At the end of last season, the Cowboys success against what had been an explosive Eagles offense started up front. Simply put, their front 7 dominated. They won seemingly every battle and there really wasn't Eagle that you could say got the better of his Cowboys counterpart in protection. Marty Mornhinweg talked about the issues from last season.
"Well, they're very, very good, and we've got to do a little bit better job. I'm doing a little bit better job there. We've had success in past years against them, and then they got us pretty good. They played well those games, and we didn't play very well. We had, if you remember, [G/C] Nick [Cole], it was, I believe, his second game at center. We had some problems there. Not with Nick. Nick played pretty well, but we were just off a little bit. Crowd noise, basically a dome, we were just off a little bit. So hopefully we can do a little bit better that way."
He was asked whether the Eagles specifically struggle against the 3-4 defense.
"Oh no, we love the 3-4. This offense is built around [playing the 3-4]. There are some really good 3-4 defenses. There are some that blend it, too. Every defense is different. This is sort of a different 3-4 than another 3-4. They base the 3-4 personnel, but they play a little bit different style."
And what about Dallas' 3-4 is unique?
"Well, some 3-4's are two-gap. Some 3-4's you don't see much of it. Some 3-4 personnel don't play all that much straight 3-4. It's 3-4 personnel, they typically reduce on the weak side there. Every 3-4 personnel-they're structured just a little bit different."
Upfront is where the games last year were decided and it's likely where they will be decided this time around. Dallas' offensive line isn't particularly impressive, but their defensive line is close to where it was last year. Their interior linebackers aren't great and Anthony Spencer didn't seem progress from the hot streak he ended last year on but it's still a very good unit.