Eagles-Cowboys Preview: Players To Watch, Final Score Prediction, And More

The Philadelphia Eagles have a second chance to wrap up the NFC East title, but have to beat the Dallas Cowboys in Week 17 matchup.

Eagles quarterback Kenny Pickett will start in Week 17 against the Dallas Cowboys. / Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles have a second chance to clinch the NFC East, needing to beat the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday (1 p.m./FOX) to make it happen. They lost their first chance slip through their hands in last week’s loss to the Washington Commanders and will now try to wrap it up with a backup quarterback and possibly without their second-leading tackler.

Here’s more:

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Kenny Pickett. Many Eagles fans don’t believe Pickett is very good. This is his chance for the backup quarterback to prove otherwise and win a game that would deliver the NFC East title to Philly. He has a better cast around him, with receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, and running back Saquon Barkley, than he did when he started and won 14 games in two seasons with the Steelers.

Saquon Barkley. An interesting final two weeks awaits for the league’s top running back this season. He needs 268 yards to break Eric Dickerson’s 40-year-old record of 2,105 rushing yards in a single season. If he gets, say 150, and needs 118 more in the season finale, which won’t mean much if the Eagles beat the Cowboys on Sunday, do the Eagles play him or sit him against a New York Giants team going through the motions?

Whatever happens, Barkley will carry a heavy load against the Cowboys, who have one of the NFL’s worst run defenses this season, giving up 136 yards per game on the ground. Of course, Barkley could take the season finale out of the equation and go for 268 on Sunday. Ridiculous to think that? He did have 255 against the Rams earlier in the season, so…

Oren Burks. Maybe you’re saying, who? The backup linebacker hasn’t played much this season – 43 defensive snaps, so far. But with Nakobe Dean listed as doubtful with an abdomen injury, Burks is expected to be the next linebacker up. Expect the Cowboys to try to test his coverage skills with some underneath throws in the middle of the field, to tight end Jake Ferguson or maybe the speedy Brandin Cooks.

Eagles prep for tackliing drill during traing camp. From let to right: Zack Baun, Brandon Smith, and Nakobe Dean / Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

Zack Baun. The Eagles linebacker could be missing his season-long running mate Nakobe Dean, but he cannot try to do too much to account for Dean’s potential loss due to injury. Baun is the first NFL player to have 140-plus tackles (144) and five forced fumbles in a season since Pro Football Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks in 2000.

Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata. The two tackles have some of the best grades a lineman can get in the Pro Football Focus grading system, and they will have the unenvious task of blocking Micah Parsons, who can lie up on both sides of the ball. Despite missing four games with injury, Parsons still has 9.5 sacks in 11 games this season, and he talked earlier in the week about coming in and ruining the Eagles’ hopes for trying to wrap up the division title.

THINGS TO KNOW

-The Eagles haven’t beaten the Cowboys twice in the regular season since the Andy Reid days back in 2011.

-Nolan Smith has a sack in four of his last five games and is now second on the team with 6.5, behind Josh Sweat’s team-high 8.0.

-Safety Reed Blankenship already has a career-high in interceptions with four while fellow safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson also has four and is just two away from tying the career-high six he had in his first stint with the Eagles in 2022.

PREDICTION

Call it a hunch, but my feeling is that Kenny Pickett will prove why Howie Roseman traded for him and deliver a win and division title with an arm that will throw for 250 yards, give or take a dozen.

Eagles 30, Cowboys 20

Season record: 8-7

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