In the Week 7 edition of "Monday Night Football," the Philadelphia Eagles play host to the division rival Dallas Cowboys. Philadelphia has lost four consecutive games after starting the season 2-0, and enters this game ravaged by injuries. Not only is Jalen Hurts out in the wake of blood clots being found in his calf and lungs, but DeVonta Smith, Dontayvion Wicks, Nolan Smith and more will also miss the game, while Saquon Barkley, Landon Dickerson, Jonathan Greenard and Jalyx Hunt are all questionable.
Dallas has lost back-to-back games in dispiriting fashion, with its offense sputtering at the worst possible time, combining for 29 points against the Buccaneers and Packers after scoring 30-plus in each of the previous three games. The defense was already under fire early in the season, and now the Cowboys have questions on the side of the ball where they were supposed to be elite. Which of these two teams will stop their losing skid?
We'll find out soon enough. Before we break down the matchup, here's a look at how you can watch the game. Dallas has struggled badly on offense over the last two weeks.
The Cowboys did total over 300 yards against both the Buccaneers and the Packers, but those totals are misleading. They were entirely unable to deal with blitzes for essentially all of both contests, and that failure brutally undermined their passing attack. (Dak Prescott, typically excellent against blitzing defenses, went just 20 of 38 for 194 scoreless yards when confronting extra rushers in those games.) They also ran the ball for a mere 98 yards combined in those two games, despite the fact that star guard Tyler Smith returned to the fold. The struggles came a bit as a surprise considering the Cowboys had previously been cooking offensively, racking up yardage and points through the first four weeks of the season.
But both Todd Bowles and Jonathan Gannon came out with a plan that toyed with Dallas' protection rules up front, and the Cowboys found themselves unable to respond. They'll need a significantly better plan on Monday night, but it's notable that the Eagles blitz far less often than the Bucs and Packers did against the Cowboys. The Bucs and Packers sent extra rushers after Prescott on 38.8% of his dropbacks in Weeks 5 and 6, per Tru Media.
The Eagles have blitzed just 24.1% of the time so far - the fourth-lowest rate in the NFL. Vic Fangio would have to significantly depart from his modus operandi for Philadelphia to employ a strategy similar to the one that dominated Dallas over the last two weeks. For what it's worth, Philly has blitzed on at least 38% of opponent dropbacks just once since Fangio became the team's defensive coordinator.
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