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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Eagles vs. Cowboys Pregame Preview · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:24
Speaker 1: Welcome to opposition territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:27
Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:30
Speaker 1: in the world, twelve and a half year strong. Got
0:32
Speaker 1: a great Eagles Cowboys preview show coming your way with
0:36
Speaker 1: our good friend from the bloggintheboys dot com website. He's
0:42
Speaker 1: been coming on for many, many years, so very gracious
0:45
Speaker 1: and grateful, I should say, to have him taking the
0:48
Speaker 1: time here, the one and only rj Ochoa. RJ. Thanks
0:51
Speaker 1: so much, buddy. Really appreciate you, my.
0:53
Speaker 2: Friend, Jeff. It's great to be with you.
0:55
Speaker 3: Help the families, well, help your you never sleep from
0:58
Speaker 3: what I can tell, you found a chance to go
1:01
Speaker 3: to Cesta.
1:02
Speaker 2: I appreciate You're ready for the holidays.
1:04
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Yes, and you know the holidays are
1:07
Speaker 1: right around the corner. That means football is gonna be
1:10
Speaker 1: in full force, especially during the Thanksgiving holiday season. Eagles
1:16
Speaker 1: and Cowboys doing some interesting things and it's gonna be
1:18
Speaker 1: an interesting matchup this week. These division matchups always are interesting.
1:23
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what the records are for each of
1:25
Speaker 1: these teams. However, I want to get into and we've
1:29
Speaker 1: been talking about on our opposition territory pods here. RJ
1:33
Speaker 1: like right off the bat talking about strengths and weaknesses
1:37
Speaker 1: of the Eagles opposing team. So I was hoping we
1:39
Speaker 1: could get into what the biggest strength of the Cowboys
1:42
Speaker 1: has been as we're heading into this week ten I'm sorry,
1:45
Speaker 1: Week twelve matchup, and what the biggest weakness is as well.
1:48
Speaker 1: Let's start with the biggest strength on this Cowboys team.
1:51
Speaker 1: What is that? And you know what should we be
1:53
Speaker 1: looking out for this week twelve matchup? Here?
1:56
Speaker 3: Well, apologies because we've happened to have done this mail
2:00
Speaker 3: delivery time around my house and my dog, Bear the dog, Yeah,
2:04
Speaker 3: he's uh, he's pretty pissed off about it, but you know,
2:07
Speaker 3: when the Amazon packages come he can be quiet.
2:09
Speaker 2: That being said, I think.
2:12
Speaker 3: That we are in a moment where it's almost universally
2:17
Speaker 3: agreed upon that Dak Prescott is the best quarterback in
2:20
Speaker 3: the NFC East and and that's not career resume or anything,
2:23
Speaker 3: but in terms of how they're playing, I think we
2:25
Speaker 3: all agree, which is a very strange thing, yes, and
2:29
Speaker 3: that that's where the strength starts for the Cowboys. And
2:32
Speaker 3: much has been made about the trade for George Pickens
2:35
Speaker 3: and and whatnot, and he's obviously been incredible, so so
2:39
Speaker 3: he has amplified what was already an incredible strength between
2:42
Speaker 3: DAK and CD, and this season has seen the emergence
2:45
Speaker 3: or re emergence you could argue of Jake Ferguson, who
2:48
Speaker 3: went to maybe the best Big Ten school. Who knows,
2:50
Speaker 3: you know, I don't know how you feel about that,
2:52
Speaker 3: but I don't know about and and and the offensive
2:56
Speaker 3: line that was young and being remodeled has held up.
2:58
Speaker 3: And so the offense is it's without a doubt. They
3:01
Speaker 3: did have some stumbles when they lost to Denver and
3:04
Speaker 3: then Arizona on that Monday night before the bye, but
3:08
Speaker 3: other than that they have been I mean, not just
3:10
Speaker 3: the strength but elite. I mean among the NFL is
3:13
Speaker 3: very very very best.
3:14
Speaker 1: They've been so colletdous. They've been so competitive.
