PHILADELPHIA — Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, as expected, will be out against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday with a concussion. Less expected would be the loss of linebacker Nakobe Dean, who is dealing with an abdomen injury and is listed as doubtful.
Wide receiver/punt returner Britain Covey, who has played only five games this season, is out again with a neck injury, placed on injured reserve on Saturday. Running back Will Shipley (concussion) will also miss the game. Defensive end Bryce Huff, coming off of wrist surgery, was activated from injured reserve.
The Cowboys, who are eliminated from playoff contention, lost five in a row in the middle of the season. But since with backup quarterback Cooper Rush, they’ve won four of five. The Eagles can secure the NFC East with a victory (or a Washington loss). In a rivalry game, they won't be taking anything lightly.
“They’ve been doing great, man,” cornerback Darius Slay said of Dallas. “The quarterback’s been playing great, or better. It’s the first time we’ve played him this season. He's been doing a great job controlling the clock. And I’ve been playing against (Dallas head coach Mike) McCarthy for a long time. He’s been without a lot of his key guys before, when he was in Green Bay and I was in Detroit, so it doesn’t really change too much with how he operates.”
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni echoed Slay’s comments. The Eagles won the first meeting, 34-6.
“(They’ve) got good coaching combined with good players,” Sirianni said. “Going into that first game, that's what we thought. We didn't really think about how they were playing or certain things as far as their record at that time. We just know how good the football team is, and it's still the same thing going into this game.”
Cowboys linebacker and Penn State alum Micah Parsons would love nothing more than to take down the Birds.
“That probably makes the year, you know what I'm saying?,” Parsons told the media in Dallas. “That sets everything off. Us getting that win, away game in Philly, knowing how they're trying to get the No. 1 seed, can set them back a little bit. They're fighting for everything. They're fighting for where they want to be in the playoffs. We're just fighting to whoop them. They got more to lose than we do, so that'll be a great feeling right there.”
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Running back Saquon Barkley, who has 1,838 rushing yards, needs 268 yards over the final two games to break Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson’s single-season record of 2,105. But Dickerson, who set the mark in 1984, isn’t rooting for him.
“I don't think he'll break it, but if he breaks it, he breaks it,” Dickerson told the Los Angeles Times. “Do I want him to break it? Absolutely not. I don't pull no punches on that. But I'm not whining about it. He had 17 games to do it? Hey, football is football. That's the way I look at it. If he's fortunate to get over 2,000 yards and get the record, it's a great record to have.
“I've always said that the one that's going to last the longest is me setting the rookie record with 1,808, because you only get one shot at that. You're only a rookie once.”
Dickerson captured the record during a 16-game season, not the 17 Barkley will get. Still, he noticed how the New York Giants discarded Barkley for nothing, with the Eagles playing the Giants in the finale.
“How ironic would it be for him to break the record on them, the team that let him go,” Dickerson said. “A true slap in the face.”
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Notes >> The Eagles/Cowboys game was flexed from 4:25 to 1 p.m. on FOX. … The Birds will be wearing their Kelly green uniforms. The last time they wore them was against Jacksonville, when Barkley did his reverse hurdle. … Since 2022, the Eagles have the third-best home winning percentage (.808, 21-5) in the NFL, behind Buffalo and Kansas City (both .821, 23-5). ... The FOX broadcasting team for the game will be Joe Davis, Greg Olsen and Pam Oliver.