October 25, 2016
In local vernacular, we are not so much in the final week of October, nor are we just a few weeks from the election, nor are we even on the brink of Halloween.
Nope. Here in Philadelphia, we are in the middle of Dallas week.
More importantly, we might also be at the beginning of Dallas Decade.
The Eagles’ first meeting of the season with the Cowboys will take place this Sunday night in Texas and the game could very well usher in a wonderful period of time when both the Cowboys and the Eagles feature top-level quarterbacks.
In other words, the already heated rivalry could be taken from a simmering pot of distaste to a full boil of spite. And the main ingredients in this delicious recipe of hate are quarterbacks Carson Wentz and Dak Prescott.
Each taken in the most recent draft, Wentz, who went No. 2 overall, and Prescott, who went 133 picks later, are surprise starters in their respective rookie seasons in the NFL.
And both have been spectacular.
What the heck … why not dream of the best-case scenario? These two guys could both be elite and instead of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady battling for status as the best of the best, how about Wentz and Prescott.
Instead of local fans wondering why they can’t have a Drew Brees or an Aaron Rodgers, there might be fans across the NFL landscape wondering why they can’t find the next Carson Wentz or Dak Prescott.
All right, so Wentz had a bit of a rough go at times against the Minnesota Vikings this past weekend when he threw a couple of picks, but overall Wentz and Prescott have turned the attention of the NFL back toward the NFC East.
The Eagles-Cowboys rivalry has always been a bit more lopsided in terms of vitriol on the side of the Eagles. The dislike of the Cowboys from fans in Philadelphia is some of the most accentuated in all of pro sports.
Fans of the Eagles look at the games with Dallas as three-times the result and they enshrined former coach Buddy Ryan into their lore mostly because he was so determined to beat the Cowboys.
As for Dallas, the Cowboys have a robust rivalry with several teams – including all of the NFC East members, most notably the Washington Redskins. However, if this quarterback scenario plays out as expected, it will be the Eagles and Cowboys slugging it out on the national platform for a good long while.
And as much as Eagles fans despise the Cowboys, they will have to acknowledge that it is always sweeter when you have an equal rival. In sports, there has always been a special place for the winners who can get past a talented opponent.
Back in the day, there was Ali vs. Frazier. In football, it was Manning vs. Brady or Notre Dame vs. USC. There was Sixers vs. Celtics. And Flyers vs. Rangers.
You might enjoy stomping on a rival that is down on its fortunes but it is so much better when you beat a rival that has its season ruined by a crushing loss – to you.
It was surely delicious when the Eagles could beat Romo and literally knock him out of games but the time has now come to pull the target off Romo and place it on Prescott.
And that might well be the case with the Eagles and Dallas Cowboys over the next several years.
We will get out first taste of that possible future on Sunday when the Eagles play a Dallas team that will be under the guidance of Prescott, not Tony Romo. It was surely delicious when the Eagles could beat Romo and literally knock him out of games but the time has now come to pull the target off Romo and place it on Prescott.
The bad news is that in addition to Prescott, the Cowboys also have found another long-term offensive star in running back Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas’ first-round pick in the 2016 draft that is simply running amok in his rookie season.
It is rare enough to draft a franchise quarterback who can take the reins in year one, but it is beyond absurd to think that the Cowboys have also drafted a workhorse, mercurial running back at the same time.
Making matters worse, those two work behind one of the best offensive lines in football.
The Eagles will have to counter those two with what could develop into a killer defense for a long period of time, and an offense that will have to take advantage of field position and turnovers.
It is always dangerous to peer too far into the future, and more than a few projected stars have wilted quickly under the weight of NFL schedules, but these two quarterbacks have as good a chance as any to make the dreams come true.
What we know for sure right now is that this is not a dream, and it is very real that the Eagles and Cowboys will be center stage for the whole nation on Sunday night.
And the guess there is that it is a matchup that will be billed at the top of the NFL marquee for many seasons to come.
Enjoy Act 1.
