The Cowboys, Kolb and the NFC East
The Cowboys will come to town next week fresh off a 34-7 win over the Rams.
The Cowboys, Kolb and the NFC East
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
The Cowboys will come to town next week fresh off a 34-7 win over the Rams.
DeMarco Murray piled up a franchise-best 253 yards on the ground. The rookie running back wasted no time taking advantage of the holes in the Rams' run defense, scoring on a 91-yard run on the Cowboys' first drive of the game. An Eagles run defense that had struggled before the Redskins game will face another test on the ground in Week 8.
The only other NFC East team in action was the Redskins, who dropped their second straight, falling to the Panthers, 33-20.
Cam Newton and Steve Smith did most of the damage for Carolina. Newton completed 18 of 23 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown (127.5 QB rating). Smith had seven catches for 143 yards.
John Beck, taking over the starting job from Rex Grossman, completed 22 of 37 passes for 279 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Beck also lost a fumble. Here's what the NFC East looks like, with each team having played six games:
| W | L | Division | Next Week | |
| Giants | 4 | 2 | 1-1 | vs. Dolphins |
| Cowboys | 3 | 3 | 1-0 | at Eagles |
| Redskins | 3 | 3 | 1-2 | at Bills |
| Eagles | 2 | 4 | 1-1 | vs. Dallas |
As you can see, the four teams are separated by two games. Next week's matchup is going to be a big one. Who's ready for Dallas week?
Some other notes from today's games:
* Things have gone from bad to worse for Kevin Kolb and the Arizona Cardinals. They went down, 32-20, today to the Steelers and are now 1-5, having lost five games in a row. I'll admit I had the Red Zone Channel on and was not focused solely on this game, but it didn't seem like Kolb played as well as the numbers (18-for-34 for 272 yards, two touchdowns and one interception) indicate. Having said that, the Cardinals have issues on the other side of the ball too as Ben Roethlisberger torched them for 361 yards and three touchdowns. Considering that the 49ers are 5-1, the Cardinals' season appears all but over.
* Aaron Rodgers is playing on a different level than the league's other 31 starting quarterbacks. He completed his first 13 passes against the Vikings and finished 24-for-30 for 335 yards and three touchdowns (QB rating of 146.5). The Packers are 7-0, and Rodgers has 20 touchdowns against three interceptions on the season. On the other side of the field, rookie Christian Ponder looked OK early, but ended up completing just 13 of 32 passes for 219 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
* Plaxico Burress hadn't scored since the opener before today, but he found the end zone three times as the Jets came back from a 21-10 halftime deficit, scoring 17 unanswered points for a 27-21 victory. Strange moment at the end of the game. San Diego was facing a 4th-and-3 from its own 49, and for some reason, Philip Rivers threw the ball away, ending the game.
* There was a lot of bad football today. In an absolute thriller, the Browns beat the Seahawks, 6-3. In Miami, the Tim Tebow-led Broncos trailed the Dolphins, 15-0, with 5:23 left, but they came back for an 18-15 overtime victory.
* The Lions started off the season 5-0, but dropped their second straight, losing to the Falcons, 23-16. And in London, the Bears held off a Bucs comeback, coming away with a 24-18 victory and improving to 4-3 on the season.
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Sheil, I heard there's going to be an investigation into Howie Roseman over how he apparently tricked teams into giving the Eagles 2nd round picks for their cast off quarterbacks. Do you know anything about that?— soulman386- LOL LOL LOL LOL. Tom Jackson just said there was either something wrong with Kolb or he wasn't as good as they said he was. LOL LOL LOL — charmaine
- does anyone really post "lol" anymore ? i mean, seriously ?? — the_chief
Comment removed.- NFC East sucks...gonna take till Week 15 to find out who the real contender is in the division.— SilliBilli
- Not that We didn't already know it was big, but with Gints winning, next week becomes critical.— beefbre
- Comment removed.
- you are joking right? Kolb was, is, and will be a TO machine. Fumbles and Picks are a given.
- I see you havent watched any Cardinal games this season. If you do a little reach you will find how in love the Cardinal faithful is to Kolb. They really thought they got quite the bargin when they traded a pro bowl corner and a 2nd round pick for him.
