All things considered, the answer would appear to be a resounding no! With the 8-1 Philadelphia Eagles visiting AT&T Stadium on Sunday Night, the short-handed Dallas Cowboys would appear to be in over their heads. The defending NFC East champions will be without running back Ezekiel Elliott, who will be serving the second installment of his six-game suspension. Middle linebacker Sean Lee is out for this contest, further weakening a run defense that is ranked just 12th in the NFL against the run this season. And listed as questionable is perennial Pro Bowl left tackle Tyron Smith.
He missed last week’s game at Atlanta and Dallas’ quarterback Dak Prescott was sacked eight times. So can the 5-4 Cowboys pull out a win and remain not only in the division title chase but the playoff race as well? We know that there’s no such thing as never in the NFL.
The state of the Eagles
The team with the best win-loss record in the league is coming off a little down time and made sure it reinforced its roster thanks to general manager Howie Roseman. A few weeks ago, veteran left tackle Jason Peters and middle linebacker Jordan Hicks went down for the remainder of the season. In early October, the Philadelphia Eagles lost cornerback Ronald Darby (obtained from the Buffalo Bills during the summer) to an ankle injury.
But the latter is expected to return for this showdown in Arlington. Meanwhile, Roseman went out and added tackle Will Beatty and inside linebacker Dannell Ellerbe to offset the losses of Peters and Hicks.
So what have we seen to date? These Birds have been balanced on both sides of the football. They’ve put at least 20 points on the board in all nine games this season.
The team has won seven straight games, but in their last five outings, they’ve outscored the opposition by a combined 180-87.
The state of the Cowboys
Do the Cowboys have any shot of cooling off the Philadelphia Eagles? Yes, this game is at AT&T Stadium, but it’s a building that the Eagles have won five times at in the last seven years.
The one real concern that Doug Pederson should have is the offensive line’s ability to protect quarterback Carson Wentz. Dallas’ pass rush is led by Demarcus Lawrence and David Irving. The former has 11.5 of the team’s 28 sacks and Irving has six QB traps in five games since returning from a four-game suspension. Getting Wentz to put the ball on the ground could be the key to a Cowboys’ victory. And it's certainly worth considering the fact that the second-year signal-caller has put the ball on turf seven times (2 lost fumbles) in nine outings this year.
We'll see how it goes on Sunday, but right now the Eagles should be considered the favorites.
