Christmas Eve will find the Philadelphia Eagles on the road in North Texas to face the Dallas Cowboys for a divisional clash with serious playoff-seeding ramifications.
The Cowboys are coming off a soul-shaking defeat to the Jacksonville Jaguars, while the Eagles enter with the NFL’s hottest record but without the star quarterback who has been the spark for the team’s success this year.
In Week 15, the Eagles collected their 13th win of the season by beating the Chicago Bears 25-20 to tie the all-time franchise record for most single-season wins with the 2002 Super Bowl-losing team.
Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts uncharacteristically struggled early, throwing two interceptions that allowed the downtrodden Bears to stay in the game until the final seconds. Suffering a shoulder sprain in the game, Hurts is expected to miss the Christmas Eve game against the Cowboys.
In his place will be Gardner Minshew, a once-starter in the league, who has just four pass attempts this season. Teeing up early against the Philly offensive line and disrupting Minshew will be a crucial element of the Cowboys’ approach in this game.
The Dallas Cowboys opened up a 17-point lead late in the third quarter against Jacksonville but could not close out the game in Week 15.
Jacksonville managed to tie the contest before the final whistle to send the game to overtime. The Jaguars had the first crack in the overtime period, but the Dallas defense made a stop and got off the field after three plays.
Then, disaster struck. Quarterback Dak Prescott rifled a pass to receiver Noah Brown only to watch as the pass bounced off Brown’s hands and into the arms of safety Rayshawn Jenkins, who scored his first-ever pick-six to win the game.
Prescott has thrown seven interceptions in the last four games and has a total of 11 interceptions on the season after missing five weeks early in the year with a thumb injury.
Linebacker Micah Parsons — who missed several days of practice this week with an illness — said recently that considering Hurts an MVP candidate does not take into account the team and system he is playing within in Philadelphia.
Of course, the Eagles took offense to the comments. They will now get to demonstrate whether the team is good enough to take out a serious division rival with the NFC East title hanging in the balance or if the success they have seen is due to the incredible talent Hurts brings to the field.
The Cowboys need this win over the Eagles as much for pride and determination as for the playoff-seeding ramifications.
Dallas needs Philadelphia to lose all three remaining games this season while winning out themselves to take the NFC East title. Any Eagles win will automatically drop the Cowboys to the No.5 seed, sending them on the road for the Wild Card round of the playoffs to face the No.4 seed, likely Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Cowboys and the Eagles will kick off from AT&T Stadium in Dallas at 3:25 p.m. CST on Saturday, December 24.