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Domowitch: Eagles must stop Cowboys' Beasley

GIVEN THE imposing list of things the Eagles' defense needs to worry about Sunday night in Dallas, it's easy to overlook Cole Beasley.

GIVEN THE imposing list of things the Eagles' defense needs to worry about Sunday night in Dallas, it's easy to overlook Cole Beasley.

The Cowboys will be waiting for them at AT&T Stadium with the league's leading rusher (rookie Ezekiel Elliott), with an offensive line that is widely considered to be the best in the business, with a Hall of Fame-bound tight end (Jason Witten) who's caught more than a thousand passes, with healthy-again two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Dez Bryant, and, oh yeah, with a rookie quarterback (Dak Prescott) who's thrown one stinkin' interception in six games.

But anyone who watched the Eagles' 33-27 overtime win over the Cowboys last November, knows that Beasley also must be accounted for.

The cat-quick 5-8, 180-pound slot receiver had nine catches for 112 yards and two touchdowns in that game. He currently leads the Cowboys in receptions with 33, and in touchdown catches with three.

He is tied for sixth in the league in third-down receptions with 13, including 10 for first downs.

"He's quick as can be," said Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. "He's got a lot of respect, not just from our team, but from teams around the NFL.

"He's their leading receiver. He's their leading third-down receiver. He finds a way to get open. They do a good job of scheming to get him open.

"He's a good run-after-the-catch guy also. He's not just a novelty player. He's a major part of their success and we're going to have to do a good job against him. Particularly on third down, to keep the chains from moving."

Complicating matters for Schwartz and the Eagles is the fact that their nickel corner, Ron Brooks, who would've been the guy spending the lion's share of Sunday evening trying to contain Beasley, ruptured his quadriceps tendon in last week's victory over the Vikings and is out for the season.

"Anytime you have a player go out, it forces you to juggle your lineup a little bit," Schwartz said. "Ron had also been playing some outside corner for us too.

"Hopefully, we can keep Leodis (McKelvin) on the field. That would go a long way towards alleviating some of that, because we've been playing without him for a month."

McKelvin, one of the Eagles' two starting corners along with Nolan Carroll, has missed three of the first six games with a nagging hamstring injury. He played a little more than half of the defensive snaps against the Vikings without further injuring it. But it clearly still is not 100 percent.

As for what Schwartz's plan is for replacing Brooks at nickel and matching up against Beasley, he said Thursday it's still a work in progress.

"There's a lot of different ways to handle the slot," he said. "We'll probably have three or four different ways to be able to do it depending on the package.

"We have a lot of different personnel packages that are all contingent on matchups and down-and-distance and offensive personnel."

After Brooks got hurt in the first quarter Sunday, safety Malcolm Jenkins moved down into the slot in nickel. Jaylen Watkins replaced him at safety in those situations. That appears to be the most likely scenario Sunday.

Jenkins is a former corner. He moonlighted in the slot in nickel packages last year for Schwartz's predecessor, Billy Davis.

"I'm looking forward to it," Jenkins said. "I think it's the best position for me. But similar to last year, it will come down to what the matchups are and how we want to match up with their personnel.

"It's a fluid package. At any given time, you could see Jaylen Watkins, Jalen Mills, myself, really anybody else down in the middle based on how we want to match things up."

Jenkins was matched up against Beasley quite a bit in the two games against the Cowboys last year, including the nine-catch, 112-yard, two-touchdown fiasco.

"He played against (Beasley) last year, so that helps," said Carroll. "He has a familiarity as far as who he's going against. He knows the (Cowboys') scheme inside-out. He's played corner before, so he has that versatility."

Jenkins, who still is a corner at heart, said he's looking forward to the challenge of going against Beasley.

"He's gotten better and better every year," he said. "He's having a really good year. He's getting open, getting into the end zone. He has a lot of respect from me. He definitely is one of those guys that, if you're a slot corner, you circle him on your schedule."

Special teams talk

Mention to Dave Fipp how well his special teams are playing and he gets this look on his face like a guy on a plane reaching for the air sickness bag.

"I wish I could enjoy these things, but I can't," the Eagles' special teams coordinator said. "We have a bunch of good players who have done a really good job. I'm happy with these guys. I love them to death. But on special teams, it's a week-to-week deal.

"You can go from (up) here to (down) there like that. Another coach asked me the other day, how are these guys (the Cowboys) on special teams. I'm like, 'Dude, what do you mean? They're in the NFL. Every returner in this league is good. If you let your guard down you're going to get gashed."

The Eagles found that out the hard way in Week 2 when the Bears' Eddie Royal returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown against them.

