Can Chip Kelly Find A Way To Win Sunday’s Critical Clash With The Cowboys?

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There’s something almost insulting about the idea of a must-win game in Week 2. There is so much football left left to play that we can’t even comprehend all the twists of fate yet to occur over the next 16 regular-season weeks. But the reality is that games you win in September are just as critical as those in December. Baseball embraced this notion long ago, that the idea of an early winning streak can mean more than a desperate late-September push.

And in football, the real emphasis is placed on divisional games, and marquee early-season matchups can swing all sorts of projections. Just by virtue of losing to St. Louis on the road in Week 1, the Seahawks are now only projected to finish second in the NFC West, according to Football Outsiders. That’s right: the computer models now like the Rams’ playoff chances slightly better than the Seahawks’ after just one win. Divisional games are everything in the NFL. They make up nearly 40 percent of everyone’s schedule. They set the tone for the season to come. Sweep your divisional foes and you’re probably guaranteed a playoff spot. It’s that easy!

So that’s why this Cowboys-Eagles game in Philly (4:25 EST, FOX) means so much even though it’s barely 8 a.m. in this 2015 NFL season. Both teams played close, fierce games in Week 1 yet came away with maddeningly reversed results. Now, the Eagles are the ones at home who must pull this out, someway, somehow. The optimist in me says that Chip Kelly, oh Supreme Lord of Innovative Offenses that he is, can find a way to victory. And then I remember these are, in fact, the Eagles of 2015 and not 2014, and I worry once again.

The opener for Philly down in Atlanta was a strange, two-faced affair. Playing on the road in front of a national Monday Night Football audience, the Eagles were dismal from the start. Only a nifty interception in the end zone by linebacker Kiko Alonso (who was acquired in the trade that sent LeSean McCoy to Buffalo) kept the first half from getting completely out of hand, but by the second quarter’s end Atlanta was leading 20-3 and sitting on a 95 percent win expectancy. After the break, Sam Bradford started playing better (in spite of still being Sam Bradford) and led two third-quarter scoring drives — one super-short thanks to a pick, the other a 13-play, 95-yard beaut that was actually 120 yards due to penalties — both topped off by DeMarco Murray touchdowns. And the Eagles had a golden chance to steal the win late but Cody Parkey’s 44-yard attempt went wide right with 2:32 to play. A late pick by Bradford with 1:11 to go sealed the comeback permanently short.

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The Cowboys were also the beneficiaries of an opponent’s late-game deficiencies, although these were far more inexcusable than simply missing a field goal. Tony Romo was steady and reliable (36-of-45, 356 yards, three TDs) until he seemed to Romo it up with a pick deep in his own territory with less than 10 minutes to play in the game. The Giants’ ensuing score put them up 10, but Romo would find tight end Jason Witten twice for scores in the final 6 minutes, including the winner with just seven seconds left. And because Eli Manning appeared genetically incapable of executing a proper two-minute drill, the Giants had to settle for a field goal and, eventually, the loss. Dallas now sits alone atop the NFC East at 1-0, with one crucial division win already in hand and with sights on a second.

By now, Chip Kelly must recognize that he doesn’t have quite the same personnel he did last year when he had the third-ranked scoring offense. Yes, he traded Shady McCoy for the NFL’s rushing leader, but DeMarco Murray also arrived with 392 carries worth of wear and tear just from 2014. (Murray only had nine yards on eight carries in Week 1, so he should be sufficiently rested for Dallas?) Nick Foles is gone. Jeremy Maclin is gone. In their places are vastly inferior puzzle pieces that Kelly is certain will fit into something resembling a cohesive offensive unit. If he can prove that theory true, he will save his own job by making the playoffs. If he’s wrong, he has probably set the Eagles back five years, easy.

The Cowboys aren’t exactly breathing easy about their situation. By all rights, they should’ve lost to the Giants. Joseph Randle had a respectable effort (16 carries for 65 yards) against New York, but he’s no Murray in that backfield. And now Dez Bryant is out for at least four weeks with a broken bone in his foot, with that timetable possibly going as high as eight weeks. The onus is on Romo to keep this offense chugging, despite the growing injuries. And the defense, which overachieved so much last year in proving to be simply mediocre and not historically dreadful, will want to prove its bona fides against a perceived offensive innovator like Kelly. This unit is still very much playing shorthanded, though. Most notably, Greg Hardy still sits for another three games for being a truly despicable person, but then he’s back for the final 12. And frankly, the Cowboys could really use him.

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The Eagles need this game far more than the Cowboys, and the urgency will be on the winless home team to deliver a win. A 2-0 start for Dallas, with both wins coming in the division, would be a tall order for any other NFC East team hoping to contend. And if the Eagles do eventually falter and the moves engineered by general manager Chip Kelly end up costing head coach Chip Kelly his own job, we may look back on this week at the chance he let slip away.

But the Eagles can win this game, by pressing Romo’s shorthanded receiving corps and focusing all efforts on containing Joseph Randle. If they can do that and get Murray running wild against his own team while on offense, chew up some clock and methodically make their way down field at will, the Eagles will have reset the emerging NFC East narrative, much to the delight of everyone not playing home games in Texas.

Considering Week 1’s close calls for both sides, you’d be lying if you knew how this would turn out. But Kelly has a proven track record of scoring points, almost seemingly at will, and with a short-staffed Dallas defense, you’ve got to like Philly’s chances of eventually pulling this game out and making the NFC East open for business this season.

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