3:16
Speaker 3: Yes one, they've had to be just because the I mean,
3:19
Speaker 3: just to give a bit of a spoiler, hear, the
3:21
Speaker 3: defense has been far and away the weakness, but it
3:23
Speaker 3: has undergone some significant changes and whatnot. But DAK is
3:27
Speaker 3: definitely the answer to that question.
3:29
Speaker 1: And the weakness is that defense that you're talking about.
3:33
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if you want to expound
3:34
Speaker 1: upon that. Again, we talk about strengths and weaknesses of
3:37
Speaker 1: the Eagles opposing teams every week right out of the gate,
3:40
Speaker 1: if you can get into like specifically what we're going
3:43
Speaker 1: to be seeing in terms of that weakness where the
3:45
Speaker 1: Eagles offense may be able to really capitalize on that
3:48
Speaker 1: weak Cowboys defense.
3:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's I think that it's I know we've talked
3:54
Speaker 3: about this, but it's important to acknowledge that everything that's
3:57
Speaker 3: weak about the Cowboys was almost so inflicted by the
4:01
Speaker 3: front office. I mean, ever since they lost that playoff
4:03
Speaker 3: game to the Packers, it's been either willful ignorance or
4:07
Speaker 3: outright self sabotage. And so they watched this defense whither away,
4:13
Speaker 3: whither away. And it starts with the fact that Dan
4:16
Speaker 3: Quinn left for the Washington job now after two years ago,
4:20
Speaker 3: and they left, you know, they're still fielding the ramifications
4:24
Speaker 3: of letting Mike McCarthy go into last year in this
4:26
Speaker 3: lame duck year, and they brought in Mike Zimmer for
4:28
Speaker 3: what was obviously just a one year situation and then
4:31
Speaker 3: hired a new head coach and a new defensive coordinator.
4:33
Speaker 3: So they've had all this change they traded away Micah Parsons,
4:36
Speaker 3: and they are inordinately not talented or have been not talented.
4:40
Speaker 3: They had the worst linebacker play I've ever seen them
4:42
Speaker 3: have through the course of not just my professional career,
4:45
Speaker 3: but my life.
4:47
Speaker 2: Yeah.
4:47
Speaker 3: Right, So the first trade they executed, it was for
4:50
Speaker 3: Logan Wilson, which was, you know, maybe arguably the better
4:53
Speaker 3: trade in terms of return on investment. I mean, they
4:55
Speaker 3: gave up a seventh round pick for him, so that
4:57
Speaker 3: seemingly will help. They got to marve on overshown back,
4:59
Speaker 3: you know, Monday night against Las Vegas. Obviously, they landed
5:02
Speaker 3: Quentin Williams. They have Savon Rivel playing I made his
5:05
Speaker 3: NFL debuts, their third round pick Keeps coming back from
5:08
Speaker 3: a torn a cl last year. So I mean, quantitatively,
5:11
Speaker 3: they have changed. So it is difficult to say what
5:14
Speaker 3: they will be this Sunday. I don't mean to ride defense,
5:16
Speaker 3: but but they've been so poor because they haven't had
5:19
Speaker 3: these guys. They haven't had these players. They've just been
5:21
Speaker 3: dealing with these cast offs in the third year of
5:25
Speaker 3: a third defensive coordinator, not not that it his third year,
5:27
Speaker 3: but there's been so many significant changes and withering of
5:30
Speaker 3: talent that it was just too much. And I suppose
5:33
Speaker 3: if you wanted to argue this as well, the offense
5:36
Speaker 3: is so good and so the offense scores so often
5:39
Speaker 3: and so quickly that they're back on the field failing
5:42
Speaker 3: all over again.
5:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you know, it's interesting that we
5:47
Speaker 1: have this dichotomy here in the NFC East and in
5:50
Speaker 1: the NFC in general, when you have the top team
5:53
Speaker 1: in the NFC being the Philadelphia Eagles struggling from an
5:57
Speaker 1: offensive perspective, the narrative around Philmiladelphia, in this Eagles team,
6:02
Speaker 1: in the personnel, the front office, what's actually happening behind
6:05
Speaker 1: the scenes. I wanted to get your perspective, as you know,
6:09
Speaker 1: somebody on the quote outside of things here. I mean,
6:12
Speaker 1: it's no secret that this Eagles offense just isn't running
6:14
Speaker 1: on all cylinders, even with the talent that they have
6:17
Speaker 1: at all these skilled positions. Eagles Nation very well aware
6:21
Speaker 1: of that. The offensive line is part of this, and
6:23
Speaker 1: a big part of this. From a from an inconsistent
6:26
Speaker 1: play standpoint, the offensive play calling is not only sketchy,
6:31
Speaker 1: but it is absolutely predictable. The Eagles offense is the
6:36
Speaker 1: most predictable offense in the entire NFL. How do you
6:41
Speaker 1: R Jay view this Eagles offense in terms of this
6:44
Speaker 1: narrative heading into this Sunday game here, because I think
6:49
Speaker 1: it's interesting to hear what an a quote outsider's perspective
6:54
Speaker 1: is on what's happening with this Eagles offense. What are
6:56
Speaker 1: your thoughts here?
6:58
Speaker 3: I've talked a lot about this with my colle Randon Gotten,
7:01
Speaker 3: who I know is a friend of the Pod as well,
7:04
Speaker 3: and I think it's astonishing that just Aj Brown, I mean,
7:09
Speaker 3: we all understand what that umbrella covers, yea, that and
7:12
Speaker 3: we all again universally agree that what he's doing is
7:15
Speaker 3: detrimental to the sake of the team. But what's amazing
7:20
Speaker 3: to me is we all also universally agree with him
7:23
Speaker 3: like that. That's an incredible thing that Aj is so clearly,
7:27
Speaker 3: you know, objectively in the wrong to powder whatever you
7:31
Speaker 3: want to call it. I mean, I think he has
7:32
Speaker 3: a right to voice's opinion obviously, but that's where the conversation.
7:35
Speaker 2: Goes, is that he is right. I think this is
7:39
Speaker 2: very awkward.
7:40
Speaker 3: It must be very awkward for points of leadership within
7:42
Speaker 3: the Eagles, because if you have to paint a primary culprit.
7:46
Speaker 3: It's Jalen Hurts, and he's the quarterback, he's the face,
7:49
Speaker 3: and he's the reigning Super Bowl MVP.
7:51
Speaker 2: So how can you you.
7:52
Speaker 3: Know, you have to have some level of protection with
7:55
Speaker 3: regards to him, for lack of a better word. That
7:57
Speaker 3: that isn't to say they're coddling him, but I think
8:00
Speaker 3: he's clearly the you know, the the handicap on the
8:03
Speaker 3: offense outside of the play calling obviously and whatnot. But
8:06
Speaker 3: the strange thing is he has these moments, since a
8:08
Speaker 3: lot of them are in the playoffs where he does
8:10
Speaker 3: show up and and can you bank on that? That
8:12
Speaker 3: would be foolish, But but they're still winning games, but
8:15
Speaker 3: the offense is so poor and they've been out gained
8:17
Speaker 3: in all these games.
8:18
Speaker 2: So I certainly love the drama and I'm a fan
8:22
Speaker 2: of it.
8:23
Speaker 3: And and if I can manifest anything in a very
8:28
Speaker 3: different way but somewhat similar, it feels similar to Carson
8:30
Speaker 3: Wentz and and the way that that fallout, you know,
8:33
Speaker 3: began and transpired. Because I do wonder how players like
8:39
Speaker 3: aj Brown feel, how it must feel to know you're
8:42
Speaker 3: so wildly talented but that you have this limit and
8:45
Speaker 3: to look even within the own your own division and
8:47
Speaker 3: see someone like Dak Prescott who who is so willing
8:50
Speaker 3: to be aggressive and whatnot. And you could argue that
8:53
Speaker 3: Dak has to be that way because he has no
8:55
Speaker 3: help around him. And so Dak is to me kind
8:59
Speaker 3: of like Batman right, like he has had to forge
9:03
Speaker 3: his own weaponry. He has had to figure out how
9:05
Speaker 3: to make this work. Yeah, where whereas you know, Jalen
9:08
Speaker 3: Hurts is like Iron Man, like he's stepping into the
9:11
Speaker 3: suit that does everything for him. And that's again I
9:14
Speaker 3: think that Jalen I don't mean any of this to
9:16
Speaker 3: soun negative. I think he's done everything he's been asked
9:18
Speaker 3: to do. I just think over this run his career,
9:22
Speaker 3: the Eagles identified a lot of market inefficiencies that they
9:25
Speaker 3: could capitalize on, and they've done so heroically to the
9:27
Speaker 3: point that they, you know.
