PLAYOFF TILT RECALLS NFC EAST DUELS OF OLD

It was not that long ago when the Cowboys saw things from the Eagles' perspective. In '91 and '92 the Eagles were considered Super Bowl favorites by many. Dallas was then the young team on the rise, looking to earn some respect. They did not get much from the Eagles. Between 1987 and 1991, the Cowboys lost eight consecutive games to Philadelphia. When they finally ended the streak in late 1991 they learned that they could stay on the same field with the brutes from Philly.

In early 1992, the Cowboys were thrashed on a Monday night game in Philadelphia. Later that season, they returned the favor with a bruising 20-10 win in Dallas. This game marked a turning point in the rivalry; Dallas put the game away with a grinding eight play fourth quarter touchdown drive. The first seven plays were Emmitt Smith runs into the teeth of the vaunted Eagle defense. The Cowboys proved to themselves and to the Eagles that physical intimidation would no longer work. When the teams met in the playoffs, Jimmy Johnson dismissed the chance that his team still feared Philadelphia, stating, "we know how to beat the Eagles." And so they did. The playoff game was a 34-10 Cowboy rout. It started a seven game winning streak for Dallas that was just snapped last month.

Which brings us to the vexing question of the day: has Ray Rhodes' team proven to itself that it "knows how to beat the Cowboys" as Jimmy Johnson's troops did in 1992? Was the second half debacle in the Vet a new turning point in this rancorous rivalry?

All signs say no. Not yet anyway. When the Cowboys finished the Eagles in '92, they went all the way. They won the division, and ensured that any rematch would be played in Dallas. When the Eagles won last month, they served notice that Dallas could no longer take them for granted. They did not catch Dallas, and must play this weeks game on the road. If anything, the Eagles' victory was more like the Cowboys 25-13 win in 1991.

But that's why they play on the field, isn't it? That way we can know for sure. Here's what to expect when the team's line up.

WHEN DALLAS HAS THE BALL

Eagle Defense

Key: 47-Greg Jackson, 36-Michael Zordich, 51-William Thomas, 54-Kurt Gouveia, 29-Mark McMillian, 59-Mike Mamula, 97-Rhett Hall, 91-Andy Harmon, 95-William Fuller, 53-Bill Romanowski, 21-Bobby Taylor

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      29               59    97          91     95   53            21
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Dallas Offense

Key: 85-Kevin Williams, 71-Mark Tuinei, 61-Nate Newton, 60-Derek Kennard ,73-Larry Allen, 79-Erik Williams, 84-Jay Novacek, 8-Troy Aikman, 88-Michael Irvin, 48-Daryl Johnston, 22-Emmitt Smith

The manner of losing must burn at the Dallas offensive coaches. In last year's regular season meeting with San Francisco, the Cowboys mounted two long first half drives on the legs of Emmitt Smith. Then 49er defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes made an adjustment midway through the second quarter to halt Smith. He marched strong safety Tim McDonald up to the line of scrimmage, giving the 49ers an eight man front. He then ran a series of slants and run blitzes. Ricky Jackson blew into the backfield on one playand his vicious hit temporarily knocked Smith out of the game.

With eight men devoted to stop Smith, the 49ers were thin in pass coverage. Rhodes gambled that his three deep defenders could hold up. Deion Sanders did his part with strong coverage on Alvin Harper and Michael Irvin. Eric Davis was burned twice by Harper, but these big plays netted Dallas just seven points.

The main reason was that Dallas played into Rhodes scheme; while the 49ers were overcommitted to the run, the Cowboys failed to fully exploit them with the pass. Smith stayed in the backfield to block on most plays, giving Dallas only four receivers. His presence seemed a waste, as the Dallas line held its own against the 49er rush. The misuse, or underuse of Smith hurt Dallas badly when it threw in the red zone. 49er strong safety Merton Hanks stated after the game that he had coverage responsibility on Smith near the goalline. When he noticed that Smith was not running pass patterns, he was able to freelance in the middle of the field. Hanks made two interceptions near the goalline from his rover position, helping the 49ers post a 21-14 win.

Fast forward to late 1995. The Cowboys are playing the Eagles in windy Philadelphia. The Eagles open the game by double-teaming Cowboy wideout Michael Irvin and tight end Jay Novacek. The Cowboys recognize that Philadelphia is overcommitted to the pass, and attack the Eagles with Emmitt Smith. Smith gains 98 yards by halftime and scores an early touchdown, helping the Cowboys build a 17-6 lead.