It helped that they were up by 22 points when it happened. But given the sky-high standard Fipp and his players set for themselves, it still stung.

That punt return has pretty much been the only negative thing that's happened to the Eagles special teams so far this season.

They have the only two kickoff returns for touchdowns in the league. Kicker Caleb Sturgis has made 14 field goal attempts in a row.

They are first in the league in opponent average drive start on kickoffs (22.7). They've had just one kickoff advanced beyond the 25-yard line, and that was an end-of-the-half squib kick.

Punter Donnie Jones has had just seven of 27 punts returned. Take out the Royal return and the Eagles have held opponents to 4.2 yards per return on the other six.

Sturgis has 22 touchbacks on 35 kickoffs. That number could be higher, but with touchbacks moved from the 20- to the 25-yard line this season, Fipp has had Sturgis mix in some returnable balls with more hang time.

"We've been mixing it up," Fipp said. "We've hit some kicks that we didn't think they'd return that they did. And then there have been a few that we wanted them to return that they didn't."

In an attempt to reduce the number of kickoff returns in the name of safety, the league moved touchbacks out to the 25 in March.

Many thought the move would devalue touchbacks and actually increase returnable kicks. But so far, that hasn't been the case. The 2016 touchback numbers aren't much different than previous years.

Last year, the touchback percentage for kickoffs in the NFL was 58.2 percent. Through the first seven weeks this season, it's 62.7 percent.

"I would guess that it's not going to be as drastic as everyone feared," Fipp said. "At the end of the day, there's a risk with having a guy return it. I think there's a calculation on when it's the right thing to do and when it's not. When an extra 3-4 yards might be worth it.

"If you could tackle him on the 10 every time, you'd never (go for the touchback). But there's no guarantee of that."

This and that

* Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz never has been a big blitzer. His defenses historically have been at or near the bottom of the league in blitz frequency He prefers to get pressure with a four-man rush and drop seven into coverage.

Going into last week's game against the Vikings, the Eagles had blitzed on just 18 percent of their opponents' pass plays, the lowest percentage in the league. When they did blitz, they hadn't been very effective. Opponents had completed 69 percent of their passes when the Eagles blitzed. Just two of the team's 14 sacks had come on blitzes.

But after his defense failed to record a sack against the Redskins the week before, and with the Vikings starting two backup offensive tackles, Schwartz decided to mix in a heavier dose of blitzes with his four-man rush.

The Eagles blitzed on 13 of 47 pass plays overall (27.7 percent). But in the first three quarters when it still was a game, Schwartz sent extra rushers after Bradford on 11 of 31 pass plays (35.5). He also had a couple of four-man rushes in which he dropped a lineman - defensive tackle Fletcher Cox once, defensive end Brandon Graham the other time - into coverage and sent a linebacker (Nigel Bradham) or safety (Malcolm Jenkins).

The Eagles recorded three of their six sacks Sunday on blitzes. They held the Vikings to five completions in 10 attempts for just 54 yards when they sent extra rushers.

"Honestly, it didn't matter what I was calling in that game," Schwartz said. "The guys were playing at a different tempo. They're a prideful bunch. They wanted to put that performance against Washington behind them.

"It was easy to call the game. They were executing just about everything well, and they were doing it with a lot of toughness, a lot of effort, a lot of spirit."

* With Sunday's win over the previously unbeaten Vikings, the Eagles' odds of winning the Super Bowl improved from 50-1 to 33-1, according to Las Vegas oddsmaker Bovada.

* Carson Wentz has come back to earth a bit. After his first four starts, he was sixth in the league in passing with a 103.5 rating. After completing just 54 percent of his passes the last two games and throwing two interceptions last week against the Vikings, he has slipped to 16th (92.7).

"He's handling everything great," center Jason Kelce said. "The Washington game, I don't know how much blame you can put on Carson. The blocking for him that game wasn't very good. He was getting hit all day long.

"The last game (against the Vikings), it was just such a weird start. We never really got into a rhythm offensively until later in the game.

"The good thing about Carson is that he's very poised. He's a very confident guy. He really hasn't changed at all, and I don't think he should. He comes to work every day with the same approach to get better. That's s all you can ask for."

