Eagles-Cowboys will be determined by new
For all of the hype that and get for being two of the best young quarterbacks in the -- a league in serious need of quality quarterback play - Eddie Rosario Jersey - the pivotal Week 11 showdown between the and could be decided by their new-look ground a saults. Don't get me wrong. Wentz and Prescott will be the two most important players on the field. Football always begins and ends with the quarterback (unle s you're the , of course). But the difference between Wentz and Prescott is so negligible that we can expect both of them to rack up gaudy numbers while putting their teams in positions to win. Wentz and Prescott are the stars of the game. There's no denying that. They deserve the attention. But the running games matter, because the quarterback who gets the most support from his ground attack will likely be the quarterback who runs off the field a winner. The quarterbacks are Luke Skywalker and Prince s Leia. The running games are Jyn Erso and Ca sian Andor. Luke and Leia defeated the Empire, but they only got that opportunity because of Jyn and Ca sian's rogue operation to steal the Death Star plans and in the proce s, unite a divided Rebellion against the Empire. Don't forget about the running games. Don't forget about Jyn and Ca sian. Without them, victory won't be po sible. How the Cowboys can overcome Zeke's absence The Cowboys mi s , who just finished serving his first game of his six-game suspension. I know that sounds obvious, but Zeke is the starting point in our look at the Cowboys' ground game. With Zeke in games 1-8, the Cowboys averaged 148.1 rushing yards per game. Without Zeke for the first time last week, the Cowboys ground game declined, totaling 107 rushing yards against the . Prescott accounted for a significant portion of the yardage (42 yards), but did the heavy lifting with 53 yards. contributed 14 yards. Was the Cowboys' ground attack nearly as prolific sans Zeke? Of course not. But it wasn't bad. Its low yardage total was more due to game flow. The Cowboys trailed in the entire second half and by three scores early in the fourth quarter. As a team, they averaged 5.1 yards per carry. They found succe s running to the right. According to Pro Football Focus' metrics, only three of the Cowboys' 21 runs went to the left of the center. That could be due to All-Everything left tackle 's absence. The Cowboys are but his return is no sure thing. Morris lacks Zeke's explosivene s and flashine s, but he's capable of hitting the correct hole and making an efficient play. And Prescott is talented enough to manufacture rushing yards on broken pa sing plays. The problem is that Dallas is going up against one of the league's best run defenses on Sunday. The Eagles are allowing 66.4 rushing yards per game (an NFL low) and 3.6 yards per carry (fifth-lowest). Kirby Puckett Jersey By Football Outsiders' more advanced metrics, they're The Cowboys' decent amount of succe s last week came against the Falcons' 28th Blank Jersey -ranked run defense by DVOA. The Eagles will be difficult to crack, but it won't be impo sible. The Eagles are susceptible in one area. Coincidentally enough, that area is the exact spot the Cowboys tried to avoid last week. On runs behind the left tackle, the Eagles' defense is allowing 9.8 yards per carry, according to PFF. The pa sing game isn't the only aspect of the Cowboys' offense that needs Smith. So does the running game if it hopes to exploit the Eagles by attacking their exhaust port. To see succe s in the ground game, the Cowboys should make better use of Prescott. Last week, only two of his six rushing attempts came on designed runs. Without Zeke, the Cowboys should design more run options for their quarterback like the play below, which gave Prescott multiple options. He could hand it off to Morris, pitch it to Cole Beasley, or keep it himself. He kept it.The Cowboys lost their most deadly weapon in the running game, but they still have another lethal one. They just need to use him more. In the proce s, it could create bigger holes for Morris. Ajayi makes the Eagles' ground a sault deadly The matchup for the Eagles' ground a sault won't be nearly as difficult. The Cowboys' defense is allowing 104.7 rushing yards per game (12th) and 4.3 yards per carry (24th). And unlike the Cowboys, the Eagles just their best running back to their already crowded backfield. By , the Eagles acquired a running back who piled up 1,272 yards (4.9 YPC) and eight touchdowns for the a season ago. Sure, Ajayi struggled in his first seven games this season, yielding 465 yards (3.4 YPC), but he struggled along with the entire Miami offense, which might just be the worst unit in football. It took him only one game to explode with the Eagles. In his debut, he carried the ball eight times for 77 yards and a touchdown, showing that he still has some juice left in him if he's given adequate blocking. Football Outsiders has the Eagles ranked 18th in run blocking, but Here he is using a nice cutback to pick up six yards: Here he is picking up 14 yards thanks to a nice hole, but notice how he also runs through an arm tackle and then pushes a gang of tacklers forward at the end of the run: Here he is hitting the home run (this one is pretty much all about the offensive line): Expect him "He's able to handle everything that we give him at this point," Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich told reporters Tuesday, per NJ.com. "As the week went on, the package of plays we gave him grew. By the end of the week, he was adapting so well and learning so well, we were adding to his number of plays, because he could handle it. "When Marwin Gonzalez Jersey I look at our game plan for this week, I look at it Jorge Polanco Jersey and there's probably not a play on there that I wouldn't feel comfortable putting his number on. As far as Jay learning and knowing what to do. That speaks a lot of him and what he's able to do as a player." Ajayi turns the Eagles' already productive rushing attack into a deadly one. Prior to Ajayi's arrival, led the Eagles' backfield. Blount thrived with the last year in a goal line role, scoring an incredible 18 touchdowns, but he wasn't reliable as an every-down back evidenced by his 3.9 yards per carry. This year, he's averaging 4.6 yards per carry. He's posted an elusive rating -- a PFF statistic that "attempts to distill the impact of a runner with the ball independently of the blocking in front of him by looking at how hard he was to bring down" -- of 103.8 with 28 mi sed tackles on 109 rushing attempts and two mi sed tackles on four receptions. For the sake of comparison, rookie sensation has an elusive rating of 96.2 while star has an elusive rating of 24.4 this season. It's worth noting that Ajayi led the league in elusive rating last year.I haven't even mentioned or yet. They've combined for 350 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. The point being, the Eagles' ground attack should suddenly be regarded as one of the most capable units in football. And they're going to gash the Cowboys, wh