Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 10/29/20.

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Eagles vs. Cowboys: Five matchups to watch - PhillyVoice
3) Eagles CB Darius Slay vs. Cowboys WR Amari Cooper. In four games against the Eagles since he arrived in Dallas, Amari Cooper has 25 catches for 422 yards and 3 TDs. With the exception of the Eagles’ Week 16 win over Dallas last season, the Eagles have struggled from keeping Cooper from shredding their defense. They now have a cornerback in Darius Slay, who has shown that he can man up on Cooper. With Detroit last season, Slay (mostly) followed Cooper all day. With Slay in coverage, Cooper was targeted 6 times. He caught 2 passes for 33 yards.

Mike McCarthy has been everything the Cowboys should have expected - BGN
A lot has gone wrong for the Cowboys in 2020, and it is easy to put a bulk of the blame for it on Mike McCarthy. After all, he is the head coach, and the good and the bad fall on the head coach. But while the Cowboys are a disappointment, Mike McCarthy has not been. No, he has been exactly who he is and who he said he would be. With so much going wrong, the Cowboys should take solace that at least one part of their team is meeting expectations.

From the Bleachers #40: I Love Dallas Week! - BGN Radio
Shamus Clancy officially kicks of Dallas Week!

Fantasy football Week 8 shadow report: Key WR/CB matchups - ESPN+
Eagles’ Travis Fulgham vs. Cowboys’ Trevon Diggs (shadow). Fulgham has emerged as the Eagles’ No. 1 wide receiver, having handled target shares of 36%, 26% and 27% over the team’s past three games. Diggs, meanwhile, has been tasked with shadowing opposing top receivers recently, traveling with DeAndre Hopkins and Terry McLaurin over the past two weeks. Diggs did a nice job against Hopkins (2-73-0 on eight targets), but McLaurin beat him for a touchdown Sunday and ended up with a 7-90-1 receiving line on 11 targets. On the whole, Diggs has struggled during his rookie campaign, allowing 96 fantasy points (fifth most in the NFL) on 205 coverage snaps. Dallas has allowed the eighth-most fantasy points to wide receivers on the season, including the fifth most to the perimeter. Fulgham should be locked into lineups again this week.

5 NFL trade deadline deals Eagles should consider: Alshon Jeffery, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, more - NJ.com
WR Alshon Jeffery and a 2021 fifth-round pick to Packers for a 2021 sixth-round pick and a conditional 2022 seventh-round pick [...] The Green Bay Packers would be an ideal partner for the Eagles in a trade. The Packers are actively shopping for wide receiver help, a person with knowledge of the situation told NJ Advance Media recently. They also have the cap space to inherit Jeffery, especially if the Eagles are willing to pay for half of the remainder of his salary. The Eagles are asking the Packers to trade for an injured wide receiver – who hasn’t played a game this year – with a large salary. That’s why they’ll probably need to take a hit on their trade return. Swapping Day 3 picks and potentially assigning a conditional pick – based on Jeffery’s standing with the team next offseason – should be a logical move for the Eagles.

Are we seeing the real Derek Barnett? - Inquirer
Barnett also has been forced to do more with less playing time, partly because of the ascension of Josh Sweat. Barnett played 77% of the snaps when active last season. This year, he’s at only 57%. His pass-rush production has been relatively the same, with the fourth-year end getting pressure on about 10% of his rushes. “He missed most of training camp with an injury and sort of started slow, but we’re seeing the player that we expect with him, and he’s been productive for us on the field,” Schwartz said. “Always plays hard. Always plays tough. That’s a given.” Schwartz has always been one of Barnett’s most vocal supporters. But Sweat, who was selected in the fourth round of the 2018 draft, could be gaining ground. He’s playing almost as much, and has almost as many sacks (3 to Barnett’s 3½), more tackles for loss (6 to 3), more hits (7 to 5), more forced fumbles (2 to 0), and more pass defensed (2 to 0).

Once forgotten by NFL, Richard Rodgers making most of new chance with Eagles - NBCSP
Richard Rodgers Sr. got a rare treat last Thursday night. Normally, he doesn’t get the chance to watch his son play football, at least not live. But when Richard Rodgers II had one of the best and most rewarding games of his NFL career on Thursday night, dad was watching. The elder Rodgers is on Ron Rivera’s staff in Washington, so normally he’s busy coaching on Sundays. But since the Eagles played on Thursday, he was able to sit down and watch his son live out a redemption story on national television. After a few years of injuries, being buried on depth charts and getting released by several teams, Rodgers caught six passes for 85 yards in the Eagles’ 22-21 win over the Giants. “It was good to see him back out there and having some success,” Rodgers Sr. said to NBC Sports Philadelphia by phone this week. “It’s always a good time when I get to sit back and watch him play.”

