Tuesday Odds & Ends

It's Dallas Week, folks, and personally I think it's about damn time.

The Giants are the team I dislike the most -- and it's not close -- but I get more excited about facing the Cowboys.  Games against the Giants are deadly serious business (well, most of them, thanks Eli!).  Games against the Cowboys matter just as much, but the entertainment dial -- set at about a three for the typical Giants game -- is usually closer to a nine or ten for the Cowboys.

This is going to be an intriguing match-up, on several levels.  Everyone's jumping up and down about DeSean Jackson and the Eagles' big-play offense, but check this out:

 

That is one seriously explosive Dallas offense.  Very similar big play numbers, but an overall yards/play number that is about a yard better than what the Eagles manage, and easily the best in the league. 

That's right.  Better than Indy, and better than Brees and the Saints.  In fact, if that number held up, it would be the best we've seen since the 2004 Colts (6.7).

On the defensive side, the comparison isn't as good for Dallas:

The Eagles are just better across the board.  Don't put too much stock into those rankings at the left, either, those are just based on whatever column NFL.com defaults to in its sorting.  What matters more in rushing defense is yards per carry, where the Eagles are sixth and the Cowboys are tied for 14th. 

In the passing game, the big two differences are yards/play and interceptions.  I guess there's something to the idea of overpaying a guy because he can catch the ball out of the secondary after all.  Although Sheldon only needs one more to tie his career high, as well.

The FO numbers reflect what we see in the traditional stats (these haven't been updated yet for the past week's games):

 

Eagles have a decent edge because our offense is better than their defense and our defense is better than their offense, but this season has been just weird enough so far that no one's going to put too much stock into those numbers.

This should be fun.

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Three other quick thoughts:

"Workman-type"?  I'll have to check my AP style guide on that one, but Google seems to agree with me ... *

Total panic move.  And somehow Mangini gets no blame?  I thought these two were a team?

Lastly, any team but this Phillies team and I'd have given up on the Series already.  Still, we already knew they could win with Lee on the mound.  Now we'll see what else they've got.

Also, really hated pulling Victorino instead of Ibanez last night when it happened, and really hated it more when it didn't work out.  But I'm with Sheridan and Manuel on the issue of short rest.  If Pedro can pull one out of the wayback machine, it's a gamble that will have paid off. 

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* No, the irony of criticizing someone else's writing on a post this disjointed and hard to follow isn't lost on me.