December 29, 2017
On Sunday, the Eagles' regular season will conclude against a familiar foe, the division-rival Dallas Cowboys. But it's not the game many were expecting, as the reigning division champs have been eliminated from the playoffs already and the home team, the Eagles, has already wrapped up home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
So what's left to play for?
Well, for the Eagles, it's their last chance to see some live action – not to mention a chance to do something no other team in franchise history has done by winning 14 games in a season. They're also looking for a clean sweep of the NFC East, their first since 2004.
Oh, and they're playing the Cowboys. That should be motivation enough.
Here's a look at what you need to know for Sunday's season finale at the Linc.
TV: FOX | RADIO: 94.1 WIP
SPREAD: Dallas (-3) | TOTAL: 39.5 (via Bovada)
Earlier on Friday, we took a look at how other local and national writers see this week's game playing out. You can check that out, here.
The Eagles are a little banged up defensively, so my guess would be that they'll hold out a number of their starters on defense while continuing to get Nick Foles reps to prepare for the playoffs. The Cowboys have nothing to play for, but they'll be a full go, so they'll mess up their draft position.
I’ll be transparent, trying to figure out what we’ll get out of the Eagles when we have no idea how much action the starters will see. But they’ve more than proven they’re a better football team than Dallas, so even the prospect of Nate Sudfeld playing in the second half won’t allow me to pick Dallas.
It might be ugly, but I think they get it done.
The only thing more meaningless than the result of Sunday's game between the Eagles and Cowboys is my prediction for Sunday's game between the Eagles and the Cowboys. But I'm still going to give it a try.
It doesn't really matter how long Nick Foles and the offensive starters play, so long as they end on a slightly more positive note than where they left off last week. That way, they can head into the postseason with a little momentum on that side of the ball. The worst case scenario would be for Foles to go out, struggle again and then get pulled in order to avoid him getting hurt. They already have a long layoff before their next game, so the last thing you want is them limping out of the regular season and into the playoffs.
Avoiding that is far more important than coming away with a W.
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