Eagles' o-line eyes payback at Dallas

"This has been about as poor a performance as I can recall ever seeing in this league."

- Fox analyst Troy Aikman during the Eagles' 20-10 loss to Dallas on Sept. 20

LANE JOHNSON seemed as fired up Tuesday about the Eagles' Week 2 loss to the Cowboys as he was the day it happened, maybe because Johnson had just been forced to watch the film again.

"It pisses me off, when you feel like you can dominate the guys up front, then you go out there and don't get it done," said Johnson, the Eagles' right tackle. "They did a lot of slanting. We go back and watch it, it was just execution, all across the board. That's pretty much what it was, just us hurting ourselves . . . It was always one block away from having some decent runs."

It might have been the most lopsided 20-10 loss in NFL history. The Eagles, whose offense is based on running, ran for 7 yards on 17 carries. If you take away Sam Bradford scrambles, they ran 15 times for minus-2 yards.

The Cowboys, who had spent the offseason dealing with the loss of 2014 NFL leading rusher DeMarco Murray to the Eagles in free agency, were downright chirpy after holding their ex-star to 2 yards on 13 carries.

"When they were at negative-14 yards rushing, I wanted it to stay there but unfortunately, it didn't happen," Dallas defensive end Jeremy Mincey said then. "We gave up those yards toward the end, and I wish we could have just walked away with the negative-14, I wanted that."

The Eagles have been running the ball a lot better lately. The first two games, they gained 70 yards on 33 carries, 2.12 yards per carry. Since then they've run 158 times for 728 yards, 4.61 yards per carry. The last three games have been their best on the ground: 34 carries for 186 yards against the Saints, 37 for 155 against the Giants, and 30 for 177 against Carolina. That's 101 carries for 518 yards, 5.13 yards per carry.

"I think from a communication standpoint, we've gotten a lot better," Johnson said.

"I think we're night and day better than we were before, but they're still a good defense, well-coached," center Jason Kelce said, as the Eagles returned from their bye week and began preparations for their Sunday night visit to Dallas. The 2-5 Cowboys, who lost quarterback Tony Romo to a broken collarbone in their victory over the Eagles, haven't won since. They are giving up 4.1 yards per carry on the season.

"They do some things that make it difficult up front," Kelce said.

"Once you get engaged, they're really good at shedding blocks and getting off the o-linemen," Johnson said.

Eagles players said the Cowboys under defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli slant and stunt more than anybody.

"We're handling movement a lot better now than we were before," Kelce said. "There's better chemistry up front" with Allen Barbre settled in at left guard and Matt Tobin having made four successive starts at right guard.

Barbre said handling slants and stunts is "something we've focused on," though Johnson acknowledged nobody they've played since Dallas has done it as much.

"We watched some of (Game 2) today," Barbre said. "Watching it was kinda like, 'It's horrible. We've gotta do way better.' You can see mistakes we definitely shouldn't have made."

Tobin spent much of the Carolina game, the last game before the bye, at left tackle, after Jason Peters left with back spasms. Dennis Kelly filled in for Tobin at right guard and struggled. Eagles coach Chip Kelly said Tuesday he hopes to get Peters back for practice Wednesday or Thursday. Peters warmed up with the other linemen but was not available in the locker room after practice and the Eagles were not obligated to produce an injury report this early in the week. Linemates said their impression was that Peters would probably play in Dallas.

Dallas has defensive end Greg Hardy back from suspension now. Hardy didn't play in the first meeting. He has three sacks, a forced fumble and an interception in three games.

"That'll be a good battle if JP plays," Kelce said. "If not, whoever's out there is going to have their hands full."

"You have to know where he is," Chip Kelly said of Hardy. "They line him up in multiple spots . . . he's been very productive for them in the three games he has played."

Kelce said the Eagles have varied the presnap looks they give, so as not to be as predictable as they were early in the season.

Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee, in particular, seemed to flow into every gap in the September loss, as if he knew the plays better than the guys blocking him did.

"We just didn't get a hat on him for most of the day," Kelce said. "He's great (even) when you do get a hat on him; he's still great at shedding blocks . . . but when you let players like him or (Carolina's Luke) Kuechly run free, that's when they're free to make plays."

Johnson said that Lee, named NFC defensive player of the week after recording 14 tackles and an end-zone interception against the Eagles, "said he won it because of the o-line play."

"That's a slap in the face," Johnson said. "I promise you that me, 'Kelse' and everybody else is embarrassed enough so that we're going to give it everything we've got . . . We're going to go in there with our game face on."

After answering the same set of questions from several reporters, Johnson offered this summation of Game 2:

"Sean Lee was right. It was all us not playing well up front."

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