1) The Eagles have the superior defense: As per usual the Dallas Cowboys have been overhyped by landing in the top ten best football teams as we head into the 2020 NFL season. Their offense will be pretty good but not great. Yes, they have RB Ezekiel Elliot, WR Amari Cooper, and WR Ceedee Lamb on the roster.
That being said they don’t have the same O-Line they did last season by any means with the surprising retirement of Travis Frederick and a below-average player in Laleel Collins is taking over at LT (QB Dak Prescott’s blind side) for them which is less than ideal and who the heck is their starting TE? Can they even run a half-decent two TE set if one, two, or three of their prized WRs go down with an injury? Now let’s talk about the Dallas defense. They don’t have a defense. Moving on…ok I was having some fun there. In all seriousness they do have a defense…just a very very bad one.
They have one good DE and really not much else. They lost a yearly pro bowler at DB in Bryon Jones. He was by far their best player on defense if not on their entire team for years. Prized offseason signee DT/DE Derald McCoy who is one of the leagues best DL suffered a season-ending injury during training camp (perhaps career-ending) and fan-favorite star LB and team captain Sean Lee retired as well. They might just get lucky and have a slightly above average pass rush but they should be very easy to score against. They have no name bodies starting at all five positions in their secondary and their LB corps make the Eagles LB corps look like the best group of backers in the NFL. What about Leighton Vander Eshe you ask? I am glad you asked. LVE is made of glass as he has been injury-prone his entire career. This upcoming season is no different as LVE is already banged up.
He is simply never quite healthy for more than a few games a year. Now on the other hand The Philadelphia Eagles field a top 5 (if not better) NFL Defense that can make life miserable for opposing offenses in a variety of different ways.
Let’s start with the defensive line. The Eagles have by far the absolute best DT rotation in the NFL headlined by the yearly pro bowler and future hall of Famer Fletcher Cox and all-pro DT Javon Hargrave.
Le’ts not forget about DT/DE/LB hybrid Malik Jackson. The D-LInes stable of Edge Rushers is also in great shape with DEs Bradon Graham, Derrek Barnett, (who is underrated) Vinny Curry, Josh Sweat, and Casey Toohill. Toohill is a 7th round rookie who has looked like a first-round pick during training camp the Eagles secondary is vastly improved as well with the addition of CB1 Darius Slay who is possibly the best player at his position in the NFL and the under the radar signing of pro bowler CB2 Nickell Robey Coleman or NRC who is having a great camp and is quietly the NFL’s best slot corner. CB turned Safety Jalen Mills has not looked out of place and has been making plays in training camp.
2) There is no clear offensive edge for Dallas this upcoming season: The WR corps that both of these storied franchises will be fielding are more equal than people realize. Yes, Dallas has WRs Amari Cooper, Ceedee lamb, and Michael Gallup but now Philadelphia has the talent on the outside with a healthy WR1 Desean Jackson and first-round training camp star WR Jalen Reagor.
WR Greg Ward who stepped up big last season mans the slot. 5th round rookie WR John Hightower has been a pleasant surprise and second-year WR J.J Arcega-Whiteside or JJAW has bounced back with a great training camp. WR Quez Watkins has also been a pleasant surprise during training camp and the team will get a healthy WR2 in Super Bowl 52 hero Alshon Jeffery back a few weeks into the season.
The Eagles are suddenly so loaded with talent at the position (a stark contrast from last season to say at the least) that they may be forced to keep 7 WRs on the roster throughout the course of the season and into the NFL Playoffs. The Eagles have the better Oline with The BodyGuard returning to play LT and Lane Johnson at RT. Let’s not forget about the best center in the NFL in Jason Kelce. Dallas fans will be quick to hype up RB Zeke Elliot but his yards per carry average is rapidly declining as Dallas has continually leaned far to heavily on Zeke due to the struggles of QB Dak Prescott. E
agles second-year star RB Miles Sanders who should have won last years offensive rookie of the year award headlines a group of backs that also includes the fast, and elusive RB Boston Scott and a rookie (technically a second-year player but he will be a rookie on the field this season) I have nicknamed The Punisher in RB Elijah Holyfield who will be used as a hammer in the short yard and red zone situations for the bird’s trio of backs. Yes, Holyfield Jr. is the son of the legendary three-time professional heavyweight champion and famous preacher Alexander Holyfield. Dallas RB2 tony Pollard has some promise but isn’t that hard to stop when you have a D-line like Philly does.
