2 Reasons 2020’s Philadelphia Eagles already have an edge over Dallas

1. The trenches belong to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Though we try to make things difficult, sports are really easy to understand, if you want to build a winner that is. It works just like a house. Build the foundation before you build a roof or pay too much attention to what the walls look like.

Now, apply that to sports. In the MLB structure, you find starting pitchers, middle relief, and closers. No one wants to believe this, but in the NBA, it’s not about finding some six-foot-one point guard that shoots the ball 60 times a game. Those guys normally don’t deliver dynasties. Look at James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Allen Iverson, and Derek Rose.

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If you want to establish long-term dominance, get you a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a Tim Duncan, a Shaquille O’Neal, an Akeem Olajuwon, or Patrick Ewing. Okay, Ewing might be missing that hardware, but you get the point.

In football, the formula is just as simple. Build your team from the inside out. Get yourselves a quarterback. Have you noticed that the teams that have found their franchise guy are normally pretty good and that they always seem to find their way into the postseason discussion? Our apologies to the Cowboys fans if you’re feeling left out!

Then, once you have a signal-caller, get some guys to protect him and find guys that will make the other quarterback’s life a difficult one. Sure, he’s been feeling himself because, in 2019, he finally scored a sack at Lane Johnson’s expense, but we know Lane has DeMarcus Lawrence’s number.

Sure, Dallas has all of those wide receivers and Philly’s had their share of injuries along the front in camp, but you have to feel good about their chances versus the Cowboys with an aging Everson Griffen on the other side of the defensive line and Gerald McCoy being out of the picture for 2020 after suffering an injury in camp.

On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine Dallas keeping Dak Prescott upright or Ezekiel Elliott getting into a groove with the rotation of Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Hassan Ridgeway, and Malik Jackson pushing the pocket on the inside while Derek Barnett, Brandon Graham, Josh Sweat, and Vinny Curry are warming things up on the edges. We’ve already seen what happens to Amari Cooper when Darius Slay is on the other side of the ball. Put a bright red checkmark in the box for Philly here.