Can Brian Stewart give the Eagles an edge Sunday?


Most thought that there were a few motives behind coach Andy Reid going out and getting former Dallas defensive coordinator Brian Stewart before the season, and one of them just happens to be coming into view this week.

Stewart was brought in during the now late Jim Johnson's leave of absence. He was brought in without being given a role for his first week or so on the job, and the Eagles probably had no idea what they would do with him.

However, life has a grim way of working things out. With the untimely loss of Johnson, Stewart found a role as the team's secondary coach with coach McDermott then taking the role of defensive coordinator.

Now, with the Eagles' first game against Dallas coming up this Sunday, the Eagles coaching staff is not making it a secret that they're grilling Stewart and bleeding out every ounce of information possible about the Cowboys.

Although he was the defensive coordinator and spent his days focusing on that aspect of the team, he would have had to pick up some of the offensive calls and tendencies simply by watching it in practice. He knows football, and a guy who knows football doesn't have a difficult time picking up on something even outside of their own specialty.

For this reason, coaches will make subtle changes from year to year in their calls, formations, and will make an attempt to change their tendencies, although that is nearly impossible.

It's understood that not everything is the same in Dallas, but Stewart can certainly add something to the Eagles knowledge of the Cowboys inner-workings.

Whether or not it's enough to win the game is yet to be seen, but it will certainly give the Eagles even a small advantage. Even the smallest of advantages could make a difference in a game between two very good teams in a very important game.