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Jim Schwartz: 'I Feel Strong About Our Defensive Line'

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — There's no mystery as to what it will come down to on Sunday night when the 4-2 Eagles visit the 5-1 Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium: How the Eagles' defensive front holds up against the NFL's best offensive line.

As the game nears, the looming matter is who will be able to play on Sunday.

Eagles' coach Doug Pederson acknowledges Bennie Logan is still nursing a left groin injury and "is actually doing better, but will be ruled out of this football game. [DT] Taylor Hart has a right ankle [which] actually happened in practice yesterday. He won't practice today, but he'll be available for the game."

So who's left?

Beau Allen played well in place of Logan during the Eagles' 21-10 victory over Minnesota last Sunday. But dealing with Ezekiel Elliott behind guards Zack Martin and Ron Leary, center Travis Frederick, and tackles Doug Free and Tyron Smith could make this game uglier than what the Eagles endured in their 27-20 loss to Washington, in which they gave up 230 yards on the ground.

Related: SNF Producer On Eagles-Cowboys: 'May Be NFL's Game Of The Year'

Logan's loss is a gaping hole.

"It's huge. It's big anytime you lose a great player like Bennie for a couple of weeks," Pederson said. "But you know, I've always been under the next-man-up mentality and that's where we're at. [Our guys] did a nice job filling in last week with just three [defensive] tackles and now the addition of Taylor gives us a little more depth at that. But yeah, any time you lose a player like Bennie in the middle, it can definitely hurt you a little bit."

Dallas averages an NFL-best 161.2 yards a game. That translates into 33.08 minutes a game of time of possession, which is also tops in the NFL. And that's how the Cowboys win—they grind you down.

With the Eagles, there may not be much left up front to grind down. Allen has been good, but good in spurts. Hart has shown flashes of being a playmaker, though nothing consistent.

Could defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz risk it by crowding the line of scrimmage Sunday night and force rookie quarterback Dak Prescott to beat the Eagles with the pass?

If the Eagles had difficulties against Washington's offensive line, what kind of problems will the Cowboys' front pose?

"Yeah, they have given the quarterback a ton of time," Schwartz said. "Prescott has done a good job of leading them to their record and with a quarterback, the most important stat is wins, and he's done that. They have given him a lot of time and they have helped him run the ball, and that's a pretty good formula for any quarterback, much less a rookie quarterback.

"A lot has been made of [their small] amount of turnovers and a lot of that can be attributed to the offensive line because [Prescott] hasn't had to throw a ball before he has wanted to or been hit when he was throwing. Actually, the one [interception] he has [thrown], he was hit when he was throwing, but it's been very rare that he's been hit. He's had some clean pockets. He's been able to buy time. He's been able to run when he needs to and they have been able to run the ball and take them out of some tough conversion situations, also. So their offensive line has triggered a lot of that. I feel strong about our defensive line. It's going to be a great match-up on Sunday."

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