NFC Notes: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants

Cowboys

Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott said their offense must be able to successfully run the ball in order to be productive. 

“Running the football has to be important to us,” Elliott said, via Todd Archer of ESPN. “I think it helps this offense. I think we’re a better football team when we can run it well.”

Cowboys OC Kellen Moore admits that they would like their rushing attack to be “better right now” and thinks they must take a 

“Obviously something that we certainly would hope that would be better right now,” Moore said. “Something we got to look at in many different ways, schematically first, personnel wise.”

Moore added that they are considering “little tweaks and adjustments” in order to get the run game going. 

“We’re not going to run the triple option all of sudden or anything like that,” Moore said. “But I think it’s something that you find what kind of little tweaks and adjustments we can make. They may be subtle but I think they can be very effective if we find the right pieces and make our adjustments necessary to progress this thing the right way.”

Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy points out that they have been “very successful running the football” during their strong moments this season but must be able to mix in the run effectively. 

“When you have the success — we’ve obviously been very successful running the football in the first part of the season — people are gearing up for it,” McCarthy said. “We need to stay on top of our self-scout because I think just like anything at this point in the year people are locked in to your formations and your run tendencies and when we run and how we run. That’s all part of the chess match.”

Eagles

Former Eagles team president Joe Banner thinks the Eagles will still be interested in trading for Seahawks QB Russell Wilson this offseason if that is an option that’s available to them. 

“I’m a big fan of his, and I recognize he’s not playing well right now,” Banner told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I think, if he’s available, they’d be very interested and they should be. If they get him, assuming they can fix this line, I think they’d do very, very well with him. If that opportunity presents itself, I think they’d be aggressive and I think they should be doing that.”

• Eagles RB Miles Sanders (ankle) said he plans on playing in Week 13 against the Jets. (Josh Tolentino)

Giants

• Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer writes the Giants have basically three options when it comes to hiring their next general manager. They can stay internal and promote someone like assistant GM Kevin Abrams if they think they’re not that far off and don’t need a major program reset. 
• They could also look to bring in someone who has ties to HC Joe Judge. Breer highlights Monti Ossenfort and Dave Ziegler, directors of player personnel for the Titans and Patriots respectively. 
• The third path for the Giants is hiring an outside candidate to come in with a fresh perspective, which puts massive changes over the next two seasons on the table. Some candidates who fit this description, per Breer, include Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds, Bills assistant GM Joe Schoen and Cowboys VP of player personnel Will McClay.
• Giants OL coach Rob Sale said RT Nate Solder earned the starting role over Matt Peart given his “body of work” in the league: “Plain and simple, you watch every play when Andrew was out, body of work, Nate’s the better player right now.” (Dan Duggan)