9:28
Speaker 2: Almost won multiple super Bowls.
9:31
Speaker 3: But I think we're reaching a point where that has
9:33
Speaker 3: run its course and it's now time to either adapt
9:36
Speaker 3: or for the main you know, cog in the machine,
9:40
Speaker 3: which is your quarterback, to do something different, and it
9:43
Speaker 3: doesn't appear that he's able to.
9:45
Speaker 1: That is a very interesting assessment too, because I think
9:48
Speaker 1: for some within Eagles Nation. It is so tough for
9:51
Speaker 1: them to really see and understand where he is at
9:56
Speaker 1: in his career and what he's actually given the organization.
9:59
Speaker 1: I mean, just even in our contemporary history, not just
10:02
Speaker 1: two Super Bowl appearances, but an actual Super Bowl championship
10:06
Speaker 1: and being the MVP, and what that actually means from
10:09
Speaker 1: a long term perspective in terms of your place on
10:11
Speaker 1: the team, in terms of how you are viewed even
10:15
Speaker 1: outside the realm of Philadelphia. So it's a very interesting
10:19
Speaker 1: point of view, and I wish, I wish we had
10:21
Speaker 1: more time to actually dive into that. However, yeah, go ahead.
10:25
Speaker 3: Well just quickly, because I think an outsider's perspective is
10:27
Speaker 3: interesting there. I have always felt like the first Super
10:30
Speaker 3: Bowl was a little not not that it was fake,
10:32
Speaker 3: but it had to be like the most awkward way
10:34
Speaker 3: for your team to win a Super It was like
10:36
Speaker 3: it was magical.
10:37
Speaker 2: It was magical. But but to your point, you don't
10:39
Speaker 2: have that.
10:40
Speaker 3: I mean, Nick Foles was not the quarterback, the guy
10:43
Speaker 3: he had the match, So Jalen is that guy, like
10:46
Speaker 3: you finally have the frontman for the group. And so
10:50
Speaker 3: I agree that his place in franchise history is very
10:53
Speaker 3: unique because.
10:53
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely. All right, well, let's get into some matchups
10:57
Speaker 1: before we get to our break. Want to dive into
11:01
Speaker 1: this Eagles defense. My gosh, they have been on fire
11:04
Speaker 1: these past few weeks here. Arguably they look like a
11:08
Speaker 1: super Bowl caliber defense. RJ. How do you see the
11:12
Speaker 1: Eagles offensive line? I'm sorry, the Cowboys offensive line because
11:17
Speaker 1: you were talking about them before. It has been a
11:19
Speaker 1: strength of this Cowboys team. How do you see that
11:22
Speaker 1: Cowboys offensive line matching up against this Eagles defensive front
11:25
Speaker 1: that has been absolutely dominant week after week here.
11:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's where the game is often won
11:32
Speaker 3: and lost for the Cowboys against the Eagles. And you,
11:35
Speaker 3: the most intense game they've played in recent history was
11:38
Speaker 3: that Christmas Eve game in twenty twenty two, the Gardner
11:41
Speaker 3: Minshew game, And that was I think before the Eagles
11:44
Speaker 3: realized that blitzing Dak Prescott was just asking to be beat.
