NFL Dallas Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys’ Coaches to Blame For Loss to Philadelphia Eagles

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Sterling Moore Dallas Cowboys

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Whenever you are beaten as badly as the Dallas Cowboys were on Thanksgiving Day, you start looking for a silver lining. It’s late in the season and the division is on the line, so as players and coaches, you want to have a pretty good idea of where you stand as a team in regards to the rest of the league. And I know that it’s going to sound strange to hear this after this Thursday’s game, but I have to say that when you look at the big picture, the Cowboys are still in a pretty good spot.

If they had lost to the Philadelphia Eagles because they had more talent than they did, then you would know that there isn’t much hope for them if they do make the playoffs. But if you look at the film, the Eagles weren’t any bigger than the Cowboys were, they weren’t any faster than they were and as far as football IQ goes, they weren’t any smarter than the Cowboy players. The reason the Cowboys were easily dominated in this game was simply because of coaching.

The coaches never put the Cowboys in a position to win. You could tell from the first two possessions of the game how this contest was going to end. The Cowboys have drafted and signed cornerbacks and safeties that thrive in man-to-man coverage; Brandon Carr was given a $50 million contract because of his coverage skills and Orlando Scandrick was given a $15 million contract for the same reason. Yet on Philadelphia’s first four possessions of the game, they ran zone and the Eagles were able to march right down the field on them to score points with lengthy drives that took less than four minutes. The coaches finally adjusted in the second half and, as a result, the Eagles weren’t as successful, but they were already up by 16 at that point of the game.

Offensively, the Cowboys coaches appear to be so stubborn with their game plan that it seems as though they don’t care who they are matched up against and what their opponent’s weaknesses are. The Eagles are ranked 28th in the league against the pass and the Cowboys have Dez Bryant and Jason Witten at their disposal, but for whatever reason the Cowboys thought that it would be better to try and utilize the same game plan they have the previous 11 weeks, and that’s run the ball at all costs. They rarely threw the ball deep to Dez, but the few times they did, he either delivered with a spectacular catch or he should have drawn a flag for a penalty that wasn’t called. And Witten left the field having just one catch for eight yards; sorry to state the obvious, but that’s just not going to get it done.

 Maybe the coaches were affected by the short week or maybe they needed to be spanked on national television to finally get the point but whatever the reason, they do get a chance at retribution in two weeks and they better step up so they don’t let their players or the fans down again.

Kelly Anderson is a blogger for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bgipp01 or add him to your network on Google.

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