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The Eagles' defensive front dominates the Cowboys

ARLINGTON, Texas - It is not exactly a thankless job, playing defensive end in a 3-4 defense, but it is not exactly a glamour position, either. You spend much of your life trying to tie a rope around some mammoth guard on the other side of the line of scrimmage so that one of the linebackers can make the tackle. In pass-rushing situations, well, most of the sacks go to the guys on the outside while you attempt to crash the pocket and move the quarterback off his spot and into their waiting hands.

"Three-four ends are probably the most underrated players out there," Fletcher Cox was saying. "They don't get a lot of pub. But the folks upstairs know what I'm doing . . . I just take it from there."

Along a defensive line that has improved pretty steadily over the weeks, Cox has been the best player in the group. And in its best game of the season, Cox was everywhere. The Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys yesterday, 33-10, and took control of the NFC East in the process. They did it with their most complete game of the season, led by a defensive front that physically dominated the Cowboys' big, impressive offensive line.

After a week during which several Eagles took exception to all of the praise being heaped upon that Cowboys' offensive line, Cox said that there was little to no conversation on the field. He said, "We're quiet, and we just went out today and just dominated them."

Cox had a sack, his third in the last four games, but that really wasn't the play people were talking about. Instead, it was a tackle for loss in a key situation in the third quarter. The Eagles were holding a 23-7 lead, but a LeSean McCoy fumble gave the Cowboys the ball deep in Eagles territory. It also gave the Cowboys some life. As defensive coordinator Bill Davis said, "It was a pivotal point. It could have tilted any way."

But on a second-and-1 play from the 4-yard line, Cox tackled DeMarco Murray for a 1-yard loss. On the next play, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo kind of sacked himself, and the Cowboys had to settle for a field goal. That was really their last flicker of life.

"They were unbelievable [up front]," linebacker Connor Barwin said. "And Cedric Thornton, I don't think he lost a battle all day. He was great. Fletcher Cox is great every day - he is a Pro Bowl player."

Barwin said that second-and-1 stop by Cox was "the play of the day . . . Fletcher dominated the play and got a TFL [tackle for loss] . . . I think that was the play of the game and set the tone for the whole game. We knew defensively we were going to play well all game and they weren't going to get anything."

So, Fletcher?

"Sometimes the defense that is called puts me in a really good position," he said. "I think on the goal-line stand, it was like second-and-2 or something, and it was a great call. Trent [Cole] set the edge and it was kind of wide-open for me so I had to make a play."

On a day when Romo looked less than spry, the key for the Eagles was to make sure Murray, the NFL's leading rusher, did not beat them. What the Eagles did was hold him to 73 yards, his lowest total of the season. That really was the whole game, as it turned out. And while Cox gave credit to Barwin, Cole and the others who set the edge, forcing Murray to cut back inside, the truth was the Cox, along with Thornton and Bennie Logan, just dominated physically in the middle.

"I think Fletch has been just a disruptive force on the line," Eagles coach Chip Kelly said. "We talked about it earlier that he hasn't had a lot of sacks, but that didn't mean he wasn't playing well. He's been playing at a very, very high level. He creates a lot of havoc on the defensive line, especially on the run stuff. He had a big sack again today. Things are starting to come to him from a statistical standpoint, but doesn't mean he wasn't playing well earlier in the year. I think he's been our best defensive lineman all year long."

And now, you look at this whole thing and start to wonder. This was a great defensive effort against a legitimate team, starting with that dominance up front. Kelly says he doesn't believe in the concept of the "statement game," and that is fair enough. But if the Eagles' defense can continue to play at this kind of level, well, an awful lot of things suddenly seem a lot more possible.

Or, as Fletcher Cox put it, "We knew we had to keep that chip on our shoulder, and being the most physical front today. I think collectively as a defense, everybody did a great job. We believe in each other. When we played for one another, I don't think anybody can stop us."

On Twitter: @theidlerich

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