Eagles face 1st place prime time showdown vs. Cowboys
Don’t wait until the last minute to run the errands, complete the shopping and rehearse the Monday morning can’t-make-it-to-work alibis.
At 8:20 p.m. Sunday, the Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys almost certainly are going to give you a game for the ages (TV-NBC 10, Radio-WIP 94.1-FM).
Analytics suggest the winner of this showdown of 3-3 teams has a 63 percent chance of reaching the playoffs, according to Talk of Fame editor Clark Judge. The loser has a 36 percent chance of getting to the postseason.
Of course, the raw hate the teams and their fans have for each other always makes it interesting. There are plenty of Eagles followers who believe a successful season simply is beating the Cowboys.
“I mean, if you need to get up to play the Dallas Cowboys, you’re in the wrong city,” Eagles tight end Zach Ertz said. “You’re playing in the wrong city. Guys have had a lot of energy all week. I thought we had a really good week of practice. A really good game plan. I’m confident in the game plan. We’re excited to play.”
Playing this game surely beats the week the Eagles had. They had a long flight home after a numbing 38-20 loss last Sunday to the Minnesota Vikings, the first of three straight road games. That’s roughly when the brain trust decided to send a message to the players by cutting starting linebacker Zach Brown, although he wasn’t the reason they were shellacked. Brown’s sin was calling Kirk Cousins “the weak link” in the Vikings’ offense. Unfortunately, that was the week he wasn’t.
The day Brown was released for exercising free speech, head coach Doug Pederson said on WIP radio the Eagles would go to Dallas, win a game and be in first place. And everything would calm down.
Just hours later Pederson walked back what he said in the morning. That apparently was supposed to be the pre-game pep talk.
Give the Eagles’ head coach a false start and the Cowboys bulletin board material. Pass rusher Demarcus Lawrence was infuriated over the level of disrespect he felt Pederson showed the Cowboys. Lawrence called the Eagles’
The pick: Make it, Cowboys 26, Eagles 23. .
. — Bob Grotz
contest a must-win game.
Two teams backed into their corners fighting it out for the lead in the only division in football without a winning team.
“It’s a damn division game so yeah, it’s a statement game,” said offensive tackle Lane Johnson, who has to block Lawrence. “I don’t know if it’s Armageddon or not but a division game is important. Other than that, it’s Dallas week. You know what time it is. As far as where we’re at, traveling to play the Cowboys for first place, this is a big game. So, yeah, this is a defining moment in the season. And I think it will be a good one on Sunday.”
The Eagles are one of the slower starting teams in the league. They’ve been shut out in four first quarters this season.
The Cowboys won their first three games trouncing losers and fueling Super Bowl talk. Then they got hit with some of the same injuries impacting the Eagles.
The result was three straight defeats, including a humiliating 24-22 verdict to the previously winless New York Jets.
The Cowboys won their first three games trouncing losers, fueling Super Bowl talk. Then they got hit with some of the same injuries impacting the Eagles. The result was three straight defeats, including a humiliating 24-22 verdict to the previously winless New York Jets.
The Cowboys have been outscored, 21-3, in the first quarters of their losses, and 44-9 in the first halves of those games.
The Eagles could be ushering in the post-Jason Peters (knee) era Sunday, as rookie first-round pick Andre Dillard starts at left offensive tackle, where he’ll deal with Robert Quinn, tied for eighth in the league with five sacks.
The Eagles welcome cornerbacks Jalen Mills (foot) and Ronald Darby (knee) back to the starting lineup, barring setbacks, that should upgrade a secondary shelled for an average of 296.0 receiving yards per game, third-most in the NFL.
But the Eagles will be without injured linebacker Nigel Bradham and Brown, who was their top runstopping linebacker against a Cowboys offense built around running back Zeke Elliott, who is sixth in the league in rushing. The Cowboys return starting tackles Tyron Johnson and La’el Collings, who were injury scratches last week.
“We’ve got to make sure we rally to the ball,” Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham said. “We’ve got to make sure we rally to the ball and stay in our gap.”
The Cowboys have their fingers crossed that Amari Cooper, their top receiver, returns to action Sunday. He only played three snaps against the Jets because of a severe thigh bruise.
The Eagles will scratch DeSean Jackson (core muscle) for the fifth straight game.
The Eagles’ next opponent, the Buffalo Bills, likely will be 5-1 after they play the Miami Dolphins Sunday. After that the Eagles host Chicago (32), New England (6-0) and Seattle (51). This is no time for a losing streak. “I still think we’re very talented,” Johnson said. “Two of those losses could have gone either way. But obviously we’re 3-3. I feel like at times we look good on offense. We’re still putting up points. But I feel like the best has yet to come.”
Graham, who leads the Eagles with four sacks, would like nothing better than to go into “Jerry’s World” and defeat “America’s Team.”
“We’ve got to make sure we come together,” Graham said. “I know things didn’t happen the way we wanted them to the last game. This is a game that can propel us and take us forward.
“We need to go out there and compete and may the best team win. We’re going to go down there and put our best foot forward and make sure that we’re prepared and ready to go to war.”