USA Today
Five Storylines for Eagles-Cowboys Round 2 Matchup
It’s all in front of them now – the division title, the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, and more wins than any other Eagles team in their history has ever had.
At 13-1, the Eagles need to win only more game over their final three to accomplish all of that.
Their first crack will come on Christmas Eve when they travel to Dallas to take on a Cowboys team that, at 10-4, needs to win out and hope Philly loses out to prevent their NFC East rival from ending the Cowboys’ modest one-year reign as NFC East champs.
The Eagles will take their first swing at it with backup Gardner Minshew, as everyone who has been struck in the mall or traffic knows by now.
Here are five storylines for the matchup:
ABOUT DAK
There’s been plenty of focus on the Eagles’ QB situation with Gardner Minshew stepping for injured Jalen Hurts, but perhaps not enough attention on Cowboys QB Dak Prescott.
He has struggled recently with interceptions.
In his last four games, he has thrown seven picks. He has 11 this season to just 17 touchdowns. Set to turn 30 this summer, he isn’t the runner he was earlier in his career, either.
After three straight seasons with six rushing scores to begin his career, Prescott has run for only one in the past two years. An ankle injury suffered two years ago has robbed him of some of his mobility and, perhaps a fractured thumb earlier this season that cost him five games, could still be impacting his accuracy.
The Eagles lead the league in interceptions with 15 but haven’t had one since Week 12 in a win over the Packers on Nov. 27.
THIRD STRAIGHT ROAD GAMES
Remember when the schedule came out and one of the worries was three straight December road trips?
Not anymore.
The Eagles rolled in New York, found their footing in frigid Chicago, and now it’s off to Dallas.
The Eagles haven’t lost on the road yet.
They are the league’s only undefeated team on the road team this season and, dating back to last season, they have tied a franchise record with nine straight wins away from Lincoln Financial Field.
The other two teams to do that in Philly history were 2000-01 and 2003-04.
ALEX KEMP AFFECT
Guess which officiating crew is assigned the game?
Yep, Alex Kemp and his gang of see-no-evil. It’s the crew that either didn’t see or chose not to call the flagrant face mask on Dallas Goedert against Washington on Nov. 14.
It wasn’t like the face mask came in a hard-to-see scrum, but out in the open and was obvious to everyone at the game and everyone watching on TV.
Except for Kemp and his crew.
The face mask contributed to Goedert being twisted to the ground and landed on so hard that he suffered a fracture in his shoulder that cost him five games.
Should the Eagles lose, both losses will have come with Kemp and company as the officials.
RUN, RUN, RUN RUDOLPH
A nod to the season.
Obviously, the Eagles don’t have a running back named Rudolph, but they have Miles Sanders and Dasher and Dancer, too…scratch that…Boston Scott and Kenny Gainwell.
The Cowboys' run defense has been porous the last couple of weeks.
The Jaguars torched them for 192 yards on 27 carries in beating them last week.
The Texans nearly won by running for 114 yards on 37 carries.
Their run-stuffing DT Johnathan Hankins was lost for the season against the Texans and their sideline-to-sideline roaming LB Leighton Vander Esch won’t play with a neck injury that has haunted him the past few seasons.
TICKETS
This isn’t so much a storyline as it is an interesting fact.
The average price for a ticket to see the Eagles play in Dallas is $471.81. It is the highest average ticket priced-game for the Eagles since Week 8 against the Steelers.
The next highest-average price for this Christmas weekend slate of games is Sunday’s Green Bay Packers at Miami Dolphins tilt, which has an average ticket price of $379.05.
SI Tickets can help with any ticket purchase price you may need, whether it’s to one of the two final regular-season Eagles games, the playoffs, concerts, and more.
Entering its second year of operations, SI Tickets by Sports Illustrated is a fan-first ticketing marketplace, offering millions of tickets to more than 175,000 concerts, theater, and sporting events across the globe, with transparent pricing that includes a $10 flat transaction fee and a guaranteed 100% refund if an event is canceled for any reason.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
