Dallas! Come On Down!

How happy am I? This happy!

Dallas Cowboys! Come on down, you’re the next contestant on “Divisional Rivals: Try to Beat the Eagles in Your Building”. So far contestants: not so good boys, frankly not so good.

Here in New York, the true value of the Eagles 36-22 win wasn’t driven home until I climbed aboard the “6” subway last night. On the train were scattered Giants’ fans on their way home from the Meadowlands. How crushed, how downcast they looked. They would pick up their heads slowly, as if to say something to their companions to ease the disappointment, and again and again seemingly just think better of it and say nothing. What was there to say? Brian Dawkins, Jeff Garcia and Andy Reid took their souls.

I am not going to go too crazy over this win concerning a .500 New York team- that can wait until next week!- other than whipping divisional rivals in front of their dumbfounded partisans really never gets old. But a victory over a .500 team on the road is evidence, real concrete evidence, the Eagles are in fact, well, better than .500. Better than .500 smells like play-offs people!

Now, “Frank Helps You Think It All Out” tries to stay away from the obvious: the heroic Dawkins (ed. - for your consideration people, Brain Dawkins for the Pro-Football Hall of Fame?), the resurrected Garcia, etc. So how about that offensive line? An aging, broken down mess last season, the line has been the most consistent unit on this team.

Sure, they caught a break in that everyone is healthy- particularly the veteran tackles. But give Reid some credit. Good health also happens when you plug three guys, all on their first contracts into the lines’ interior, guys who you groomed in fine fashion obviously together for two-three years in back-up and increasingly starter roles. Five healthy offensive linemen, competent (and Andrews is going to the Pro-Bowl) who have played together for three years now at a minimum, is a reconstruction job.

And hey, the coaches have picked up their game, no? I never thought Reid and the boys weren’t running it enough- they had a top five offense prior to McNabb’s injury- and candidly they still are scoring plenty of points when they play well. But Marty has brought some freshness to their approach- and the New York Daily News pointed to some “tendencies” the Eagles broke yesterday.

Mind you, it helps that the Giants are a true catastrophe in the defensive secondary- almost helpless against the pass if they aren’t getting that big rush off the ends. Living in New York, you read snippets in various publications about the Giants defensive backfield woes- but until you see it for yourself... It is a numbers problems. New York lacks enough defensive backs to cover even two wide-outs consistently- so the Eagles just kept running multiple extra wide outs out there- and letting Garcia just find the guy the Giants couldn’t cover.

The funny thing is that the Eagles didn’t improve their wild card position per se. They came in to the game having to beat the Falcons in their last game to get a wild card- and exited it probably still having to do so. But they did improve their chance for a division title- as this game Christmas Dallas is suddenly huge. A home play-off game with Jeff Garcia! Heck, why not, I got no plans that weekend.