Dallas Cowboys Scouting Report: Breaking Down the Eagles’ Offensive Plan

When the Cowboys take the field this week and host their bitter rivals, the Eagles, at AT&T Stadium, they will be greeting a familiar face. On the other side is Kellen Moore, longtime Cowboys coach and current Eagles offensive coordinator.

Moore’s enrollment in Philadelphia was through a de facto Vote of no confidence in Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni. While Sirianni wasn’t fired last year after his team lost five of its last six games and was eliminated from the playoffs, the general perception was that his preferred offensive scheme was a poor fit for quarterback Jalen Hurts. This mismatch also contributed to a not-so-calm rift between the quarterback and the head coach. As a result, offensive coordinator Brian Johnson (who was Dak Prescott’s quarterbacks coach in college) was fired and replaced by Moore, who also formerly coached Prescott.

Although Moore was not expected to completely abandon the Eagles’ offensive identity from the past three years, he was reportedly given full autonomy on offense, minimizing Sirianni’s involvement on that side of the ball.

By mid-year, however, the Eagles’ offense no longer looked so much like a Kellen Moore offense. If anything, it looks like a Nick Sirianni offense making plays that you would find in a Kellen Moore offense. The two biggest structural complaints about the offense last year were a stubborn lack of movement and an over-reliance on shotgun formations. Moore’s hiring was expected to solve both, as he generally makes heavy use of movement and often puts his quarterback in the middle, especially to construct his play-action packages.

So far, the Eagles have been stagnant pre-snap and are just 19th in pre-snap movement. They also put Hurts in shotgun almost five times as often as center, one of the biggest discrepancies in the NFL. Unsurprisingly, the Eagles also rank 20th in play-action rate.

However, the limitations placed on Moore did not appear to have hurt the offense. The Eagles rank 10th in yards per game, 11th in points per game, eighth in EPA/game and 13th in offensive DVOA. Nothing jumps out at you, but the offense was solid. Hurts is also playing at a fringe top-10 level, ranking 8-12 in completion percentage, yards per attempt, air yards per attempt and EPA per dropback. He also leads the league in completion percentage above expectations.

However, where the team really shines is its running game. Given the offensive line and free agent signing Saquon Barkley, that shouldn’t be a big surprise. Only the Ravens average more rushing yards per game and the Eagles also rank second in EPA/Rush. They are also fourth in rush DVOA. Although in true Moore fashion, the Eagles primarily run up the middle and have one of the highest rates in the league when it comes to running into a tough penalty box.

An interesting trend for this running game is the fact that they rank fourth in yards before contact per attempt, but 24th in yards after contact per attempt. In other words, the offensive line keeps Barkley clean quite often, but he doesn’t let much happen once he gets past it.

This week, however, Barkley’s mouth is certainly watering as the Cowboys have by far the worst run defense in the league. Not only do they give up the most EPA/rushes, but they also allow the sixth-most yards after contact per rush and rank fifth in missed tackles per game.

The Eagles may be stuck in something of an identity crisis between Sirianni and Moore, but they were still largely able to score points. And what they do best – running the football – is something almost everyone can do well against this Dallas defense. By then, Moore should be able to enjoy a nice homecoming to the team that launched his coaching career and a win against his former boss.