11:48
Speaker 3: And so, I mean, Dak is arguably the best quarterback
11:51
Speaker 3: in the NFL against the blitz because he's such a
11:53
Speaker 3: quick processor, and he's got receivers who can capitalize in
11:56
Speaker 3: those situations. And so I think that's the challenge is
11:59
Speaker 3: and if anyone is suited to win that it is
12:01
Speaker 3: Philadelphia to win without blitzing, to win without sending extra pressure,
12:05
Speaker 3: and if they can, and it would stand a reason
12:07
Speaker 3: that they're certainly capable of doing so. That's how how
12:09
Speaker 3: Philadelphia not only wins this game, but I think wins
12:12
Speaker 3: this game running away. But if they do have to
12:13
Speaker 3: send extra pressure, that's where other things open up and
12:16
Speaker 3: acts able to capitalize, which we've seen.
12:18
Speaker 2: Him do it against other things, not just the Eagles.
12:19
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, all right, well we are going to take
12:22
Speaker 1: a break here, folks, and again R Johoa from Bloggingtheboys
12:26
Speaker 1: dot Com at Rjohoa on the Twitter slash x and uh,
12:31
Speaker 1: you want to some other social platforms out there.
12:33
Speaker 3: Buddy, Yeah, well Instagram as well as our jo ochoa
12:38
Speaker 3: and so as threads residually. Somebody had that on TikTok.
12:41
Speaker 3: That's what the joke I use all the times I
12:42
Speaker 3: had to go with rjo It's it's really lame. But
12:45
Speaker 3: I'm also using LinkedIn more so, if anybody wants to,
12:47
Speaker 3: you know, connect on LinkedIn, you know, let's let's mix
12:50
Speaker 3: it up.
12:51
Speaker 2: Let's get a little strange.
12:52
Speaker 1: Very good. If you are watching us on YouTube, like
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Speaker 1: Sports Table podcast show or myself on various social media sites.
13:12
Speaker 1: We are there, So we're gonna be taking a quick
13:15
Speaker 1: break here, folks, and when we get back, got a
13:18
Speaker 1: lot more matchup talk with this week twelve game coming up,
13:22
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles against the Cowboys. Stick with us, all right,
13:27
Speaker 1: We are back again with our good friend Rjoho from
13:29
Speaker 1: bloggintheboys dot Com Great SB Nation site. Been doing great,
13:33
Speaker 1: great work over there for many, many years. As we're
13:36
Speaker 1: continuing to discuss this preview of the Eagles and Cowboys
13:41
Speaker 1: game coming up here, I want to dive into the
13:44
Speaker 1: Eagles quote offensive attack quote offensive attack and with them
13:49
Speaker 1: and what we might see for the Cowboys defense as well.
13:52
Speaker 1: A week Cowboys defense against a week Eagles offensive attack.
13:57
Speaker 2: Look.
13:57
Speaker 1: Third and long has been a major issue for this
14:01
Speaker 1: Eagles offense over the past few games that they have
14:03
Speaker 1: played mainly all season. I mean, I can't tell you,
14:06
Speaker 1: and you've probably talked about it with Brandon Lee Gout
14:09
Speaker 1: and our mutual friend here of our podcasts in our platforms,
14:14
Speaker 1: Third and tens, Third and eight, third and nines. It
14:17
Speaker 1: is astonishing how the Eagles are going third and long
14:21
Speaker 1: all the time throughout these games. So I'm wondering, our
14:24
Speaker 1: j how do you expect the Cowboys defense to possibly
14:28
Speaker 1: capitalize on this struggling Eagles offense here?
14:31
Speaker 3: I think that's the key, right it is putting them
14:33
Speaker 3: in those holes and just kind of letting themselves destruct.
14:37
Speaker 3: And I would offer they haven't really been able to
14:39
Speaker 3: do that in recent matchups against them, and last year
14:42
Speaker 3: was really broken for Dallas, as I've told you. But
14:46
Speaker 3: we're still so early in the Quinn Williams time. I mean,
14:50
Speaker 3: this is his second game on the team, in his
14:52
Speaker 3: first game at home, and so you know early in
14:57
Speaker 3: the season, the Cowboys are getting destroyed. Every quarterback was
14:59
Speaker 3: just how a field day through the air. In fact,
15:01
Speaker 3: I made a joke a lot that it's said a
15:03
Speaker 3: lot of negative about Jalen Hurts that he wasn't able
15:06
Speaker 3: to do that, but he didn't have to in the
15:07
Speaker 3: opener because he was he was running all over the Cowboys,
15:10
Speaker 3: and so I think that's I would not be shocked
15:12
Speaker 3: if Jalen picks up you know, three different third and
15:15
Speaker 3: lungs on the ground like that's how this is mitigated.