Figuring the Eagles

* The Eagles have run the ball on 55.5 percent of their first-down plays this season (90 of 162). That's the sixth highest first-down run percentage in the league. But they have not been terribly productive running on first down. They're averaging just 3.71 yards per carry on first down, which is the ninth lowest average in the league. A look at the five teams ahead of them in first-down run percentage:

...........................................................  First Down

Team ..................................................Run Pct... YPC

Cowboys............................................................. 64.1.......... 5.16

Vikings................................................................ 60.0.......... 2.31

Bills.......................................................................58.6.......... 5.40

49ers....................................................................56.9.......... 3.93

Rams....................................................................55.6............3.46

* Forty of the Eagles' 74 third-down situations in the first six games have been 8 yards or more. That's the league's eighth highest total. They've only converted 22.5 percent of them. Overall, the Eagles are 29th in third-down efficiency (33.8). The seven teams that have been in more third-and-8-or-more situations than the Eagles:

Team ........................3rd & 8-plus..... Conv. Rate......  Record

Browns......................................50......................... 32.0.................. 0-7

Ravens......................................49..........................12.2.................... 3-4

49ers.........................................45.......................... 22.2................... 1-6

Lions.........................................43.......................... 41.9.................... 4-3

Bengals.....................................43.......................... 16.3.................... 3-4

Cardinals..................................42........................... 31.0.................. 3-3-1

Raiders.....................................41............................ 24.4.................. 5-2

* The Eagles' offense has scored 13 touchdowns. Just one of those 13 scoring drives has been 10 plays or more. Last year, under Chip Kelly, nine of the Eagles' 38 offensive touchdowns came on drives of 10 plays or more.

* The West Coast offense always has been a dink-and-dunk offense. Doug Pederson's hybrid version is no different. In the first six games, 54.5 percent of Carson Wentz's "aimed" throws (total attempts minus throwaways and batted passes) have traveled 5 yards or less.

 ................Behind Line of Scrimmage......... 0-5 Yards.............. Aimed

Opp............C-A... Yds....TD/I ....................C-A Yds. TD/I........... Pass.

Minn.................6-6..... 29 ......0/0............................ 7-13.... 66... 1/1............. 28

Wash.................2-3.... 23...... 0/0............................ 3-5.......15.... 0/0............ 21

Det....................6-6..... 20..... 0/0.......................... 10-11...... 77.... 2/0.......... 32

Pitt..................8-10.... 78...... 0/0............................ 7-8........ 40.... 0/0......... 31

Chi...................7-8....... 27...... 1/0............................. 7-8........ 46.... 0/0........ 32

Clev..................2-3...... 24...... 0/0...........................10-15...... 74...... 0/0....... 32

Total........31-36.... 201... 1/0..................... 44-60..... 318... 3/1... 176

* The Eagles have run 64.3 percent of their offensive plays (232 of 361) out of shotgun in the first six games. Ninety-four of their 164 rush attempts (57.3 percent) have been from under center, while 152 of their 185 pass attempts (82.2 percent) have been out of shotgun. The Eagles are averaging 5.0 yards per carry out of shotgun (70-352) and just 3.4 from under center (94-317).

* Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott is averaging 5.73 yards per carry on first down. That's the third highest average in the league behind the Falcons' Devonta Freeman (5.90) and the Dolphins' Jay Ajayi (6.76). Elliott has 17 runs of 10 yards or more. That's the third most in the league behind LeSean McCoy (18) and Ajayi (19).

* In their last three games, the Eagles have averaged just 2.9 yards per play on their first possession. They've had a total of two first downs on their first possession in those three games.

From the lip

* "I think it's just playing better with what you have. I mean, what are you going to do? There's not much you can do. It's not like you're going to go down to Carl's Jr. and find somebody."

- Vikings LG Alex Boone on the team's injury-ravaged offensive line

* "If you look at it overall, (Broncos general manager John Elway) saved a bunch of money. And Trev is a great quarterback, man. He's better than Brock in my eyes. So it's a win-win situation."

- Broncos CB Aquib Talib on QBs Trevor Siemian and Brock Osweiler

* "Well, I appreciate him doing that. I'm not all that big on all that. I'm still waiting for my win total to exceed my weight. That's going to be a couple more wins."

- Chiefs coach Andy Reid after receiving a game ball from team chairman Clark Hunt for coaching in his 300th NFL game

By the numbers

* NFL quarterbacks have a collective 63.5 completion percentage through the first seven weeks of the season. If it holds, it would be the highest league-wide completion percentage in history.

* Dolphins RB Jay Ajayi, who rushed for 214 yards against the Bills last week and 204 the week before against the Steelers, is just the fourth player in NFL history to rush for at least 200 yards in consecutive games. The other three: O.J. Simpson (twice), Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams.

* Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott is the first rookie in league history to rush for 130-plus yards in four consecutive games. If he does it again Sunday night against the Eagles, he would become just the seventh player to do it in five straight games.

* Drew Brees, who passed for 367 yards in the Saints' 27-21 loss to the Chiefs last week, is the first QB in history with 100 career 300-yard passing games.

@Pdomo Blog: philly.com/Eaglesblog