2020 Fantasy Football Rankings: Running backs for Week 8 - Fake Teams
7) Boston Scott — Dallas defense is worst in NFL.

Week 7 DVOA Ratings - Football Outsiders
[BLG Note: The Eagles are up from 31st to 25th in DVOA. The Cowboys dropped from 26th to 31st.]

Report: Cowboys bringing back quarterback Cooper Rush to team’s practice squad - Blogging The Boys
The Dallas Cowboys haven’t even played half of their season and they have already seen injuries to their top two quarterbacks. That is on top of a number of other injuries and issues which are making winning games a difficult proposition for them. Dak Prescott is out for the season and Andy Dalton figures to miss some time with a concussion that he suffered in Washington last week. Without them, the Cowboys have rookie Ben DiNucci and veteran Garrett Gilbert to lean on which obviously doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence.

5 Giants’ losses, 10 plays that could have changed the outcomes - Big Blue View
If this play is converted, it basically seals a Giants’ victory; it may have even been a touchdown with the speed of Engram, but we’ll never know because of the drop. Jones diagnoses the defense pre-snap, it is confirmed post-snap, and he puts the ball into the outstretched arms of the athletic tight end who just can’t secure the catch. Engram wins outside, has a ton of space, but just fails to bring it in for the win. This failed third-down conversion forces a punt to the 12-yard line, but a Corey Ballentine lowering the head penalty gives the Eagles an extra 15 yards. At this point, the Giants lead 21-16. The Eagles drive down the field and they’re forced into a third and goal; the Giants hold, but Ryan Lewis is called for defensive holding. Luckily for New York, the Eagles are then called with a facemask which pushes Philadelphia back to the 18 with 40 seconds left in the game. The next play can be seen below…

Will Cowboys Draft QB Instead Of Re-Signing Dak Prescott? - The Draft Network
But with every game the Cowboys lose—and they’re going to lose most of them—the chance of them drafting a quarterback grows. The analogy to examine here is the 2011 Indianapolis Colts, who saw their franchise quarterback Peyton Manning miss the entire season after neck surgery. (Initially franchise-tagged, Manning would sign a long-term deal with the Colts after his surgery, before the 2011 season kicked off.) Those Colts went 2-14, fired their general manager team of Bill and Chris Polian, fired head coach Jim Caldwell, and cut Manning before his contract grew heavy with guaranteed money. With the first overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, the Colts selected Andrew Luck, the quarterback from Stanford.

The Cowboys’ problems are deeper than Dak Prescott’s injury - SB Nation
The Cowboys’ devastating loss to Washington on Sunday was another low point in what’s becoming a devastating season. Nothing has gone right for Dallas during a year that once held so much promise. Now the team is left in tatters. The Cowboys have an easy excuse for everything that’s gone wrong in the form of Dak Prescott’s season-ending ankle injury, but that’s a reductive way to examine the season. The reality is that while Prescott getting hurt was definitely a turning point, there are far more problems with the Cowboys than just their franchise quarterback. Now, serious questions loom over how they progress. Not just in 2020, but beyond.

“The Game Within the Game” - The Ringer
A new NFL hiring cycle is underway, but the same problems persist for the league’s Black coaches trying to advance in an industry designed to obstruct their upward mobility.

Report: Sixers hiring Daryl Morey to run their basketball operations - Liberty Ballers
Former Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey is someone the Philadelphia 76ers have been interested in before, and someone many Sixers fans have wanted to see join the team to get their front office on the right track. After he initially stepped down as GM of the Rockets, though, possibly considering a break from the NBA while the Sixers kept Elton Brand as GM and made some new hires, Morey coming to Philadelphia didn’t look likely. Well, it’s happening. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported that the Sixers and Morey are finalizing a deal, and The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that the Sixers will be hiring him on a five-year deal to run the team’s basketball operations. [BLG Note: Exciting hire! There’s actually reason to be interested in the Sixers again.]

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