Jason Garrett: Eagles' pace ‘got us on our heels'

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If it’s seemed like the Eagles had been moving in slow motion at times this year, you don’t need to adjust your televisions.

It’s hard for the Eagles to play at the tempo associated with Chip Kelly’s offense if they aren’t getting first downs. It’s a problem that has plagued the team at times this year.

But on Sunday night against the Cowboys, in a 33-27 win, we all got a reminder of how difficult it is for opposing defenses to stop the quick pace when things are going well.

“Well, we got first downs and that’s what we’re striving to do and we can get first downs to keep drives continuing,” Kelly said on Monday afternoon. “That’s what we talk about, get that first first down. When you have a three-and-out, it’s tough to get into a rhythm, but once we get that first first down, we can kind of get moving. And when we do, we can play a little bit faster.”

There were examples of pace working and not working on Sunday.

The Eagles had just one first down on each of their first three drives. On their opening drive, the Eagles kind of went three-and-out twice with a running-into-the-kicker penalty in between.

There were some really nice drives after that, though. They had a drive with six first downs, one with five and two with four, including the game-winner in overtime.

The Eagles' longest time of possession on any drive came on a 13-play, 80-yard drive that took 4:17 and ended with a touchdown.

Those drives with first downs allowed the Eagles to use pace and keep tired defenders on the field.

“The biggest challenge when you play Philadelphia is their tempo,” Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said. “They get up to the line of scrimmage quickly and they run their plays. They’re plays that you see over and over again, but they can get you out of position if you’re not ready to play. That’s the number one thing when we play against these guys. When the ball’s ready, we’re ready. When we were able to do that [Sunday night], I thought we did a good job defending the run and also slowing them down in the passing game.

“As the game wore on, there were times when they got us on our heels a little bit and we weren’t quite as ready as we needed to be. They found some holes in the running game that got them started and then they were able to make some plays in the passing game.”

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