Eagles vs. Cowgirls Preview

NFC East Divisional Champions

NFC Playoffs 1st round bye

Home field advantage until NFC Championship

While these three items were all on the Eagles checklist at the beginning of a season, they can now each be checked off with one task - beat the Cowgirls in "small d" this Sunday at 4:15pm. I cannot remember ever being this pumped up for a regular season game! Having the regular season end in Dallas, against our bitter rivals, with the division and a first round bye on the line...honestly, does it get any better than this?

Below are statistical comparisons between players and the match-ups that I see as the most important to the Eagles success or defeat. Bold shows best number in their field.

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Quarterback

Donovan McNabb - 3330 Yds, 60.7 %, 22 Td, 10 Int, 94.5 Rat

Tono Romo - 4172 Yds, 62.6%, 24 Td, 8 Int, 97.0 Rat

Runningbacks

LeSean McCoy - (Rush) 633 Yds, 4.1 Ave, 4 Td - (Rec) 303 Yds, 8.0 Ave

Leonard Weaver - (Rush) 321 Yds, 4.7 Ave, 2 Td - (Rec) 140 Yds, 9.3 Ave, 2 Td

Brian Westbrook - (Rush) 257 Yds, 4.6 Ave, 1 Td - (Rec) 161 Yds, 7.7 Ave, 1 Td

Marion Barber - (Rush) 841 Yds, 4.2 Ave, 7 Td - (Rec) 207 Yds, 8.3 Ave

Felix Jones - (Rush) 594 Yds, 5.9 Ave, 2 Td - (Rec) 116 Yd, 7.3 Ave

Tashard Choice - (Rush) - 349 Yds, 5.5 Ave, 3 Td - (Rec) 132 Yds, 8.8 Ave

Wide Receivers

DeSean Jackson - 1120 Yds, 18.7 Ave, 9 Td

Jeremy Maclin - 715 Yds, 13.8 Ave, 4 Td

Miles Austin - 123o Yds, 16.6 Ave, 11 Td

Roy Williams - 596 Yds, 15.7 Ave, 7 Td

Tight End

Brent Celek - 875 Yds, 12.7 Ave, 8 Td

Jason Witten - 954 yds, 10.8 Ave, 1 Td

Punt Returns

DeSean Jackson - 432 Yds, 15 FC, 85 Long, 2 Td

Patrick Crayton - 413 Yds, 22 FC, 82 Long, 2 Td

Cornerbacks

Asante Samuel - 40 Tot, 39 Sol, 1FF, 15 PD, 9 Int

Sheldon Brown - 51 Tot, 43 Sol, 1 FF, 17 PD, 5 int

Mike Jenkins - 48 Tot, 44 Sol, 16 PD, 5 int

Terence Newman - 56 Tot, 51 Sol, 3 FF, 18 PD, 3 Int

Linebackers

Not comparing these..Dallas simply dominates having two healthy LBs all year.

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When you look over the numbers above you can see why this game means so much for both teams - they're both very good. It is weird how well these two teams match up offensively. I kept waiting for stats to show the position that we dominate in, but the stats show how evenly we match up across all of the positions.

With this in mind, I believe that there are a few positions that we need to pay specific attention to if we want to give ourselves a good shot at winning.

Miles Austin - He is the most important person on this team. We absolutely need to contain Austin. In the first meeting, Austin had one catch for a 49 yd TD. He seems to do this in just about every game..this is why he has 11 TD's and made the Pro Bowl.

Tony Romo - Romo has had a very good year, which makes me sick to say. Romo's legs are what will kill us. He can make a play out of nothing because he allows himself time to get out of the pocket and either run or complete a broken-play pass.

Felix Jones - Marion Barber does not scare me..he's getting slow and doesn't hit the hole like he used to - he'll get the ball in goal line situations, we know that. Felix Jones is an explosive back that can take a hand off or screen and turn it into a big play...easily. The 'Girls could use this speed to counter the coverages we will put on Austin, so it is important to shut him down early and get our hands on the ball...he fumbles.

Jason Witten - Dude always kills us.

We need LeSean McCoy to have a big day, which I feel he will have. More importantly, if Jeremy Maclin has a few big catches in the first half the offense will open dramatically, because you know the 'Girls are scared of DeSean Jackson and have been pooping their pants all week trying to figure out some sort of bracket coverage for him.

I'll save your eyes some stress and wrap it up here...

The Eagles have their playoff situation in their own hands. This team should be salivating at the opportunity that they have in front of them. We have no excuses if we lose this game.

Go Birds!