Eagles can short-circuit Cowboys at starting line
Gordie Jones
You looked at the Dallas Cowboys' offensive skill people coming into the season, and you saw a stretch limo.
Then you looked at the line, and wondered if this sleek vehicle was powered by a Lawnboy engine.
Three sacks allowed in Dallas' three games to date indicates that the perception might have been mistaken. But the most rigorous test drive yet comes Sunday in Philadelphia, when the line tries to find traction against Jim Johnson's blitz-happy bunch.
Meaning that in all likelihood, the Terrell Owens Homecoming Game will be decided by someone other than Owens.
Even if it might appear otherwise.
It will be decided by two guys you've never heard of, Kyle Kosier and Marc Colombo. By two guys with considerable wear on their tread, Flozell ''The Hotel'' Adams and Marco Rivera. And by a guy who last week was the victim of the most egregious on-field attack in NFL history, Andre Gurode.
It is not exactly stop-the-presses stuff to say that an offensive line is a key to a game. But it is magnified in the case of the Cowboys, given all their weapons. You have to attack them up front, have to give Drew Bledsoe happy feet.
Otherwise, they will go into overdrive.
''I wish it was just T.O.,'' Johnson told reporters Thursday.
But the concerns of the Birds' defensive coordinator go well beyond that. To Bledsoe, who, while immobile, possesses a ''big arm,'' in the estimation of safety Brian Dawkins.
To the other wide receiver, Terry Glenn, who killed the Eagles last year — nine catches, 149 yards and three touchdowns in two games. (And who, by the way, leads the Cowboys with 15 catches this season, one more than the fancy little football person.)
To Julius Jones, an improving running back.
And to tight end Jason Witten, who has dropped some balls to date — Bill Parcells is really thrilled about that — but remains dangerous.
With cornerbacks Lito Sheppard and Rod Hood unavailable for last Monday's game against Green Bay because of injuries, Johnson said he blitzed far less than usual — five or six percent of the time, he estimated — so that his guys could drop into coverage and help out the inexperienced corners, Joselio Hanson and Dexter Wynn.
Sheppard returns this week, so it figures to be business as usual for the Birds, whose 16 sacks are one fewer than Baltimore's league-leading total.
Johnson said it's ''a little bit of a guessing game'' with a Parcells-coached team. Is he going to keep his tight ends and backs in to protect Bledsoe? Or is he going to release them?
It's not any different for Parcells. He knows the Birds are coming. But, he said, ''It's the execution. That's what counts. And the timing — when they do it. That's when you've got to be alert.''
He is comfortable with his linemen. With older guys like Rivera, a guard (and one-time Penn State star), who is in his 11th year, and Adams, a standout left tackle who is in his ninth. With unheralded guys like Kosier, a guard, and Colombo, a tackle.
And with Gurode, who is expected to start at center after Tennessee defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth stomped on his helmetless head last week, resulting in a five-game suspension for Haynesworth and 30 stitches for Gurode.
''I don't have dumb guys playing up there,'' Parcells said. ''They're smart. They might get beat physically, but I don't think you'll see too many mental errors.''
Which will be especially important Sunday. Because that day, more than anyone else, they hold the key to the ignition.
You looked at the Dallas Cowboys' offensive skill people coming into the season, and you saw a stretch limo.
Then you looked at the line, and wondered if this sleek vehicle was powered by a Lawnboy engine.
Three sacks allowed in Dallas' three games to date indicates that the perception might have been mistaken. But the most rigorous test drive yet comes Sunday in Philadelphia, when the line tries to find traction against Jim Johnson's blitz-happy bunch.
Meaning that in all likelihood, the Terrell Owens Homecoming Game will be decided by someone other than Owens.
Even if it might appear otherwise.
It will be decided by two guys you've never heard of, Kyle Kosier and Marc Colombo. By two guys with considerable wear on their tread, Flozell ''The Hotel'' Adams and Marco Rivera. And by a guy who last week was the victim of the most egregious on-field attack in NFL history, Andre Gurode.
It is not exactly stop-the-presses stuff to say that an offensive line is a key to a game. But it is magnified in the case of the Cowboys, given all their weapons. You have to attack them up front, have to give Drew Bledsoe happy feet.
Otherwise, they will go into overdrive.
''I wish it was just T.O.,'' Johnson told reporters Thursday.
But the concerns of the Birds' defensive coordinator go well beyond that. To Bledsoe, who, while immobile, possesses a ''big arm,'' in the estimation of safety Brian Dawkins.
To the other wide receiver, Terry Glenn, who killed the Eagles last year — nine catches, 149 yards and three touchdowns in two games. (And who, by the way, leads the Cowboys with 15 catches this season, one more than the fancy little football person.)
To Julius Jones, an improving running back.
And to tight end Jason Witten, who has dropped some balls to date — Bill Parcells is really thrilled about that — but remains dangerous.
With cornerbacks Lito Sheppard and Rod Hood unavailable for last Monday's game against Green Bay because of injuries, Johnson said he blitzed far less than usual — five or six percent of the time, he estimated — so that his guys could drop into coverage and help out the inexperienced corners, Joselio Hanson and Dexter Wynn.
Sheppard returns this week, so it figures to be business as usual for the Birds, whose 16 sacks are one fewer than Baltimore's league-leading total.
Johnson said it's ''a little bit of a guessing game'' with a Parcells-coached team. Is he going to keep his tight ends and backs in to protect Bledsoe? Or is he going to release them?
It's not any different for Parcells. He knows the Birds are coming. But, he said, ''It's the execution. That's what counts. And the timing — when they do it. That's when you've got to be alert.''
He is comfortable with his linemen. With older guys like Rivera, a guard (and one-time Penn State star), who is in his 11th year, and Adams, a standout left tackle who is in his ninth. With unheralded guys like Kosier, a guard, and Colombo, a tackle.
And with Gurode, who is expected to start at center after Tennessee defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth stomped on his helmetless head last week, resulting in a five-game suspension for Haynesworth and 30 stitches for Gurode.
''I don't have dumb guys playing up there,'' Parcells said. ''They're smart. They might get beat physically, but I don't think you'll see too many mental errors.''
Which will be especially important Sunday. Because that day, more than anyone else, they hold the key to the ignition.
posted by The Gryphon at 10:26 AM
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