Live And Die By The Blitz

November 15, 2005
By CHRIS McPHERSON


With a 20-7 lead in the fourth quarter and just over three minutes left in the game, who didn't think the Eagles had the game in the bag?
The Eagles defense had kept the Dallas Cowboys offense on lockdown the entire night. The patrol guard might have well thrown away the keys.

Quarterback Drew Bledsoe had torched the Eagles for almost 300 passing yards in the first meeting. He wouldn't break 200 on Monday night. The potent rushing attack of Julius Jones and Marion Barber got a great view of the game from the ground. The Cowboys ran for 58 yards on 24 carries at an average of 2.4 yards per carry.

There was no way that the Eagles defense would open the door.


Trotter forced an interception with his blitz up the middle in the second quarter
Wide receiver Terry Glenn, after his 118-yard, two touchdown performance in the first meeting this season, hadn't done...well anything until the blitz.

With just over three minutes remaining in the game, Bledsoe dropped back and the Eagles went all in with a full house.

Unfortunately, the Cowboys had four of a kind.

The Cowboys offensive line picked up the blitz and Bledsoe was left in the pocket. Running down the sideline against Lito Sheppard was Glenn. Bledsoe tossed the ball in the corner of the end zone and found Glenn for a 20-yard touchdown.

"We had the blitz on," said Sheppard. "We just didn't make the play. We needed to make the play and get off the field and we weren't able to do so. They capitalized on it and the story goes."

And just like that, the Cowboys were back in the game.

"You can't let that happen," said free safety Brian Dawkins. "As well as we played defensively pretty much this whole day besides the deep ball, to give up that touchdown, you can't do that. That's the momentum going in their favor, getting their juice going "we can win this game, we can win this game. To give up that seven is a different ball game."

It was the second time the Cowboys were able to capitalize on the Eagles blitz.

In the first quarter, Dallas was facing a 3rd-and-10 and the Eagles went after Bledsoe. Dallas made the necessary protection and Bledsoe nailed Peerless Price for a 58-yard reception. Price was in man coverage against Dawkins. Three plays later, Barber punched the ball in from one-yard out.

"We gave up two touchdowns on defense. The two touchdowns we gave up we had a blitz called in," said linebacker Jeremiah Trotter. "We had two mistakes on those blitzes. When you blitz you can't have any mistakes. I still don't know what happened. Everything happened so fast. You lose the game in the last two minutes; give up two touchdowns in the last two minutes."

Trotter and the Eagles enjoyed success from the blitz. It was a blitz up the middle from Trotter that led to an interception by Sheppard. That interception set up the Eagles' second touchdown of the game, a two-yard run by quarterback Donovan McNabb.

The Eagles defense now have to figure out how to play the type of game they did for entire game and not let two plays spoil an otherwise solid effort.

"(We have to play) the same way we went out today, but we just have to play four quarters," said Dawkins. "We have to play four quarters the way we played the first three and most of the fourth and not give up those big touchdowns.

"It's not easy, it's not going to be easy, but we have the character in the locker room to see what we need to do in the final quarter. But as far as the first couple of quarters, the team with the same type of intensity, the same type of playing so next time we won't give away a victory at the end."