For the second half, Ray Rhodes dusts off his old 49er gameplan. He walks strong safety Michael Zordich up to the line, giving the Eagles an eight man front. He sends linebackers William Thomas and Bill Romanowski on blitzes, as he had sent Ricky Jackson the year before. The strategy works again. Smith gains but a handful of yards on the ground in the second half, and the Cowboy offense grinds to a halt; it scores no more points and the Eagles rally to a 20-17 win.

Once again, Ernie Zampese must be singled out for not exploiting the opportunites the Eagles gave him. Ray Rhodes dared the Cowboys to beat him through the air. Dallas tried, but Troy Aikman had difficulty throwing in the gusty Vet. Many of his throws were short of the target, and killed prospective Cowboy drives. To his credit, Zampese called plays for receivers Kevin Williams and Cory Fleming. But Aikman either missed them, or the receivers dropped his throws.

The area where Dallas could have hurt the Eagles was with throws to Emmitt Smith. But for the second time, Dallas underused their running back. Smith ran flares on occasion, but most of the time he stayed in the backfield.

In the season finale against Arizona, the Cowboys showed that they are working at getting Smith more involved in the passing game. Twice they ran delays for Smith, in which Aikman would fake a draw to Smith and then dump the ball off to him over the middle. With the Arizona linebackers dropping deep in coverage, Smith was able to run for close to ten yards before he met a defender. Dallas can and should get the ball to Smith over the middle. They should also send him down the field on linebackers, as the Eagles do with Ricky Watters. If they do, they can hurt the Eagles passing defense, as outside backers Romanowski and Thomas are much better at blitzing and run defense than they are in coverage.

          
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Here is a play the Cowboys ran against Cleveland in the 1991 season opener. They lined up in a split backfield, a rare formation for them. They placed Michael Irvin and then-Cowboy Alexander Wright on the left side of the formation, shifting the Cleveland secondary to that side of the field. At the snap of the ball, Wright ran deep down the middle of the field, occupying a cornerback and a safety.

On the other side of the formation, tight end Novacek ran a hook over the middle, keeping the other safety in the center of the field. This put Emmitt Smith in single coverage with an outside linebacker. Smith drifted out, as if he were running a flare pattern, then broke the pattern deep and up the sideline. Smith got far behind the Browns linebacker and would had scored had Aikman not overthrown him. Dallas has not run this play since that game. They might want to run variants of this play, to make Smith as much of a threat in passing game as he is in the running game.

When Dallas runs the ball, they will use plays such as their power trap and sweeps which will give the Cowboy linemen better angles at the Eagle front. Philadelphia has the smallest front seven in the league and they run slants to compensate for their lack of bulk. If Dallas stays with their favored lead draw and slant plays, the Eagles will likely clog up its running lanes. When Dallas was moving the ball effecively in the first half last month, Zampese mixed inside runs with outside runs. The Cowboys obviously felt they could get around the Eagle front, and Emmitt Smith did so on two toss sweeps.

Look closely at the play of right tackle Erik Williams for an early indication of how the Dallas running game is faring. Williams blocked Eagle end William Fuller in the first half of the most recent game, but he was beaten soundly and regularly in the second half, when the Eagles staged their comeback.

Also look closely at the play of Cowboy right guard Larry Allen. Allen was a wrecking ball in both games against the Eagles this year. In the game at Texas Stadium, he humiliated Eagle DT Andy Harmon with several crushing blocks. In the rematch, Dallas ran power left many times in the first half, when the Eagles were slanting towards Allen and RT Erik Williams. Allen pulled on these plays and made several key blocks on Eagle MLB Kurt Gouveia. One sprung Smith for his lone touchdown of the game.

Dallas might also run play action and roll Aikman out more to attack the Philadelphia run blitzes. These plays are not staples of the Dallas playbook, but they would be effective against a team committed to stopping the run.

When the Cowboys pass, several key matchups will come into focus. Philadelphia will pit 6'3" rookie corner Bobby Taylor against 6'2" Michael Irvin and 5'7" mighty mite Eric McMillian against 5'9" Cowboy burner Kevin Williams. Taylor has been on a roll of late. Rhodes challenged him to handle Irvin one on one in the rematch a month ago, and Taylor did the job. This was a definite improvement from the first meeting, when Irvin torched Taylor. Irvin beat Taylor twice late in the game, but Aikman could not get him the ball. You can bet that Irvin is itching to take on the rookie again.

The game could be decided on the opposite side of the field. Williams has come into his own down the stretch. His fourth quarter catches against the Giants made a Cowboy comeback possible. Williams followed that with a 203 yard performance against Arizona. It will be interesting to see how he fares against McMillian. The gnat of a cornerback was easy pickings for 6'4" Alvin Harper, who would simply outjump him for many throws. McMillian is a scrappy player, and if he can stay with Williams, the Eagles could make a game of it.

