The Cowboys’ trade of Micah Parsons is a ‘sigh of relief’ for Eagles as they prepare for Week 1
“It changes a lot,” says Jordan Mailata. The Birds had begun preparing to face Parsons again, but they'll still have to face three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark.
The post-cutdown practices the Eagles had last week allowed for an early installation of the game plan for the team’s Week 1 game against the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
Preparing for the Cowboys twice per year for the last four seasons has meant dedicating a lot of time and resources toward Micah Parsons, who is among the NFL’s best edge rushers. So the Eagles spent part of last week installing a protection plan to try to slow down a game-wrecking defender.
But those plans were forced to change Thursday, when the Cowboys sent their disgruntled star to the Green Bay Packers for two first-round picks and three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark.
It was, as left tackle Jordan Mailata said, a “sigh of relief,” but it also meant that some of the work the Eagles had done to start preparing for Parsons and the rest of the Dallas defense under new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus was unusable.
“It changes a lot,” Mailata said Sunday. “[No.] 11 is a pretty good … player. We always have protection plans built in for great players, and so now [we’ve] just got to figure out, with the players they have on defense, how can we stop them? It changes a lot, but just from that protection plan.
“They just got Kenny Clark and he’s played great ball and he’s been in the league for a long time, and so now [we’ve] got to game-plan for Kenny and the rest of the guys up front. It’s still a respectable D-line and defense.”
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The Cowboys will still have a formidable front with Clark in the middle and Dante Fowler, a free-agent addition who had 10½ sacks last year with Washington, on the edge. It’s in the secondary where the Cowboys are hurting. It’s unclear if Trevon Diggs, who is recovering from knee surgery, will be ready to return, and multiple backups at corner are banged up.
Last year isn’t terribly instructive given the new staff headed by first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer , but the Cowboys surrendered 355.2 yards per game last season, which ranked 28th in the NFL. The addition of Clark should help the 29th-ranked run defense in the league, but Parsons being taken out of the equation will clearly impact the team’s ability to get after the quarterback.
There is some familiarity inside the Eagles’ building with Eberflus, who was fired as the head coach of the Chicago Bears in November. Before the Bears job, Eberflus was the defensive coordinator in Indianapolis for the three seasons that Nick Sirianni was the Colts’ offensive coordinator.
“He’s evolved, and we’ve evolved, so it’s been a while since we’ve been in the same building every single day,” Sirianni said. “I know that he is always going to have those guys playing hard. He is always going to have those guys coming after the football. Those are things that I see on tape in the preseason and things that I know that he’ll really focus on.
“But there are differences with the schemes on both sides of the ball. Some of those conversations that we would have a lot of in the offseasons, asking him questions about a team that we might be playing, you don’t look too much into that, especially after the time away that we’ve had from each other. But I do think he’s a really good football coach.”
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Even without Parsons, Dallas’ defense is plenty capable of challenging an Eagles offense that had an up-and-down training camp and had just three total practices with both A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith on the field at the same time. Also, Landon Dickerson was absent with a knee injury, and there were other moving parts.
The Eagles are trending toward having all of their offensive players available for Thursday’s opener.
“That’s a dangerous defense,” Mailata said. “Great scheme, they have great players. Still don’t know what’s going on personnel-wise, depth-wise, who’s starting. We’re going to watch the film and see the tendencies of their [coordinator] and build off that.
“It’s uncharted waters almost. You can only go off the DNA they’ve had in the league, and that’s what you have to make your game plan off.”
Plans made much easier, and definitely different, with Parsons out of the equation.
“You don’t get too wrapped up in that except for some of the things you’re doing with the game plan,” Sirianni said when asked about the Parsons trade. “But also understanding that they have a lot of good players over there and getting ready for those guys and shifting your attention to that.”