The football gods have handed the Eagles a gift. 

Dallas comes into town riding high off a blowout win over the St. Louis Rams.  The Eagles are fresh off a bye.  The Cowboys are only 3-3, but playing the Rams can make any team feel as though they're the greatest team in recent history.  The Eagles played well in the last game, but are sort of laying low right now.  This is a good set up. 

Can the Eagles capitalize on the opportunity?

That is a huge question and one that will shape the season.  A win puts the team up to 3-4 (2-1 in the division).  It would drop Dallas to 3-4 as well.  It would give the Eagles some confidence that the win over the Redskins wasn't a fluke, but rather a sign of things to come. 

A loss, and boy do I even hate to think about this, would drop the team to 2-5 and would boost the Cowboys in the standings and confidence department.  It wouldn't mean the season is over, but it would put the Eagles back in extreme desperation mode.  Pretty clearly, this is a huge game. 

The good news is that the Eagles can win it.  Left tackle Jason Peters and defensive end Trent Cole return to the lineup and the Eagles are as healthy as they've been all year.  That is crucial at this time of the year, when some teams are banged up.  Dallas has some injuries, but will have a pretty healthy lineup overall. 

Dallas is very tough for a lot of defenses because of how many good receivers they have.  The Eagles have plenty of talented corners.  Juan Castillo's challenge is figuring out how he wants to go about planning his coverages.  You can look back to the Atlanta game for some similarities.  The Falcons had a pair of big wideouts and a star tight end.  The Eagles shut down the receivers, but struggled with Tony Gonzalez.  My guess is that Castillo will use Nnamdi Asomugha on Jason Witten some of the time.  Asomugha has the size and athleticism to handle Witten.  None of the linebackers or safeties is a great match-up. 

If you watched Dallas last week you could see former Eagle corner Al Harris giving them problems.  He is a very physical corner.  Both Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie can be physical players.  I would expect them to jam Miles Austin and Dez Bryant on a regular basis.  Asante Samuel isn't as good of a matchup, but can be physical at times.  He'll need to mix in press coverage to at least keep the Dallas receivers from getting into a comfort zone. 

As important as strategy and scheme talk is, I think execution is the real key.  Remember the season finale from last year?  The Eagles put out a bunch of backups and role players, but they stifled the Cowboys offense.  The defense was physical and very aggressive.  They played with a lot of energy and emotion.  I hope Castillo studies that tape.  Keep things simple and let the players run around and attack. 

This is the game where the Eagles group of corners will get their biggest challenge, but the group I'm most focused on is the defensive tackles.  Mike Patterson was a huge reason the defense was so good against Washington.  Cullen Jenkins and Derek Landri also played very well.  Those guys, along with Trevor Laws, need to be active and disruptive.  Tony Romo doesn't always handle pressure well. 

Tommy Lawlor, goeagles99 on the Discussion Boards, is an amateur football scout and devoted Eagles fan. He was a finalist for Philadelphia's Most Influential Blogger Award and is the Editor of IgglesBlitz.com

Getting interior penetration is also key in stopping the run.  I think we all were shocked by how well rookie DeMarco Murray played last week.  He ran for 253 yards.  Wow.  I mean, wow.  That's a phenomenal game from a rookie.  Give this kid space and he will burn you.  Murray has very good speed and is a north-south runner.  You need to get around his feet and make him go east-west.  Murray has poor lateral agility.  He can't run fast if he's trying to side-step defenders in the backfield. 

I'd be really nervous about facing Murray if the Eagles weren't coming off their best tackling game of the year.  Murray is a guy you don't want to miss.  He'll turn a short run into a long gain.  Luckily, the Eagles have made great strides in the last six quarters.  Safeties Kurt Coleman and Nate Allen deserve a lot of credit, but the whole defense has really improved.  I think part of it is just confidence.  Guys now expect to get the runner or receiver to the ground. 

Keeping the Cowboys offense under control is going to be a major challenge.  It will be interesting to see how the defense performs.  A good showing might be a signal that the unit has really turned things around. 

The Eagles offense is also in for a challenge.  Dallas has one of the best defenses in the NFL.  New defensive coordinator Rob Ryan inherited a lot of talent and has his charges playing at a high level.  The key, as usual, is DeMarcus Ware.  He's second in the NFL in sacks with eight.  Ware is moving around a lot and is thriving in Ryan's scheme.

Ryan wants to confuse offenses.  He has his players do a lot of stemming (pre-snap movement).  He wants blockers confused as to which player is supposed to block which rusher.  This will put a lot of pressure on Mike Vick and Jason Kelce to make the right reads and adjustments.  The Eagles coaches will have a game plan in place to deal with all of the movement, but that won't solve all the situations.  Vick must make good pre-snap reads.  That will help him to adjust the blocking or even to change the play if needed.  That will also help Vick realize where he needs to go with the ball if it is a pass play.  Getting the ball out quickly is a great way to negate the Dallas pass rush. 

I think Shady McCoy will get a lot of touches.  Right now, he is the Eagles best player on offense.  Andy Reid knows this is a critical game.  He won't necessarily run McCoy play after play, but McCoy will be a key part of the game plan.  I could see McCoy getting passes out wide.  He is a tough matchup for the Cowboys inside linebackers.  If Dallas has Ware or Anthony Spencer peel off and chase McCoy out wide, that would be fine with Vick and the blockers. 

I really hope the tight ends are mixed into the game plan as they were against Washington.  I loved the delay screen to Brent Celek for the touchdown.  Dallas has had some issues with tight ends this year.  Maybe Celek and Clay Harbor can deliver some key plays.  They will block a lot, but can be dangerous on plays when they block and then release.  You'll see defenses lose players in those situations.  That is one of the ways Fred Davis burned the Eagles in the Redskins game. 

DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin can get the best of the Dallas corners, but that will require good blocking from the line.  You can bet the Eagles will build the game plan around protection.  This will be a mixture of keeping extra blockers in and calling the right kind of plays.  Receivers will chip block Ware and Spencer every chance they can.  The one-on-one battle that could be most interesting is Kelce against nose tackle Jay Ratliff.  Kelce is athletic enough to handle him, but must also deal with Ratliff's power, the underrated part of his game. 

The Eagles are healthy, confident and well-rested.  This is everything they could ask for heading into such a big game.  Sunday night should be a wild atmosphere at Lincoln Financial Field.  Let's hope it results in a huge win for the Eagles.  Beat Dallas!!!

Lawlor delivers his analysis twice-a-week, you can read the Fan-Demonium Archives here.