The extra week of preparation should give Dallas more time to work Deion Sanders into the offensive gameplan. Sanders caught one pass for 19 yards in the last meeting, and could see more playing time in this game. Sanders lined up against McMillian and was given a huge cushion. With the Eagles paying healthy respect to Sanders' speed, the Cowboys could run comeback routes or flanker screens in front of the Eagle corners, in the hopes that Sanders will turn a short toss into a long gain.

Finally, the rubber game will mark the return of Jay Novacek. The tight end did not play well in the second game against Philadelphia. He dropped a pass and had trouble separating from the Eagle backers on pass routes. The knee injury which kept him out of the last two games was probably hurting him then. The Eagles gave Novacek double coverage in much of that game, and may do so again. But with Kevin Williams emerging as a game breaking threat, the Eagles may not have the luxury of double covering the tight end a second time.

WHEN PHILADELPHIA HAS THE BALL

Dallas Defense

Key: 31-Brock Marion, 28-Darren Woodson, 59-Darrin Smith, 55-Robert Jones, 58-Dixon Edwards, 21-Deion Sanders, 78-Leon Lett, 95-Chad Hennings, 67-Russell Maryland, 92-Tony Tolbert, 24-Larry Brown

                     31                        28
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Eagle Offense

Key: 86-Fred Barnett, 76-Barrett Brooks, 62-Guy McIntyre, 63-Raleigh McKenzie, 69-Harry Boatswain, 78-Antone Davis, 83-Ed West, 80-Reggie Johnson, 9-Rodney Peete, 89-Calvin Williams, 32-Ricky Watters

So, which Eagle offense will show up in Texas Stadium? Will it be the one that struggled in both regular season games with the Cowboys? Or will the one that exploded for 58 points against Detroit last week make an appearance? The answer will be determined by the Cowboy defense.

In his analysis of last week's 58-37 drubbing of Detroit, Eagle quarterback Rodney Peete claimed that Philadelphia surprised the Lions by throwing early. The Eagles have lived with their running game this year, and Detroit stacked the line to stop them. This put the mediocre Lion secondary in man to man coverage. The Eagles took advantage of this in the first half, rolling to a 38-7 halftime lead. Peete had one of his best, if not his best game as a professional, as he completed nearly every pass he attempted.

Eagle fans might hope that Dallas will make the same mistake. There is one problem in hoping for a repeat of last week's strategy: it won't work. The Cowboys did not allow the Eagles to pass effectively in either game this year. Eagle receiver Fred Barnett missed the first game with an injury, then was taked out of the second game by Deion Sanders. Barnett did catch a two point conversion on Sanders, but if a two yard crossing route is the only play that will work on his side, the Cowboys will gladly concede it.

The Eagles hurt Dallas in both games by running the ball. This was clearly the Cowboys concern this week, as defensive co-ordinator Dave Campo spoke of nothing but stopping the Eagle run. The good news for Dallas is that MLB Robert Jones and DT Russell Maryland have healed and should play in this game. Their return will greatly strengthen a Cowboy front seven that has yielded rushing yards by the bushel over the last month of the season.

The Eagles like to run from the pro-set, and utilitze a 49er-style passing attack. They signed free agent fullback Kevin Turner away from New England to be Ricky Watters' backfield mate. Turner blew out a knee in pre-season ruining the Eagles' basic offensive scheme. Philadelphia offensive coordinator John Gruden adjusted by using more two tight end sets. This offense works well against the Dallas' base defense. The Cowboys like to line their defensive ends up wide. The weakside end will take the outside shoulder of the weakside offensive tackle and thestrong side end will line up over the tight end. This makes it nearlyi mpossible for either end to get "hooked" inside. This is why it has been so hard to run outside the Cowboys defense in recent years.

With the ends wide, the Cowboys set their linebackers inside the ends and several yards off the ball. This allows the small but quick Dallas backers to read the play and run to it. A two tight end set undermines this philosophy by spreading the formation. There is no weakside in a base two tight end set, so the weakside linebacker has to line up at the line over a tight end. (See diagram above.) This means the Cowboys backers cannot hide in "stacks" behind the linemen. Each must take responsibility for one Eagle lineman. The Eagles hope that they can overpower the smallish Dallas front seven and create lanes for runningbacks Ricky Watters and Charlie Garner.

When the Eagles run the ball, keep an eye on left guard Guy McIntyre. He is the best and most mobile Eagle lineman. Everything the Eagles run begins and ends with him. Against Dallas, the Eagles ran traps to the right side, in which McIntyre would pull and take on end Tony Tolbert, or strong side linebacker Dixon Edwards. Against Detroit, Philadelphia ran several sweeps to the left side, with McIntyre leading Watters or Garner to the outside.

