(Photo: Eagles Wire)
NFC Game Of The Week
Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys
Eagles: Sunday was the worst I’ve seen them look all year and you just knew that the way they’ve played this year would eventually catch up to them. I’m glad that performance against the San Francisco 49ers happened and I say that because now, it forces them to go back to the drawing board. I’ve always said a loss is what you make it and how do you respond to it? This beatdown can also be humbling. Let’s be honest with one another here, this is a safe space. The Philadelphia Eagles haven’t looked their best at times during this season. You’ve seen it and believe me, I have as well. I’ve said this practically all year long each time I’ve discussed them whether it’s on this site or any of the shows I’m featured on. As a football team, you can’t just turn it on when you feel like because there will be that one time when you won’t be able to flip that switch whenever and that’s exactly what happened to them in week 13. If I can be blunt here once again, they should have more than the two losses they do. They needed to fight off the Buffalo Bills a few weeks ago, they’re a Marquez Valdes-Scantling catch away from the Chiefs handing them a loss, they had a tough time putting the Washington Commanders away and even when they played the Cowboys in early November. Survival has been the theme all year. Even after this loss, they are still in first place in the NFC East with a 10-2 record and still hold the top seed in the NFC Playoff Picture for the time being. I just haven’t been sold on them and their record doesn’t matter to me. I’ve never been the type to judge a team based on records. It’s always been performance for me. This Sunday night, they have another big game against one of the hotter teams in the NFC.
Cowboys: They are rolling right now and I’m loving what I’m seeing from them. I always say this group has the potential to be a contender year in and out. The defense has been one of the best units in the league this year, but the question mark with them has always been their offense, more so Dak Prescott. I’ve been following Dak since his college days at Mississippi State and I remember when he came in and took over the starting Quarterback job from Tony Romo back in 2016. This season is by far the best I’ve seen Dak look as an NFL Quarterback and he is a legit MVP candidate. The Cowboys have that happy medium with him as they aren’t having him do too much or too little and he’s doing just enough to help his football team win games. Dak has found trust in CeeDee Lamb who’s shown you he’s more than capable of being a number one receiver. The only thing that would help put the Cowboys over the top in the NFC is a more consistent ground attack. I’m not sold on Tony Pollard and I say that because he’s been consistently inconsistent and he hasn’t had a 100 yard rushing game since week three against the Arizona Cardinals. If you look back at every time the Cowboys won a Super Bowl, the running game was always present and a perfect example of that is during the 90s in the era of the triplets with Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith. I’m not taking anything away from Dak because he’s been phenomenal and always puts together strong regular seasons. Now, can he put it all together when it matters most which is in the playoffs? They escaped one bird last week (Seahawks) and on Sunday night, another bird (Eagles) will be flying into Jerry World for a huge showdown not just in the NFC East, but in the conference as a whole.
Eagles X-Factor: DeVonta Smith– With A.J. Brown commanding so much attention, I think defenses tend to forget about DeVonta on the other side and because of A.J. being the focal point of many defensive gameplans, DeVonta sees more single looks in coverage. I see a guy with incredible athleticism who’s always doubted because he’s not the biggest guy. I also think he’s the perfect complementary asset to A.J. and people tend to forget this is a former Heisman winner and a vertical threat down the field.
Cowboys X-Factor: DeMarcus Lawrence– He’s a leader on this Dallas defense. I remember the days when the Cowboys defense was built around him, but now, that’s Micah Parsons of course. DeMarcus still has that nice first step off the snap of the football and can get home to the passer and he’s also their best run stopper believe it or not. I’ve always liked his pursuit of the ball carrier. He’s never doing too much or too little, he gets to where he needs to be just in time to make that play. DeMarcus wins most of his battles because he’s always low and the lowest man wins.
Final Thoughts: When they first met in November, Dallas did everything well enough to win this football game, but once again, luck was on the side of the Philadelphia Eagles and they survived. Dak put together a great game and had them in prime position to come away with the win. Over a month later, here we are and this couldn’t be a more important game for either team. A win for the Eagles would be huge because they would own a two-game lead in the division and would own the tiebreakers with four games to go and for the Cowboys, they would own the tiebreaker by virtue of a half-game lead. First, I want to see how the Eagles respond after being embarrassed last weekend to the 9ers. Also, how healthy is Jalen Hurts? That’s something to watch in this one. Can Dak continue his stellar play? He’s the one I’m always watching when it comes to the Cowboys. Dallas has the offensive pieces to attack this Eagles defense that’s shown they can be had and the Cowboys last week against Seattle gave up their share of big plays. I expect this to come down to the fourth quarter. Dallas prevails this time with the victory.
Prediction: Cowboys 35, Eagles 28
