The Dallas Cowboys (10-4) will have a chance to redeem themselves on Saturday as they play the Philadelphia Eagles (13-1) on Christmas Eve in AT&T Stadium. Kick off is at 3:30 P.M. CST.
The biggest topic of discussion and question mark leading up to this game is, ‘is Jalen Hurts going to play on Saturday or not?’ It was announced on monday that the Philadelphia QB has a sprained right shoulder and is questionable to play on Saturday. In week six Cowboys QB Dak Prescott was out with that thumb injury that affected his throwing hand and Cooper Rush led things for Dallas in the 26-17 loss. If Hurts does not suit up Saturday both QB’s will have gone a whole year without phasing each other.
Not having Hurts will take a huge blow to the Eagles offense, who has been stellar all season. The Eagles are on a five-game win streak and Hurts ability to move outside of the pocket brings another weapon to the Philadelphia offense. Which could give the Cowboys a run for their money since their defense hasn’t brought much heat like we are used to seeing in the beginning of the season. Dallas is still a top tier defense but in the last two games they weren’t lights out like they usually are. A big part of that is the hit they are getting with injuries on the defensive side of the ball. They’re pretty banged up, the latest injury report showed with DE Dorance Armstrong not practicing with a knee injury, S Jayron Kearse with shoulder/back injury, DE Demarcus Armstrong with foot injury, Leighton Vander Esch with neck injury, and Micah Parsons not practicing for the second day in a row with illness.
Head Coach Mike McCarthy said he’s not concerned about all the injuries and that it’s something that just happens with this league late in the season.
With all the bangs and bruises that this Cowboys defense is seeing at all three levels of defense, Dallas still needs to hold their opponents to limited points and the pass rush needs to apply pressure on the QB even if that isn’t Jalen Hurts.
On the offensive side of the ball Dallas spent most of their time last Sunday running the ball. They ran the ball 41 times for 154 total rushing yards. The run game did an okay job but the offense all together put up 34 points, which is a noticeable amount but we need to see more from the run game. This stems from having a strong offensive line.
We spoke to QB Dak Prescott after practice on Wednesday and he said, “I think everybody in the locker room is looking forward to this rematch.”
