Franchise record for wins enough to motivate Eagles

PHILADELPHIA — Even with homefield advantage throughout the NFC playoffs already secured, the Philadelphia Eagles have one goal remaining.

Victory over the Dallas Cowboys (8-7) on Sunday would give the Eagles (13-2) a franchise-record 14 wins. It’s motivation for guys who would rather play than rest.

“We have a chance to do something here that hasn’t been done,” running back LeGarrette Blount said. “It’s a chance we don’t want to let slip away.”

The Eagles have already lost several important players to injury, including MVP candidate Carson Wentz. They can’t afford to lose backup quarterback Nick Foles. But the offence struggled in the last game and Foles could use the reps with his receivers.

Coach Doug Pederson is weighing the importance of protecting players from injury and keeping them sharp.

“These guys have only worked with Nick now for a couple of weeks,” he said. “We just got to work on keeping it fixed.”

The scenario was reversed last season when Dallas visited Philadelphia in Week 17. The Cowboys were heading to the playoffs as the No. 1 seed and chose to rest some players. Dak Prescott played two series and Ezekiel Elliott watched from the sideline. Dallas lost the game, then lost to Green Bay in the playoffs.

“It would be a lot better going into that down time knowing we’re executing our best against a good football team, so there’s a lot to play for,” Eagles defensive end Chris Long said.

The Cowboys, eliminated from the playoff chase last week in a home loss to Seattle, are playing for a second straight winning season. They haven’t done that since five in a row from 2005-09.

“We’re trying to do exactly what they did last year,” Prescott said. “Take that game away from us and somehow use that as motivation going into next season.”

Dallas’s five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Tyron Smith (knee) and cornerback Orlando Scandrick (back) were placed on injured reserve on Friday.