Philly Sports Box: Week of Dec. 4, 2014

EAGLES

Howard’s Point of View

The Philadelphia Eagles demolished the rival Dallas Cowboys 33-10 on Thanksgiving Day. The win improves the Eagles record to 9-3 and places them atop the NFC East.

The Dallas Cowboys came into the game as the favorites due to the historic season running back Demarco Murray is putting together and the connection between quarterback Tony Romo and wide receiver Dez Bryant.

But it was the Eagles defense that stole the show in Dallas on Thursday night. The Cowboys offensive line (OL) has been regarded as the best OL in the NFL. But against an Eagles defensive line that has been extremely good due to the play of Fletcher Cox and Conner Barwin, the Cowboys OL were man handled on Turkey Day.

The defensive line applied pressure for the entire game, which kept Romo and the Dallas offense out of sync. Romo was without a touchdown pass, which snapped his 38 game touchdown streak. The Eagles tallied four sacks and two interceptions on the night and held Murray to 73 yards rushing, his lowest rushing total of the season.

Mark Sanchez was superb. He connected on 20-29 attempts for 217 yards and a touchdown. LeSean McCoy accounted for 159 yards rushing and a touchdown. The offense moved the ball with ease. However after opening with two straight touchdowns the Eagles were held to four field goals before their next touchdown and their red zone issues continued.

For the Eagles to be successful, they must run the football. This will take pressure off of Mark Sanchez, which will cause him to be comfortable and make big plays. The defense has to become consistent. They looked flawless against Dallas, but to compete with the talented offenses in the NFC, they have to bring that kind of effort every night.

Jason’s Point of View

After a 33-10 route over divison rival Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving day, the Philadelphia Eagles improved to 9-3 on the season. The big headline heading into the game would be the battle for first place amongst the two teams.

With the Dallas Cowboys having an 8-3 record and the Philadelphia Eagles having an 8-3 record prior to the game, the division game took on a more significant meaning. Not only would the winner take over first place in the division,  but the winner would take momentum going forward in division play. The game  matched the top five offense of the Philadelphia Eagles against a top 10 Dallas Cowboys defense.

This game marked the first division start for new Eagles quarterback  Mark Sanchez. Sanchez played a flawless game throwing for 217 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions in the win over the Panthers.

Coming into the game all money was on the Dallas Cowboys over the Eagles as the Cowboys were a four point favorite to win over the Eagles.

Any smart gambler would have taken the Cowboys, as they came into the game with the number one rushing attack with running back Demarco Murray averaging 118 yards per game.

While the strong passing attack of the Cowboys took on  the weak secondary of the Philadelphia Eagles. You would think that with these elements the Cowboys playing at home would dominant the Eagles, well that assumption proved to be wrong.

The high powered Eagle offense moved the ball at will with Sanchez at the helm and with star running back LeSean McCoy taking some of the load the Eagles were able to power their way over the Dallas Cowboys.

The Eagles silenced critics for now and live to play on. They haven’t taken the leap from pretender to contender as of yet but the Eagles are moving in the right direction for now. The next game will be another tough test for the fly guys as the take on the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.

If the Eagles can get out of that game with a win, maybe they make the full jump from league pretenders to full on super bowl contenders, but only time will tell, as the saying goes “anything is possible on any given Sunday.”

SIXERS

Jason’s Point of View

The Philadelphia 76ers have begun their 2014-2015 campaign and as expected the 76ers are terrible, and may be the worst team in NBA history. The young 76ers have started out the season with an 0-17 record and will face the Minnesota Timberwolvers on Dec. 3 and the Oklahoma City Thunder on Dec. 5. The Sixers will likely start out 0-19 after facing two tough Western Conference teams.

The young team have battled in every game but their fight hasn’t been enough because the 76ers average point lost total is 12. The Sixers are trying to avoid making history in the wrong way by starting with the worst record in NBA history, that record is  currently held by the 2009-2010 New Jersey Nets at 0-18.

For the 76ers to avoid making history and get a win the team must figure out how to close out games as well as becoming a more efficienct team.

The young 76ers team has tried to fill many holes on their roster with young players with  so called potential, but so far the young players are not producing. All of the young talent on the roster have not translated into wins. Sixers rookie forward K.J Mcdaniels has been praised on ESPN for his top-10 highlight dunks and blocks, but these plays only go so far.

The 76ers are looking for McDaniels to compliment reigning rookie of the year Michael Carter-Williams who is having a sub par start to the season averaging 15 points per game, six assist, five rebounds and four turnovers.

The young Sixers team are win less and signs may point to  youth and lack of experience. These are some of the factors that have kept the Sixers winless at the momen. But the fact that the Sixers lack talent and veteran leadership are reasons why this Sixers team cannot buy a win.

The young 76ers will need to add veteran leadership and more talent to their roster to start winning games. If the team wants to succeed and win a game, hopefully this season, they will have to add guys with a house hold name. Hopefully the team can get a win this year, but as it looks its not going to happen anytime soon.

Howard’s Point of View

The Philadelphia 76ers are 0-17 this season, claiming the NBA’s worst record. What a shocker.

However things are going as planned for the Sixers. Amidst a rebuilding year, they are finding out which players are going to be cornerstones for the organization in the future.

They just aren’t winning any games, which was expected due to a subpar roster. I could almost guarantee that the average NBA fan could not name five active players on the Sixers roster. Aside from Michael Carter-Williams and Nerlens Noel the list gets pretty slim of household names.

After a 53-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 13, the Sixers for the majority of their games have kept their losing deficit to a respectable margin against solid teams. All of those games had a common theme; solid play for the game and then fourth quarter trouble.

The Sixers lack a fourth quarter closer. Tony Wroten is definitely a spark for this Sixers team but his turnover issues along with his shot selection troubles make him unreliable closer at this point. Carter-Williams is still trying to find his rhythm after coming back from injury. So it’s tough to rely on the second year point guard during crunch time, however he has shown flashes and has played extremely hard down the stretch.

But on a positive note the 76ers received news that their foreign first round draft selection, Dario Saric, received the Euroleague MVP for November. He will be a great addition next season.

Rookie K.J. McDaniels is surprising the NBA showing that he is more than just athletic, but has a good skill set. His minutes have increased and so have his numbers, which is a great sign.

Things are very rough for 76ers fans at the moment, but trust me when I say everything is going according to plan, for now.

@HOWARDBLAKE_III and @Jason_LWilliams