Dallas Cowboys (7-8) @ Philadelphia Eagles (12-3)
Sunday, December 29, 1:00 PM ET (Game FLEXED, previously scheduled for 4:25 PM ET)
The Philadelphia Eagles already dropped a tough one to a division rival this past weekend, so it’s probably not going to happen again, right?
Right?
It was a slight shock to see the Eagles’ defensive collapse against Jayden Daniels and the Commanders, but Vic Fangio’s defenses have long struggled against mobile quarterbacks for whatever reason. When you can force a QB to stay in the pocket, however, his defense has obviously been lights out.
And that’s what he’s likely to get this weekend as the Eagles welcome Cooper Rush and the Dallas Cowboys to town. I will be the first to admit that I counted the Cowboys out far too early this season. Apparently they decided to go on a little bit of a heater, and Cooper Rush has outplayed my wildest expectations, personally.
With that said, it wasn’t enough to keep the Cowboys in playoff contention. They were officially eliminated with the Commanders winning their 10th game of the season, so I guess the Cowboys kind of have the Eagles to thank for them not having any playoff hopes here in Week 17.
Dallas looks like they’re going to be a tough out for anyone this season, but a loss to the Commanders will likely refocus this Eagles team.
The big question, however, is this: Will Jalen Hurts be playing on Sunday?
The Eagles are just about out of the #1 seed conversation at this point. Kenny Pickett did all he could on Sunday against the Commanders and Saquon Barkley is obviously a major game-changer. But if Pickett has to start this game, does that put the Cowboys in an advantageous spot?
The Eagles are 9.5-point favorites but I would honestly not even touch this game unless I knew whether or not Hurts was going to play coming off that concussion.
Prediction: (If Hurts plays) Eagles win 33-23; (If Hurts doesn’t play) Cowboys win 24-22