15:17
Speaker 3: But the presence of Quinnon Williams along the interior does
15:21
Speaker 3: change it. And I would say, you know, we were
15:23
Speaker 3: always and always have been jealous of Fletcher Cox. I mean,
15:26
Speaker 3: just because the Cowboys have never had that. They've they've
15:29
Speaker 3: you know, not only in games against the Eagles but
15:30
Speaker 3: against anybody. They have just that has been the highest
15:33
Speaker 3: point of weak This for them is the defensive interior.
15:35
Speaker 3: And so I'm kind of just curious. I'm curious what
15:37
Speaker 3: that looks like. Does that mitigate somebody like Jalen Hurts
15:40
Speaker 3: and his mobility? That's truly you know, I know I
15:42
Speaker 3: mentioned the trenchers for the Cowboys on offense, but I mean,
15:46
Speaker 3: if the Cowboys were able to successfully defend third and
15:49
Speaker 3: I'd even go more optimistic from our perspective and say
15:51
Speaker 3: third and six things like that, Yeah, the then they
15:54
Speaker 3: really can win, I mean, and it would not be shocking.
15:56
Speaker 3: And I think you would agree there's a script I
15:58
Speaker 3: should say to where after three or four different possessions.
16:02
Speaker 3: The Cowboys are up to like a seventeen netting lead,
16:04
Speaker 3: and then it's just kind of hold on for dear
16:06
Speaker 3: life and that might be enough.
16:07
Speaker 2: Yeah.
16:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, And look, the reality is that this Eagles offensive
16:11
Speaker 1: line is banged up in a lot of ways, and
16:13
Speaker 1: I think with Quinn Williams coming in as well and
16:17
Speaker 1: being able to overpower some of the depth on this
16:21
Speaker 1: Eagles offensive line, it's definitely a storyline that we need
16:24
Speaker 1: to keep our eyes on.
16:26
Speaker 2: Yeah.
16:26
Speaker 3: You know, for a long time I dismissed Lane Johnson's
16:30
Speaker 3: greatness because he was a right tackle.
16:32
Speaker 2: I'm sure that's things.
16:33
Speaker 1: We've talked about that.
16:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's one of my favorites, and so I always
16:38
Speaker 3: felt he was very good, but not just this like,
16:40
Speaker 3: you know, franchise change. I just didn't believe that was possible.
16:44
Speaker 3: I think if the Eagles build a statue with regards
16:47
Speaker 3: to all success from twenty seventeen ongoing, it should be
16:50
Speaker 3: of Lane Johnson. It shouldn't be of Jalen Hurtz or
16:52
Speaker 3: Nick Foles or anybody. I know he has one, but
16:54
Speaker 3: it should be of Lane Johnson. So, and it's startling
16:58
Speaker 3: from your perspective, howficantly worse the They're not just like
17:02
Speaker 3: average without Lan Johnson, they're horrible with Alan.
17:05
Speaker 2: Johnson in some respects.
17:06
Speaker 3: Yes, So to spoil things, I am picking the Cowboys,
17:10
Speaker 3: And that's honestly maybe the biggest reason why not not
17:12
Speaker 3: just the Eagles offense is floundering and the Cowboys offense
17:15
Speaker 3: is playing well, or quinnin Williams whatever. But that is
17:17
Speaker 3: such and has been such a significant detail. And if
17:20
Speaker 3: Cam Jurgens doesn't play, that obviously lends even more so
17:23
Speaker 3: to Quentin and Williams. So I have really never been
17:25
Speaker 3: confident in the Cowboys defensive front against the Eagles offensive line,
17:28
Speaker 3: but this lends itself to that degree absolutely.