Since Charles Haley's back surgery, the Dallas coaches have struggled to find Leon Lett a place on the line. Campo argued that Lett should go back to his normal right tackle position. Head Coach Barry Switzer overruled him, arguing that Dallas should put its four best linemen on the field. This moved Lett to Haley's spot at right end. Lett debuted at end against the Eagles and had a tremendous game. He abused rookie Eagle left tackle Barrett Brooks and spent much of the afternoon in the Philadelphia backfield. The Cowboys were containing the Eagles until Maryland sprained his foot in the third quarter. The Cowboys inserted Hurvin McCormack at tackle, but he was overpowered on running plays. The Cowboys were forced to move Lett to Maryland's position. He helped the running game, but with Shante Carver at right end, the Cowboy rush suffered.

If Maryland can indeed play, look for the Cowboys to go back to a Tolbert, Maryland, Hennings and Lett line. The rush they generated in the second game gave Peete little time to find receivers down the field. He hurt the Cowboys most by running for first downs. The Dallas linemen will have to show discipline in their rushes and not create running lanes for Peete. When the Cowboys do rush, look for twist stunts, in which the ends will crash inside and the tackles will loop around them to the outside. Lett and Hennings worked this technique to perfection in the second game and Hennings registered two sacks of Peete.

With the Lions playing so much man to man last week, the Eagles burned it with short passes to Ricky Watters, who easily beat the Lion linebackers assigned to cover him. Watters played wide receiver for a time at Notre Dame and is skilled in running deeper routes. When he was at San Francisco, the Niners would send him on deep routes at least once a game. Last week against the Lions, Watters got behind a linebacker and caught a touchdown pass. Watters should still be a threat, but his effectiveness should be diminished somewhat by the Dallas zone; the Cowboys rarely give their linebackers man to man responsibilities, so Watters will not have many chances to beat a backer deep.

Outside, the Cowboys will rely on the coverage ability of Sanders and Larry Brown. In their last game, the corners shut down the Cardinal duo of Frank Sanders and Rob Moore. Brown returned an interception for a touchdown in both Eagle games this year. The Eagles picked on him and kept the ball away from Sanders. The Cowboys helped Brown by rolling their coverage to his side, allowing him to be more aggressive in his play. Dallas will probably take a similar approach this time, daring the Eagles to beat them with tight ends. TE Ed West is a good blocker, but he lacks the speed necessary to hurt a defense. H-back Reggie Johnson can get down the field, but he is not capable of beating a team by himself.

SPECIAL TEAMS

His name is Derrick Witherspoon. The rookie kick returner was as responsible for the Eagles' victory over Dallas last month as anyone else on his team. He made several strong returns against the Cowboys and kept the Eagles in good field position most of the day. And Weatherspoon's heroics were not a fluke; against the Cardinals the following week, he started Philadelphia's comeback from a 17-0 deficit when he returned a Greg Davis kickoff for a touchdown. Weatherspoon continued his strong play against the Lions in the wild-card game last week. With San Diego's Andre Coleman out of the playoffs, Weatherspoon is the most dangerous kick returner left in the post-season. The Cowboys must find a way to contain him.

When Dallas is receiving, it must prepare for Eagle kicker Gary Anderson's crafty techniques. Anderson is a deadly accurate field goal kicker, but he does not have a strong leg. He compensates for this by looping his kickoffs between the opponents' wedge and its kick returners. He did this repeatedly against Detroit last week, to great effect. His kicks would land around the fifteen yard line and either skid through a returner's legs or bounce over his head. This would give the Eagle coverage team ample time to get downfield and pin the Lions deep in their territory. If Dallas plays as Detroit did, it could find itself in lousy field position. Because Anderson's kicks are so short, the Cowboys could get great returns if Kevin Williams and Deion Sanders place themselves at the ten yard line. This would allow them to field Anderson's kicks on the fly.

PREDICTION

We have heard all week from Eagle players that they get no respect, and that there is no way they should be 14 point underdogs. This is little more than a psychological ploy to motivate themselves. The Cowboys don't make the lines. It is certain that the Dallas players respect the Eagles after last month's loss. They know that Ray Rhodes prepares his teams as well as any coach in the NFL.

This game will be rough. The Eagles will play with their usual intensity. But if the Cowboys respect the Eagles, they should remember that they are the more talented team. If the offense can avoid turnovers, it should move the ball on the Eagles and score a fair amount of points. On defense, the Cowboys will probably have some trouble with the Eagle running game, especially when Charlie Garner is in the game. But if the Cowboys can rush Rodney Peete effectively and keep him in the pocket, they should keep the Eagles from scoring too many touchdowns.