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Football Armageddon is almost here. The Cowboys and Eagles tangle for the upper-hand in the NFC East with a game in Philadelphia on Sunday. A Cowboys win would still leave them temporarily behind the Eagles due to already having a bye, but getting the first part of the tiebreaker against Philly would be huge for Dallas, especially with the return game at AT&T Stadium.
Dallas certainly seemed to find some things in their offense that were missing prior to the bye week as their offensive output against the Rams was explosive. Can they keep that going against an Eagles defense that can definitely get after the quarterback, but struggles in coverage? The Dallas defense will have to contend with A.J. Brown, who is having a monster season.
DraftKings Sportsbook has the Cowboys as three-point underdogs to the Eagles.
Let’s see what some other sites say about the game.
Why Tom is taking the Eagles: In Week 8, Dallas looked unbeatable against the Rams, while the Eagles didn’t take their first lead over the Commanders until the fourth quarter — when they secured their fourth one-possession win (in five such games) this season. The Cowboys have not been stress-tested in 2023 like Jalen Hurts and Co. I have more faith in Philly’s ability to withstand a rough-and-tumble divisional matchup, especially at home, than I do in Dallas to win ugly.
One for the bad guys. Any Dallas win would cover, but the Eagles winning seems to be the majority prediction.
This is an enormous early-season game in the NFC East. The Eagles have the best record in the NFL, but they still haven’t looked great. The Cowboys have righted things the past two games, especially on offense. I think that shows up as the Cowboys pull off the upset with Dak Prescott having a big game.
Pick: Cowboys 31, Eagles 29
Here we have a Cowboys upset. As we mentioned above and is cited in this prediction, the Cowboys offense has improved, maybe enough to grab a road win.
The Cowboys are a different team when you put them on grass.
Florio: Eagles, 30-24.
Simms: Eagles, 30-21.
Non-believers here.
Dak Prescott is red-hot. So is Jalen Hurts. This should make for a fun, even matchup where the running games will be contained and it will come down to a shootout between the receivers and tight ends. Both QBs are dealing downfield so it comes down to facing key pressure. Micah Parsons will come through for Dallas in that area vs. Hurts at key moments. The Cowboys’ efficient brand of offense pays off here in a mild upset to make the NFC East a real race.
Pick: Cowboys win 27-24.
That is a solid pick. Basically because it’s the exact score I used in my prediction for the game.
The Eagles defense has been a little Jekyll-and-Hyde. They played great two weeks ago against Miami but got lit up by Washington’s Sam Howell in Week 8. On offense, last week was the best game of Jalen Hurts’s career in terms of EPA per pass play. Hurts is dealing with a knee injury, and that meant taking checkdowns quickly, getting the ball out, and throwing it up to A.J. Brown, rather than trying to scramble and create.
The Cowboys, meanwhile, are coming off of a convincing win over the Rams in a game that was over by halftime. Dak Prescott has looked sharp the past two weeks and is completing a career-best 71 percent of his passes on the season.
Will the Eagles double Dallas receiver CeeDee Lamb? Will the Cowboys double Brown? Can the Eagles run the ball effectively, given Hurts’s injury? How will Philadelphia account for the Cowboys’ do-it-all defender Micah Parsons? So many fun story lines in this one. I see two pretty evenly matched teams, but I like the Eagles to cover at home.
The pick: Eagles (-3)
Another pick for the bad guys.
What’s your call BTB? Hit the comments and give us your score for the game.
The group of BTB writers that are predicting games this season are below. We used Tallysight to predict each game for Week 9 of the NFL.
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