17:31
Speaker 1: And look, we all know that from game to game
17:34
Speaker 1: in the NFL, doesn't matter what teams we're watching, who's
17:37
Speaker 1: on our screens, there are always some sneaky players that
17:40
Speaker 1: end up performing well from game to games. So I'm wondering, RJ,
17:46
Speaker 1: are there a couple sneaky Cowboys players that we really
17:48
Speaker 1: need to keep our eyes on heading into this game
17:50
Speaker 1: that might not necessarily be on our radar in terms
17:53
Speaker 1: of how well they may perform against this Eagles team.
17:56
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts here.
17:57
Speaker 3: I would say defensively for the cowboy Boys, it's look,
18:02
Speaker 3: it's I always say, it's difficult to be underrated as
18:04
Speaker 3: a Cowboy just because of how much attention they get.
18:08
Speaker 3: But it's it's Donovan Azu Roker, who's from your neck
18:10
Speaker 3: of the woods, generally speaking, their second round pick out
18:12
Speaker 3: of BC. He has really come along and they've obviously
18:15
Speaker 3: needed somebody to after the Mica trade and whatnot. But
18:18
Speaker 3: so much attention is given now to Quentin Williams and
18:21
Speaker 3: even to Kenny Clark because he was a part of
18:23
Speaker 3: the trade. But but Donovan has arguably turned into their
18:25
Speaker 3: best pass rusher, so I would not be stunned to
18:28
Speaker 3: see him have success and just people be like, who's
18:31
Speaker 3: this guy. I'm not familiar with his game. Offensively, I
18:34
Speaker 3: mentioned him, but Jake Ferguson. So much attention is given
18:37
Speaker 3: to Dak and CD and now Pickens and even Javonte
18:40
Speaker 3: Williams getting a lot of pop with the season he's having.
18:42
Speaker 3: But Jake Ferguson has seven touchdowns to this point.
18:45
Speaker 1: He's one of the best tight ends in the league.
18:47
Speaker 1: And I just don't think the guy's getting his due
18:49
Speaker 1: from an overall perspective.
18:51
Speaker 2: Right, and so I think that he's benefited.
18:54
Speaker 3: Obviously, everyone has from George Pickens's presence, and so he's
18:57
Speaker 3: kind of the just kind of trash can catch or
19:00
Speaker 3: the garbage's bats or the catches all the leftover work
19:02
Speaker 3: and leftover statistics. He is two touchdowns away from tying
19:06
Speaker 3: the single season record for a tight end for the Cowboys.
19:09
Speaker 3: And I should mention while I'm here on that note,
19:11
Speaker 3: Dak Prescott needs one hundred and sixty passing yards to
19:14
Speaker 3: pass Tony Romo for the most in Francho all right,
19:17
Speaker 3: but it's likely, with all due respect, that is likely.
19:20
Speaker 3: It's such a low number likely going down this Sunday.
19:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, all right, RJ. Before we let you go,
19:26
Speaker 1: we end our pregame preview shows here in our Opposition
19:29
Speaker 1: Territory podcast every week by talking about one thing that
19:32
Speaker 1: each team is going to need to hit on.
19:34
Speaker 2: For a win.
19:35
Speaker 1: Let's start with the Dallas Cowboys. What's the one thing
19:37
Speaker 1: the Cowboys are going to need to hit on for
19:39
Speaker 1: a win against the Eagles this week?
