December 27, 2024
Tim Heitman/Imagn Images
The Eagles made life hell on Cooper Rush Week 10, but he has since played much better.
In Week 17, the 12-3 Philadelphia Eagles will once again have a chance to clinch the NFC East with a win or tie over the 7-8 Dallas Cowboys, after failing to clinch last Sunday against the Washington Commanders. Here are our five things to watch.
| Cowboys run D | Stat | Rank |
| Rushing yards allowed per game | 135.9 | 27 |
| Rushing first downs allowed per game | 8.3 | 31 |
| Rushing TDs allowed | 23 | 32 |
| Rushing yards per attempt allowed | 4.8 | 30 |
| Opponent rushing attempts per game | 31.9 | 31 |
My official analysis: They're bad at stopping the run.
In their Week 10 matchup against the Cowboys, the Eagles ran 38 times for 187 yards (4.9 YPC) and 2 TDs. Saquon Barkley had just 14 carries for 66 yards, but he sat out most of the fourth quarter in a blowout win.
Spoiler: If Jalen Hurts can't play, the Eagles are going to ride Barkley instead putting the game in backup Kenny Pickett's hands.
After Hurts left the game last Sunday, the Commanders showed little respect for Pickett either as a passer or a runner. They packed the box and dared Pickett to beat them through the air. If the Cowboys employ a similar defensive approach — and spoiler, they will — the Eagles have to make them pay with chunk plays down the field. On Friday morning we took an in-depth look at Pickett's performance against the Commanders on Sunday. In my opinion, it's unlikely that the Eagles would have lost that game if Hurts hadn't gotten concussed.
Kellen Moore and Nick Sirianni will be responsible for putting together a game plan for Pickett that hides his deficiencies. That means no more zone reads that opposing defenses aren't going to respect, for example. Their play calls made little sense at times, as they failed to adjust to a less physically gifted quarterback entering the game. They cannot just run their offense as is on Sunday as if Hurts is still the starter.
A week ago, the Eagles faced a team in the Commanders that has one dominant receiver (Terry McLaurin) and then a big dropoff statistically to the second-leading receiver.
The Cowboys have a similar dynamic, as CeeDee Lamb has 712 more receiving yards than anyone else on Dallas' roster:
| Cowboys receiving | Rec | Yards | YPC | TD |
| CeeDee Lamb | 101 | 1194 | 11.8 | 6 |
| Jalen Tolbert | 42 | 482 | 11.5 | 6 |
| Jake Ferguson | 54 | 464 | 8.6 | 0 |
| KaVontae Turpin | 27 | 351 | 13.0 | 2 |
| Rico Dowdle | 36 | 233 | 6.5 | 3 |
The Cowboys announced on Thursday that they were shutting Lamb down for the season. It's also worth noting that Jalen Tolbert and Jalen Brooks are on the Cowboys' injury report.
In the their loss to the Eagles Week 10, the Cowboys had an impossibly low 49 net passing yards. Cooper Rush was 13 of 23 for 45 yards. He was eventually benched in a blowout for Trey Lance, who was 4/6 for 21 yards and an INT.
Since then Rush has been much better. He is 4-2 as a starter since that loss, and has 11 TDs vs. 3 INTs. But again, he'll be throwing to a depleted wide receiver corps, and the Cowboys are the sixth-most pass-happy team in the NFL because they have struggled to run it all season.
The Cowboys' offensive line looks like this:
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| Tyler Guyton or Chuma Edoga | Tyler Smith | Cooper Beebe | Brock Hoffman | Terence Steele |
The concern areas:
• Guyton has struggled in his rookie season, as PFF has him down for 16 penalties and 5 sacks allowed. He was benched in favor of Chuma Edoga, who has started the last three games. Edoga is on the injury report with a toe injury. So it'll be a journeyman (Edoga) or a benched rookie at LT.
• Brock Hoffman is filling in for nine-time All-Pro Zack Martin, who is on IR.
• The Eagles wreck Steele every time they play the Cowboys. Even Bryce Huff got himself a strip sack against Steele this season.
Bryce Huff just got a strip sack👀#FlyEaglesFly #Eagles pic.twitter.com/PaqS8TkCbW
— ☆𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘦𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘎𝘖𝘋☆ (@JalenCarterDPOY) November 10, 2024
FeastinMeter™️: 6/10 turkey legs 🍗🍗🍗🍗🍗🍗
The Eagles' kick coverage units sucked against the Commanders Week 16. Braden Mann's kickoffs didn't go very far, and the coverage units ceded a lot of yardage on the returns. Here were Mann's kickoff landing points and the Commanders' starting field position after each of his 8 kickoffs on Sunday:
| Kickoff | Landing spot | Returned to... |
| 1 | WAS 22 (short of landing zone) | WAS 40 |
| 2 | WAS 10 | PHI 47 |
| 3 | WAS 7 | WAS 22 |
| 4 | WAS 0 | WAS 33 |
| 5 | WAS 15 | WAS 37 |
| 6 | WAS 12 | WAS 39 |
| 7 | WAS 2 | WAS 35 |
| 8 | WAS 9 | WAS 43 |
The Commanders' average starting field position was their 38 yard line.
The Cowboys employ arguably the best kick returner in the NFL in Kavontae Turpin. In the Eagles' first matchup with the Cowboys, Turpin had 47-yard and 36-yard kick returns that he fielded deep in the Cowboys' end zone.
Turpin is averaging 34.4 yards per kick return this season. He housed one against the Commanders this season on an absolutely electric return:
KaVontae Turpin goes 99 yards for the TD 🔥
— NFL (@NFL) November 24, 2024
📺: #DALvsWAS on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/IiHNVZAnt5
KAVONTAE TURPIN. 60-YARD PUNT RETURN TD.
— NFL (@NFL) September 8, 2024
Cowboys up big in Cleveland.
📺: #DALvsCLE on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/o9fjs7PsJo
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