It’s Hard to Figure How Eagles Will Do Against Cowboys

Coaches Buddy Ryan of the Philadelphia Eagles and Tom Landry of the Dallas Cowboys don’t quite know what to expect when the Eagles and Cowboys meet today.

“I’m hopeful that we can come back,” said Ryan, whose Eagles were beaten by the New York Giants last week even worse than the 35-3 score indicated.

Someone questioned whether the young Eagles could regain their confidence after being limited to 117 yards of total offense by the Giants.

“They better be confident,” said the blunt-speaking Ryan. “They play like that (against the Giants) and a lot of them won’t be around here.”

Starting quarterback Ron Jaworski, however, was downgraded Friday from probable to questionable for the game because of a right elbow injury suffered in the Giants’ game. The injury affected a nerve in the arm and left the last two fingers on his throwing hand numb.

If Jaworski is unable to play, Matt Cavanaugh would start.

Rookie running back Charles Crawford, elevated to the starting lineup this week in place of Keith Byars, sprained his ankle Thursday and was listed as questionable.

Ryan said Dallas basically is a big-play team and that he hopes his team will play as it did when upsetting the Rams and Atlanta Falcons.

“(The Cowboys) out-personnel us with players like (Tony) Dorsett and (Herschel) Walker. We have to watch them trying to get the ball to them on screens,” he said.

Ryan said he thought the Washington Redskins were the best team the Eagles had played. The Eagles lost to the Redskins, 41-14, and last week Dallas “killed” the ‘Skins, 30-6.

Ryan has made several changes on his 2-4 team for the game. Besides planning to put Crawford in the starting lineup, he put rookie Matt Darwin at center in place of the injured Gerry Feehery.

Ryan said he decided to demote Byars despite objections from his assistants. Ryan is concerned with Byars’ 2.9 rushing average and several lapses in blocking that have resulted in sacks.

Crawford, a seventh-round pick in the July supplemental draft, didn’t play as a senior Oklahoma State last year because of academic problems and has been on the Eagles’ special teams.

The Eagles’ offense, which hasn’t scored a touchdown in the last six periods, also features Mike Haddix at running back, wide receivers Kenny Jackson and Mike Quick and tight end John Spagnola.

Middle linebacker Mike Reichenbach, tackle Reggie White and safety Andre Waters key Ryan’s 46 defense.

Landry said he is concerned about whether his team can play as well as it did last week, or suffer a relapse to the 29-14 loss to Denver the week before.

“Everybody suffers from that type of thing,” Landry said.

Dallas is 4-2, just one game behind first place Washington in the National Conference East.

Landry said the Cowboys for the third straight week probably would be led offensively by quarterback Steve Pelleur. He said doctors have listed the injured Danny White as doubtful and the coach wasn’t counting upon his veteran passer.

“(Pelleur) is a player who hasn’t had much experience in the NFL,” Landry said. “He performed well against Washington. We think he has a great future based on the few outings he has had.”

Pelleur will be joined by Dorsett in the starting backfield with Walker ready as the backup. Timmy Newsome is the fullback with Mike Renfro and Tony Hill at wide receivers and Doug Cosbie the tight end.

On defense, the Cowboys are led by veterans Ed “Too Tall” Jones, John Duitton, Randy White and Mike Hegman.