5 things to watch when the Cowboys play the Eagles on Sunday

The Dallas Cowboys will wake up early on Sunday to play the Philadelphia Eagles in a game that won’t have as much meaning as we thought it would when the schedules came out. The Eagles just had their 10-game winning streak snapped last week while the Cowboys are a mishandled block punt from having a five-game winning streak. With two teams having different objectives, it won’t have the normal Cowboys/Eagles game feel, but there are still some things that will garner our attention. Here are five things to watch when the Cowboys head to The Linc on Sunday.

1. Will Saquon break one?

The Eagles have the top rushing offense in the league, averaging 188 yards a game. Saquon Barkley is a big reason for this as he’s produced 122.5 yards per game, which is over 40 yards better than his best season with the New York Giants. Barkley is a star running back but also benefits from a top-notch running scheme. Eagles run game coordinator Jeff Stoutland does a fantastic job pulling linemen and utilizing skill players to open running lanes as you’ll often find center Cam Jurgens or tight end C.J. Uzomah leading the way. Barkley has 1,201 rushing yards before contact this season, which is absolutely insane. That is more than the total rushing yards of all the Cowboys’ running backs combined.

There is no doubt the Eagles will lean heavily on their rushing attack, especially with Jalen Hurts out with a concussion. Barkley has been tearing it up this year, but shockingly the Cowboys’ defense has been his kryptonite over the years. He is averaging less than 50 yards per game over the last eight games against Dallas. It’s been over five years since he rushed for more than 81 yards in a game against them.

2. Attacking the Eagles pass defense

It feels like only yesterday that the Eagles’ defense was one of the worst pass-defending teams in the league. That’s because last year they were second-worst in passing yards allowed. But times have changed. The Eagles made a concerted effort to fix their cornerback position group by using their first two draft picks on Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean respectively. Add them to veteran Darius Slay and the Eagles have found themselves a strong group. They have gone from second-worst to second-best only allowing 179 yards per game this season.

You don’t have to remind the Cowboys of how good the Eagles’ pass defense is this year. The last time they met, the Eagles held them to just 34 yards passing. It was the lowest total since the 2001 season, a year where a Quincy Carter-led offense saw the Cowboys finish second-worst in the league in passing yards. The good news for Dallas is that Cooper Rush has been playing better lately. He has thrown for over 500 yards over the last two weeks, including four touchdowns and no interceptions. It should be interesting to see if Rush can keep it up against a good Eagles secondary.

3. Don’t mess around with Brown

With all the talk about what Barkley means to the Eagles’ running game, similar points can be made about what A.J. Brown means for the Eagles’ passing game. Since joining Philadelphia in 2022, he’s been spectacular, posting 1,400+ seasons in each of the last two seasons, earning All-Pro honors both times. He won’t get to 1,400 this year because he’s missed three games due to injury, but his per-game totals are right where they typically are.

Targeting Brown is like hitting the easy button for the Eagles. He’s so good at creating inside leverage on slant routes and once he gets the ball in his hands, he can turn small gains into big gains. The Cowboys are banged up at cornerback as injuries to Trevon Diggs, Josh Butler, and now Amani Oruwariye means they’ll need to rely on help from Israel Mukuamu and Andrew Booth to help DaRon Bland and Jourdan Lewis keep the Eagles’ receivers in check.

4. Silencing the Lamb

It is hard to believe all the injuries this Cowboys team has endured this season. From young players to seasoned veterans, bad health has struck in all directions. And with the recent news that the team is shutting down CeeDee Lamb, it’s now official that all 10 of the team’s offensive and defensive All-Pro players will have missed some game action this season. All of them.

With Lamb out, the Cowboys will look to their other guys to contribute in the receiving game. Jalent Tolbert (injured finger), Jalen Brooks (knee), and Ryan Flournoy could get extra looks if they are healthy enough to go. And who knows, maybe we’ll finally see that Jonathan Mingo fella who has yet to make any ripples since the Cowboys traded for him in early November.

5. Give the Birds a sweat

The Eagles were delivered a big blow last week when they lost to the Commanders as it likely knocked them out of the race for the top seed in the NFC (there is a long-shot chance they could still earn the one-seed, but it would require the Lions and Vikings to tie in the season finale). Instead of having a shot at a first-round bye, the Eagles are heading towards a matchup against the Commanders on Wild Card Weekend. The Eagles need to win just one of their last two games to secure the division and lock down the two-seed.

Should the bottom fall out as it did last year (don’t think that won’t get into their head if they start losing), they could drop all the way down to the seventh seed. That would create a difficult path for them in the playoffs. Washington would love a Philly collapse and pull off a divisional comeback, but for that to happen, they’ll need the Cowboys to upset the Eagles on Sunday. With both teams rolling out their backup quarterbacks, anything can happen.


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