IRVING — Defensive end Jeremy Mincey said the Cowboys underestimated Philadelphia running back LeSean McCoy two weeks ago.
That shouldn’t be a problem this time around.
McCoy and the Eagles’ run game will have the Cowboys’ full attention when the two teams meet again Sunday night in Philadelphia with the NFC East lead on the line.
McCoy rushed for 159 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries in the Eagles’ 33-10 thrashing of the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. The Eagles finished with 256 rushing yards, the second most the Cowboys have allowed in a game since 2009.
The Cowboys prepped for Philadelphia on Wednesday with their last padded practice of the regular season.
They have their defensive linemen focused this week on filling the right gaps, even if it means not making the tackle. They have their outside linebackers and defensive ends focused on setting the edge, not allowing McCoy to get outside and burn them on the perimeter.
McCoy is among the best running backs in the league at finding cutback lanes. The Cowboys didn’t contain him two weeks ago.
“You would dominate your man and you’d peek inside, and that little bit of discipline was costing us big chunks of yardage,” Mincey said. “You just have to remember what type of player you’re dealing with and you just have to be focused. And once you get in your lane, you stay in your lane and you don’t move until the play is over or he’s somewhere past you where you can get off and make a tackle. We’ll get it this go-round. That’s what we’re working on, our discipline.”
The Cowboys’ top priority will be to limit McCoy and force Eagles backup quarterback Mark Sanchez to beat them.
McCoy rushed for 131 yards on 27 carries in the season finale at Dallas a year ago, helping the Eagles win 24-22 and claim the NFC East title to keep the Cowboys out of the playoffs.
The last time the Cowboys played in Philadelphia on Oct. 20, 2013, McCoy had only 55 rushing yards on 18 carries as Dallas won, 17-3.
Cornerback Brandon Carr said the Cowboys should be better prepared this time around for McCoy and the Eagles’ quick-tempo offense because they’ve had 10 days to prepare compared with four the last time.
“The key to stopping them is you have to set the edge, you must tackle well at all three levels and you have to cover on the outside,” Carr said. “It sounds simple, but they come at you every 18 to 20 seconds, so you have to lock in each and every play.”
Cowboys safety J.J. Wilcox said he was a bit too locked in the last time against Philadelphia, and Dallas was caught trying to be too aggressive instead of playing sound defense with the scheme.
“For myself, I was trying to do a little too much,” Wilcox said. “I was pumped up for the game — Thanksgiving and it’s against a rival — so sometimes anxiety jumps in and you tend to do stuff that you normally don’t do.”
Cowboys defensive players have talked all week about how they must do a better job of limiting the Eagles on first down and not letting them take advantage of third-and-short situations.
Two weeks ago, the Eagles averaged 6.6 yards on their 34 first downs against the Cowboys. That led to Philadelphia needing only an average of 4.3 yards on their 15 third-down attempts (they converted eight).
“We should have controlled the first downs a lot better to [increase] the distance of the third downs,” Mincey said. “They were getting big chunks on first down, and that kind of limits you on third down to do what you really want to do because they can dink and dunk quick passes, and people are usually open on those plays. That’s the nature of the game. But we just have to capitalize on first down so we can get them in third-and-[longs] so we can make some plays on defense.”
The Cowboys also need some help from their pass rush. They sacked Sanchez only once two weeks ago and went sackless for the second time this season last Thursday at Chicago.
Cornerback Orlando Scandrick said although the Cowboys have put their last game against the Eagles behind them, they haven’t forgotten about it.
“We did not play well at all. That was probably one of the worst games we’ve played in the Jason Garrett era around here,” Scandrick said. “We don’t normally get beat like that. We’re competitive. We’re always in the game. It was just a disappointment. You got to look at that and you got to look at yourself in the mirror and you got to say, ‘That was bad. That was really bad.’ But you got another chance to make up for it.”
On Twitter:
@DMN_George
That shouldn’t be a problem this time around.
McCoy and the Eagles’ run game will have the Cowboys’ full attention when the two teams meet again Sunday night in Philadelphia with the NFC East lead on the line.
McCoy rushed for 159 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries in the Eagles’ 33-10 thrashing of the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. The Eagles finished with 256 rushing yards, the second most the Cowboys have allowed in a game since 2009.
The Cowboys prepped for Philadelphia on Wednesday with their last padded practice of the regular season.
They have their defensive linemen focused this week on filling the right gaps, even if it means not making the tackle. They have their outside linebackers and defensive ends focused on setting the edge, not allowing McCoy to get outside and burn them on the perimeter.
McCoy is among the best running backs in the league at finding cutback lanes. The Cowboys didn’t contain him two weeks ago.
“You would dominate your man and you’d peek inside, and that little bit of discipline was costing us big chunks of yardage,” Mincey said. “You just have to remember what type of player you’re dealing with and you just have to be focused. And once you get in your lane, you stay in your lane and you don’t move until the play is over or he’s somewhere past you where you can get off and make a tackle. We’ll get it this go-round. That’s what we’re working on, our discipline.”
The Cowboys’ top priority will be to limit McCoy and force Eagles backup quarterback Mark Sanchez to beat them.
McCoy rushed for 131 yards on 27 carries in the season finale at Dallas a year ago, helping the Eagles win 24-22 and claim the NFC East title to keep the Cowboys out of the playoffs.
The last time the Cowboys played in Philadelphia on Oct. 20, 2013, McCoy had only 55 rushing yards on 18 carries as Dallas won, 17-3.
Cornerback Brandon Carr said the Cowboys should be better prepared this time around for McCoy and the Eagles’ quick-tempo offense because they’ve had 10 days to prepare compared with four the last time.
“The key to stopping them is you have to set the edge, you must tackle well at all three levels and you have to cover on the outside,” Carr said. “It sounds simple, but they come at you every 18 to 20 seconds, so you have to lock in each and every play.”
Cowboys safety J.J. Wilcox said he was a bit too locked in the last time against Philadelphia, and Dallas was caught trying to be too aggressive instead of playing sound defense with the scheme.
“For myself, I was trying to do a little too much,” Wilcox said. “I was pumped up for the game — Thanksgiving and it’s against a rival — so sometimes anxiety jumps in and you tend to do stuff that you normally don’t do.”
Cowboys defensive players have talked all week about how they must do a better job of limiting the Eagles on first down and not letting them take advantage of third-and-short situations.
Two weeks ago, the Eagles averaged 6.6 yards on their 34 first downs against the Cowboys. That led to Philadelphia needing only an average of 4.3 yards on their 15 third-down attempts (they converted eight).
“We should have controlled the first downs a lot better to [increase] the distance of the third downs,” Mincey said. “They were getting big chunks on first down, and that kind of limits you on third down to do what you really want to do because they can dink and dunk quick passes, and people are usually open on those plays. That’s the nature of the game. But we just have to capitalize on first down so we can get them in third-and-[longs] so we can make some plays on defense.”
The Cowboys also need some help from their pass rush. They sacked Sanchez only once two weeks ago and went sackless for the second time this season last Thursday at Chicago.
Cornerback Orlando Scandrick said although the Cowboys have put their last game against the Eagles behind them, they haven’t forgotten about it.
“We did not play well at all. That was probably one of the worst games we’ve played in the Jason Garrett era around here,” Scandrick said. “We don’t normally get beat like that. We’re competitive. We’re always in the game. It was just a disappointment. You got to look at that and you got to look at yourself in the mirror and you got to say, ‘That was bad. That was really bad.’ But you got another chance to make up for it.”
On Twitter:
@DMN_George
