CBs vs. WRs in battle of high draft picks
Wade Phillips, the Dallas Cowboys head coach, should be nervous for Wade Phillips, the Cowboys defensive coordinator. The current Philadelphia Eagles represent arguably the fastest and undeniably the highest-scoring team Andy Reid has coached in his 11 Philadelphia seasons.
They are more dangerous than last year's Eagles, whose 37 and 44 points were the most Dallas allowed and nearly enough to have cost Phillips both his football jobs.
This Sunday night, the teams compete for first place in the NFC East in a game that also represents a clash of organizational philosophies. The Eagles believe what the Cowboys do not. The Eagles use high picks on wide receivers; the Cowboys use them on defensive-edge players, including shutdown cornerbacks.
The Eagles have made a priority of returning Donovan McNabb to the Super Bowl, and it is evident in their recent draft philosophy. They acquired two young game-breaking receivers: DeSean Jackson with a second-round pick in 2008, and rookie Jeremy Maclin with a first-rounder this year. Jackson has six touchdowns this season, all covering more than 50 yards.
The Cowboys will position veteran Terence Newman and first-year starter Mike Jenkins -- both first-round cornerbacks -- across from the Eagles receivers.
Dallas owner and GM Jerry Jones and his scouting department made a very calculated and deliberate decision to choose their young cornerback over Philadelphia's celebrated wide receiver last year.
Jackson was a prospect who intrigued the Cowboys, who were fascinated with his speed but wary of his off-the-field problems. Their philosophy also intervened. The Cowboys have preferred to trade for established receivers from Joey Galloway to Roy Williams or to sign a tainted veteran such as Terrell Owens, whom the Eagles also tried and eventually rejected.
The Cowboys believe the failure rate is too high and the money too expensive to draft receivers in the first round, and Jones wants to win the Super Bowl every year and lacks the patience to submit to three or four years of development. For the moment, the Cowboys can point to undrafted free agent Miles Austin, the only player with a higher average of yards per reception than Jackson, who has made a far more instant contribution.
"There have been more busts at the wide receiver position than any in the NFL," a Cowboys source explained. "They're hard to evaluate with all the spread offenses, so it's hard to project them into pro systems, and then it takes them a long time to develop. You see a great cornerback, covering all over the place, you can never have enough of those guys, so I'm going to take that every time."
So it is not a coincidence that Newman and Jenkins will crouch across the line of scrimmage from Jackson and Maclin. The Cowboys and Eagles have conflicting approaches on how to build winning football teams.
"I think we match up well, but what you think and what happens can be two different things," Newman said.
The Cowboys have been playing a physical style in the secondary, and Jenkins has vowed to punish the Eagles' receivers to deny them a free release off the line of scrimmage.
"If you don't hit them in the mouth, you will definitely get killed out there because they can both stretch the field with their speed," Jenkins said.
It should be a compelling matchup, especially since Reid's coaching style emphasizes the passing game. He calls running plays merely to quiet his critics, although there have been few of those this season.
The Eagles lead the NFL with a dozen touchdown plays covering at least 20 yards, and Jackson is responsible for half that total. He is adept at setting cornerbacks up with double moves, feigning inside and darting vertically up the field.
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"You look at No. 10 [Jackson], his catch numbers are not up there with everybody else, but his yardage is so you know he's making big plays," Cowboys secondary coach Dave Campo said. "The biggest thing is we've got to use good eyes. We've all got feet and hands, but the eyes are important. When you get guys running double moves, as long as we do that and pay attention to what they try to do as far as formation, we've got a chance."
Jackson made eight catches for 156 yards in two games against the Cowboys last season even though he dropped a potential 60-yard touchdown pass and prematurely celebrated what should have been a scoring play, denying him his first NFL touchdown. The Eagles have made doubling him on every snap even harder with the addition of Maclin, who has three touchdowns the past four weeks.
It is unlikely the Cowboys will play another opponent this season with so much speed and versatility. The Eagles have so much athleticism that Michael Vick has barely played.
"When we came into the meetings, they had film of D-Jack and Maclin and all those guys who can stretch the field," Jenkins said. "I love a challenge like that. Before I came into the league, I wanted the competition against the TOs and that, but it's turned into Jackson, and it's a challenge I look forward to."
Ed Werder covers the NFL for ESPN.com and contributes weekly to ESPNDallas.com.
