first though, the Cowboys need to take care of the Eagles. Tony Romo loves Thanksgiving, he’s 6-1 on Thanksgiving games.

A loss, could potentially take the Cowboys out of the wild card race for the time being. The Cowboys need to take care of the division and try hard to make a run at homefield.

Here are my keys to victory:

— Get in Mark Sanchez’s face early and often. The Cowboys came out flat on defense in the first half against the Giants and they paid for it. Against the Eagles, our defense will need to bring the pressure and force Sanchez into his trademark turnover ways.

— Contain McCoy and Sproles. The Cowboys know all about Sproles and McCoy, so there isn’t any surprises here, but they will need to limit them from breaking out. Solid tackling will be emphasized. We could see big numbers from McClain and Hitchens as a result.

— Slow down the game. The Cowboys had a nice formula last year and it’ll be the same this year. We’ve seen the 49ers and Packers control the game with their running game and balanced attack, both delivered losses to the Eagles. Last year Kiffin did a nice job, and I expect Marinelli to work on that formula this game.

— Feed Murray and Dez. The Eagles have a good defensive front, but we’ve played some better defenses and had success. So, keep feeding Murray and get Dez going early. Dez needs to win his battles against Cary Williams, be elite.

— Terrance Williams needs to get in the game, but he’s dinged up. We could see more Beasley and Escobar with a gimpy Williams out there. We’ll need the complementary players to step up even more in this game.

— Need a big game from Melton and Crawford. Some of Sanchez’s worse game play has come when he gets pressure from the middle. If Melton and Crawford put in a good game, we’ll force some bad passes. Those bad passes will need to be caught by our DBs, no drops.

— Special teams will need to play a solid game. The Eagles have scored several times in the return game, so our tackling needs to be on point and needs to be consistent – no let ups!

— We need Brandon Carr to wake up and step up. Get us an int! No more bad coverage, we can’t have that in this game.

—  The Cowboys offensive line is a close group, and I wonder how much of Benny Logan’s comments will impact how brutal we dominate the trenches. We don’t need extra motivation, but there’s something to be said about making an opposing player eat their words. We could see a crazy dominating performance from our line.

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I want to wish everyone that follows us here, on Twitter, and Facebook a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Let’s go Dallas! Beat the Eagles. Let’s keep stacking “W’s”