19:41
Speaker 3: I think you have to I know I use the
19:43
Speaker 3: term self destruct, but you have to let the Eagles
19:45
Speaker 3: get in their own head I think it's it's strange
19:48
Speaker 3: how and they will respect right well, I do mean
19:52
Speaker 3: this as I always have with all due respect, but
19:54
Speaker 3: it's strange how insecure the Eagles are for a team
19:57
Speaker 3: that's eight and two, that's defending Super Bowl champion. I mean, so,
20:01
Speaker 3: I think just just kind of letting that happen. And
20:03
Speaker 3: the Cowboys are are pretty well accustomed to insecurity happening
20:07
Speaker 3: around them, so I think, and that's where you know,
20:10
Speaker 3: this sounds obvious, but I mean again, getting out to
20:13
Speaker 3: even a fourteen nothing lead, a ten nothing lead, I
20:16
Speaker 3: do think that if you're able to successfully do that,
20:18
Speaker 3: if you're able to win the first quarter that way,
20:21
Speaker 3: I think things start to feel like a self fulfilling
20:23
Speaker 3: prophecy on the Philadelphia side, and so if you can
20:26
Speaker 3: be perfect early on, it makes riding downhill a lot
20:30
Speaker 3: more smooth.
20:30
Speaker 1: And on the flip side of things, what's the one
20:32
Speaker 1: thing the Philadelphia Eagles are going to need to hit
20:34
Speaker 1: on for a win against the Cowboys this week?
20:36
Speaker 3: It sounds logical because it's kind of the opposite of that,
20:39
Speaker 3: but the reason the Cowboys not only lost but got
20:42
Speaker 3: blown out by both Denver and Arizona is they failed
20:45
Speaker 3: to score points early on against Denver, bo Nicks had
20:48
Speaker 3: this gift of an interception to them, and they got
20:50
Speaker 3: down to the goal line and wanted to go for
20:53
Speaker 3: it but had to settle for three. And so at
20:54
Speaker 3: that point it's just you know, you're bringing rocks to
20:57
Speaker 3: a gunfight or whatever. And against Theirs, they got down
21:00
Speaker 3: to the goal line and actually went for it on
21:02
Speaker 3: fourth down and failed to get any points, and so
21:04
Speaker 3: all of a sudden, you just you put that first
21:07
Speaker 3: crack in the damn and everything kind of flows through.
21:09
Speaker 3: And so I think if Philly is able to I mean,
21:11
Speaker 3: I think Dallas is way more likely to self combust
21:14
Speaker 3: if they're down ten nothing then Philadelphia. To be very
21:17
Speaker 3: clear here, but that's how you put the Cowboys offense
21:19
Speaker 3: in a position where they have to be more aggressive
21:21
Speaker 3: than they'd like to be because they know they can't
21:23
Speaker 3: trust their defense, and everything works together that way.
21:26
Speaker 1: Fantastic discussion, a fantastic preview show here at the Philadelphia
21:30
Speaker 1: Sports Table podcast show again, folks. He is our Johow
21:34
Speaker 1: from esp nations, Bloggintheboys dot com. My friend, always appreciate
21:38
Speaker 1: you taking the time to come on. Seriously, You're always
21:40
Speaker 1: generous with your time. Let's talk more football down the road.
21:43
Speaker 1: I'd love to have you back on the show, my friend.
21:45
Speaker 3: I'd love to do it, and I'd be remiss if
21:47
Speaker 3: I did not mention, just for your audience's sake, that
21:49
Speaker 3: this is the first home game that the Cowboys are
21:51
Speaker 3: playing since the tragic passing of Marshawn neland and so
21:55
Speaker 3: I imagine the broadcast will cover that at length, but it
21:58
Speaker 3: remains a highly emotional situation for the team, and given
22:02
Speaker 3: that it is their first home game right before the holidays,
22:04
Speaker 3: emotions are just all over them in an understandable way, obviously,
22:09
Speaker 3: But if you're unaware, as an audience members a listener
22:12
Speaker 3: of the show, obviously you're probably going to be exposed
22:14
Speaker 3: to that to someone.
22:15
Speaker 1: All right, very good, and you know what if football
22:17
Speaker 1: is emotional in general, from all sides of it, and
22:21
Speaker 1: I'd love to talk to you more about some NFL football,
22:24
Speaker 1: Cowboys Eagles in the future, my friend, come back and
22:26
Speaker 1: join us anytime. That's going to do it for us
22:30
Speaker 1: here on Opposition Territory this week. Please share our podcast
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Speaker 1: with your friends and family members who are Philly sports
22:36
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22:40
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22:43
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22:50
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23:00
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