Eagles expected to run it, and force Cowboys to throw

The Dallas Cowboys don’t expect anything different from the Philadelphia Eagles come Sunday. Why would they change, owner Jerry Jones asked rhetorically Friday.

“Why wouldn’t you, if you’re Philadelphia, play just exactly like you played us before? They kicked our butt,” the Cowboys owner said on his weekly radio show on KRLD/105.3 FM.

The Eagles beat the Cowboys 33-10 on Thanksgiving Day. LeSean McCoy rushed for 159 yards as Philadelphia had 256 rushing yards, the most allowed by the Cowboys since the 2012 season finale against the Washington Redskins.

“They’re not going to do anything different than they did last time,” Jones reiterated. “They’re going to try to run that McCoy. The bottom line is, we know what they’re going to do. And I would do the very same thing if I were them. They had a lot of success doing it.”

The Cowboys were coming off a Sunday night game on the road against the New York Giants, with only three days to prepare for the Thanksgiving Day game. It was hardly enough time for Dallas to get its defense ready for the Eagles’ uptempo offense or get Tony Romo’s back ready for another game.

With extra time to prepare for the Eagles this time, the Cowboys hope that makes a difference.

“I don’t want to compare the practices before Thanksgiving with the practices we’re having right now, because they were nonexistent,” Jones said. “That’s just the way the Thanksgiving Day game is, I’m talking about the practices. We just didn’t practice meaningfully.

“Now, when you take your pads in today’s NFL, a padded practice takes on a special meaning because there are fewer of them. When you save that for Wednesday before we’re getting ready to play, that tells you all you need to know about where our mindset is. We certainly are focused. We’re practiced up. We are, relatively speaking, healthy, and we stand warned.”

Romo completed only 18 of 29 passes for 199 yards with no touchdowns, two interceptions and a 53.7 passer rating against the Eagles two weeks ago. With the Eagles expected again to concentrate on stopping DeMarco Murray, who had his lowest output of the season the last time, Jones said this could be a Romo game.

“I do think it looks like he’s very comfortable,” Jones said. “He said he’s comfortable. He’s upbeat. He wants probably more of the game for him. In other words, I’m talking about if they give it to us, let’s take it through the throwing lanes. He wants more of that. So I think all of that is a good sign. We play well when he does what he’s got a mindset to do.”

Brent is doubtful

Defensive tackle Josh Brent sat out his second consecutive day of practice, and the Cowboys list him as doubtful.

Brent tweaked a calf muscle during practice Wednesday.

Brent said he would be a game-time decision, but coach Jason Garrett acknowledged it would be difficult to make a determination of Brent’s status that late.

Owner Jerry Jones did leave the door cracked open for Brent to play.

“We’ll get a little better sense of that after [Friday’s] practice, see how he’s moving around,” Jones said on his radio show. “I’m pleased that it doesn’t have the long-term look to it that a pull can have. On the other hand, he’s got a lot of desire and knows that it’s important that he has a role in there to stop the run.

“… He’s up to speed enough and did well enough in the game the other day that he doesn’t need an outstanding practice.”

Brent had been out of football for nearly two years before returning to game action against the Chicago Bears on Dec. 4. He recorded two tackles in 22 snaps.

Linebacker Dekoda Watson (hamstring) was the only other player to miss Friday’s practice. He will not play Sunday.

The other seven players on the team’s injury report all practiced Friday and are listed as probable.

This story was originally published December 12, 2014 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Eagles expected to run it, and force Cowboys to throw."