The Bounty Bowl 2011 Game 1- Cowboys vs. Eagles
THE BOUNTY BOWL - Dallas leads the regular season all-time series 58–45.
It’s that time of year. The pumpkins are on the doorstep for Halloween. The air is crisp and the kids have way too much homework and the fake Christmas trees are on display at the store way too early.
It must mean that it is time for the latest installment in one of pro sports greatest rivalries. From Roger Staubach, to Randell Cunningham, to Buddy Ryan and now to his son Rob Ryan
. The stakes could not be higher for a NFC East game in week 8 of the season.
The 2-4 Eagles are off to a terrible start given all the Dream Team pre-season hype but Andy Reid is a perfect 12-0 coming off the bye week. For the Eagles this is a must win. Lose this game and their season is over before all the Halloween candy is given out.
The 3-3 Cowboys are just a few dozen turnovers from being a 6-0 team but did what they had to do this week against a bad Rams team.
The makeup of this game will be a little different from past seasons. Usually it has been the Eagles who had the feared defense. Well the Cowboys may not be to that level yet but they have been solid against the run all season which has helped them force other teams to throw more than they would want.
The Eagles with QB Michael Vick and All-Everything WR DeSean Jackson can light it up in a hurry when they need to and the will most likely need to put 30 or more points on the board if they want to stay with the Cowboys.
The Cowboys offense, if it can limit the turnovers, and that is a big if can really move the ball. All of the sudden the Cowboys may have a running game after rookie DeMarco Murray set a team record with 253 yards against a weak Rams defense.
The Eagles will have to account for Murray if they don’t want him to set any other records this week. This will not be easy as the Eagles suspect linebacker corps will have a huge problem trying to cover Cowboys TE Jason Witten who normally kills the Eagles.
The Cowboys also now have both WRs Dez Bryant and Miles Austin back in the lineup so the Eagles vaunted secondary will be tested. Bryant especially looks like he is one of those guys who may be something special. The Eagles have to hope that he doesn’t have one of those break-out games on national TV at the Eagles expense.
Look for Bryant to be the difference in this game.
The Eagles can bring the offense too. Sean McCoy may be one of the best all-around RBs in football now. The Eagles will need him to control the flow of the game and keep the Cowboys offense off of the field.
This may be the only way that Eagles Coach Andy Reid can keep his perfect post-bye record of 12-0. He loses this week he may not be around to go for 14-0.
The Eagles are 12-0 (1999-2010) after a bye week under Andy Reid:
’99: Eagles 38, Rams 31
’00: Eagles 16, Bengals 7
’01: Eagles 10, Giants 9
’02: Eagles 20, Bucs 10
’03: Eagles 23, Bills 13
’04: Eagles 30, Panthers 8
’05: Eagles 20, Chargers 17
’06: Eagles 27, Redskins 3
’07: Eagles 16, Jets 9
’08: Eagles 27, Falcons 14
’09: Eagles 33, Bucs 14
’10: Eagles 26, Colts 24