— Zeru - i cant believe dallas just unleashed this rookie the week before they play us. hopefully it was more of the rams factor than anything else...— djack10
- not worried about giants. they always punt it inbounds going down the stretch.— bloodymess
- @Philly_Mike:
You are an idiot of the highest degree.— Penfold18 - penfold18
What's Vick/reid record 2-4!!— tulsaphil - @Tulsaphil:
So what? What's your point? Kolb and his coach's record is 1-5.— Penfold18 - I don't know. The Steelers have been tough on QBs so far this year. Cards scored 20 and Steelers have only given up more than that once and no opponent has passed against them for more yards than Kolb in any of their games. Kolb did better than Vick against Washington and any Eagle fan would argue that Vick's supporting cast is far better. Good job carrying the organization's water though. It's getting tougher to do.— jtj06
- Philly Mike - You are tranparent........Kolb over Vick; yea....you right!.....— RoastedBird
- What does it matter both suck 2-4 or 1-5 and both Defences suck. We will see if the Eagles D is any good or was the Washington game a fluke.— urbnasty
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Those individuals promoting Kolb over Vick still, are either Giants Fans, or Cowboy loyalist.
Anyone notice the Arizona fans booing Kolb lately?
When Kolb came in for Vick, who was knocked out of the Redskins game last year at he Linc, the entire stadium weep after knowing full well that the Eagles would be doomed with Kolb as the starting Quarterback.
Kolb has one of the most prolific pass catching threats in league history in Fritzgerald to no avail.
The entire NFL realizes how much of a bust Kevin Kolb is, why are some of you holding out hope and for what? Let's give the 2011 season in Arizona the wash it's going to be and hope for better things next year with Andrew Luck for Arizona and see what Arizona receives in compensation for Kevin Kolb providing they can move his contract from their books with a trade for Kolb.
This will clearly demonstrate the magnificence of Andy Reid's trade for Kevin Kolb.— Dexter - not only that but when you watch Kolb, you can see he isn't seeing all the field and has very happy feet. He is quick to take off and run when it "appears" the play is breaking down and his eyes don't stay down field which make his happy feet and lack of vision even worse. It could be other things, but lets just be glad we could get a 2nd and a CB in return. And I agree, say what you want about big red, that trade is looking lopsided in favor of the iggles right now even with the small returns on DRC. — xlGmanlx
- Yet he is still putting up equivalent passing numbers to Vick with a terrible supporting cast. If you tell me Vick and Kolb both stink, I'll buy it, but if you say Kolb stinks but Vick is good, then you are just playing the homer. — jtj06
- songsrme2 That is true. When Andy traded out of the first round, he killed any chance of the Eagles to be great. McNabb's career then started to go down.— jim10350
- Since we're discussing former Eagles QBs, I was surprised to hear comments that McNabb was never big on film study and studying plays while with the Eagles. That was news to me and very disturbing. If I had known that when he was here, I would not have even watched the Eagles. There was the same issue with Vick when he came to the Eagles. My understanding is that until he started playing, he didn't put the time in to prepare. Where is he at with that now? Does he preparing at the level a Brady, Rodgers or Manning does? It's unlikely that the Eagles will win a Super Bowl with Vick if he doesn't put the time into preparation. I've also heard that Young isn't putting any time into preparation which would make his decision to come to the Eagles really bad. What's the point of sitting if you aren't learning?— MikeP
- The paychecks. Andy Reid has helped a whole slew of QBs earn far more money than their efforts and/or results deserved, so why wouldn't Young want to get on that gravy train as his career is bottoming out? — jtj06
- i agree w/you songsrme2. reid couldn't wait to get his mitts on his hand picked successor for mcnabb, that he took him w/the 36th overall pick when this team, as usual, had a bunch of holes to fill. not to mention that just about every draft expert said he would be there in the 4th round. remember he traded the first round pick of that draft to dallas? and that pick turned out to be anthony spencer? and if mcnabb was never big on film study or studying the playbook when he was here, why didn't he coach step in?— ts1754
- There are still people who think Kolb is good? Hunh, whoda thunk it?— tpizza
- You mean to tell me his 7 touchdowns and 11 career interceptions wasnt a clear indicator of who he really was? All this time I thought he was Joe Montana reincarnated. — Zeru
- Getting DRC for Kolb was highway robbery, and he hasn't done much yet.— hallux
- Cowboys SUCK— urbnasty
- I've been saying this since 2001 when Reid found employment for 10 undrafted rookies on the roster. Go out there and get him a Real General Manager. Not some paralegal who probably won 2 or 3 fantasy football championships ( roseman). Go out there let Reid coach and allow a real football man to do the grocery shopping. Reid's spent too much time in Save a lot with Joe Banner's EBT card. Draft TALENTED PLAYERS and not solid guys round after round. Let Reid coach them and he will do a better job. He has too much on his plate just like his mentor Holgrem did. They cant do both jobs well at the same time. Fire Roseman and Make Reid nothing but the head coach. Do that and the Eagles teams get better faster.— Zeru
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