IRVING, Texas – As the Cowboys focus on the offseason, training camp is still in sight.
Coming off two straight 8-8 seasons and three full seasons removed from the playoffs, the Cowboys have plenty of question marks surrounding them as they prepare for the 2013 season.
As we count down the days to camp, the writers of DallasCowboys.com will take a different question each day that is hovering over this team.
With 38 days until the Cowboys take the field in Oxnard, Calif., today's question centers on a division rival of the Cowboys.
38) Will The Cowboys Look More Like The 2011 Or 2012 Team Against The Eagles?
No team in the NFC East will look as dramatically different this year than the Eagles, as Chip Kelly begins his tenure as an NFL coach in Philadelphia.
Gone are the days of Andy Reid roaming the sidelines in Philadelphia, and only time will tell what that means for the Cowboys, whose success has varied against the Eagles in recent years.
The Cowboys and Eagles split the regular season series in 2010. The next season, the Cowboys scored only a combined 14 points in the two matchups against the Eagles, who won both games. Dallas answered last season by scoring exactly 38 points in each of its two wins against Philadelphia.
Those two 38-point games for the Cowboys marked their season highs in points against an opponent for the year.
The addition of Kelly means a completely different system, even if most of the personnel in Philadelphia stay the same. As the Cowboys try to figure out how best to attack a Washington team that won both regular season matchups last season, they'll also have to devise a plan to counter Kelly's fast-paced system and continue their recent success against the Eagles.
Sticking with our numerical journey to training camp, let's take a closer look at the number 38:
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- Most people remember safety Roy Williams for his No. 31, which he wore for the majority of his Cowboys tenure, but he wore the No. 38 in his final year in Dallas in 2008.
- Flozell Adams was selected with the No. 38 overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft by the Cowboys. Their previous pick that year was Greg Ellis.
- The No. 38 hasn't always spelled success for the Cowboys against the Eagles. Philadelphia beat Dallas, 44-6, in December 2008. The 38-point defeat tied for the fifth-largest defeat in Cowboys history.
- The Cowboys have scored 38 first-half points twice before. The first time came against the Jets in 1971 and the second occurred against San Francisco in 1980. They've only scored more than 38 points in the first half one other time, and that came in a 42-point first-half performance against Philadelphia in 1969.