The Eagles have the edge at QB, at RB and should tie at WR. If the Eagles suffer an injury or two like they did a season ago they finally have the necessary depth in the WR room to continue to win games this upcoming season.
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3) Philadelphia has far more continuity as a team: In the offseason, Dallas hired a new head coach in Mike Mccarthy. He may have won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers in the mid-1990s but left Wisconsin on a rather bitter note as losing seasons began to pile up. He is a slight upgrade over former head coach Jason Garret but by less than most outside of Dallas care to admit. Due to Covid-19, his new offense will be difficult to implement as quickly as the team would have hoped heading into the 2020 NFL season due to a shortened training camp.
The Philadelphia Eagles, however, have the best coach in the NFC East in Doug Pederson who has not only won a recent Super Bowl with the birds but has also led the team to the playoffs three years in a row. The Eagles offense while complex is already known by the veterans of the team…most importantly the team’s franchise QB Carson Wentz while QB Dak Prescott of Dallas may be spending half a season learning a whole new system. Sure an Eagles rookie or two may struggle right out of the gate, but Doug Pederson is known for his ability to simplify his complex west coast offense to his rookies as the learn the playbook.
To put it very simply Philly is far more in sync than Dallas is at the moment and could be for the duration of the season. Mike is not known for his ability to get rookies up to speed at a fast pace.
4) Amari Cooper will finally face a big challenge against Philly’s secondary: Darius Slay aka big play Slay gives the Eagles their first true shut down CB since the days of Asante Samuel. He may be the best DB overall since the team fielded FS Brian Dawkins.
This will make what was once an easy connection from Dak to Cooper a big challenge, and if Dallas decides to go to WR Michael Gallup in the slot they will be biting off more than they can chew as Slay has impressive inside-outside versatility as does third-year CB2 Avonte Maddox who is a very good player. He’s not Darius Slay good by any means but he’s a fast athletic young playmaker who is sticky in coverage.
FS Will Parks is an upgrade over past DBs like Corey Graham when the Eagles employ three Safety sets. Starting FS Rodey McCloud is a beast and starting SS Jalen Mills has surprisingly looked very impressive in camp after being converted from outside CB. Mills offers versatility in the secondary and will be lining up at all five spots in the secondary at times as well as LB in some sets and will also albeit on occasion be asked to rush the QB as will Slay and Avonte Maddox.
This Eagles secondary is already very very impressive and the Eagles pass rush will make them look even better throughout the course of the season.
5) WR Jalen Reagor of Philadelphia outplays WR Ceedee Lamb of Dallas: About two months before the 2020 NFL Draft got underway I made a bold statement when I told my editor that WR Ceedee lamb is going to be a bust in the NFL and I’m sticking by that statement.
Throughout training camp, WR Jalen Reagor has looked better. I believe this will carry on into this season and beyond. Jalen has already established excellent chemistry with QB Carson Wentz while Lamb has been struggling with contested catches during training camp. Despite being a foot shorter (slight exaggeration) Jalen has been catching everything thrown his way whether it’s a deep ball or a ball thrown over the middle while
showcasing very impressive speed, route running speed, and a surprising ability for a WR listed at 5 ft 11 to jump up over four feet off the ground to make leaping contested catches. While Eagles fans initially wanted the team to draft either lamb or WR Justin Jefferson it seems like GM Howie Roseman has made the right call given Jalen Raiegor’s very impressive camp.
Jalen reminds me of a mix of former great NFL WR Anquan Bolden and WR Tyreek Hill while both Lamb and Jefferson remind me of now out of the league former NFL WR Jordan Matthews. A good call by Howie. I’ll say it one last time. Mark my words. WR Ceedee Lamb will be a bust for Dallas and most likely for any team, he plays for in the NFL. He is the most overhyped WR since former Vikings first-round pick Laquan Treadwell who is no longer playing football.
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