FRISCO, Texas -- For each of the last three seasons, the NFC East was a duopoly with the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles trading the division crown back and forth.
That's no longer the case for the Cowboys, who are off to a 3-5 start following three consecutive defeats, while the Eagles remain in contention with a 6-2 record bolstered by a four-game winning streak.
The two teams are also in vastly different spots with their health. All of Philadelphia's top players are ready to roll. Meanwhile, Dallas will be without quarterback Dak Prescott, who is heading to injured reserve with a hamstring injury, and 2023 NFL interceptions leader, cornerback DaRon Bland (foot stress fracture). Cornerback Trevon Diggs (calf/illness), left tackle Tyler Guyton (neck/shoulder), linebacker Erick Kendricks (shoulder) and edge rusher Micah Parsons (high ankle sprain) are the Cowboys starters whose statuses are up in the air for Week 10.
Can the Cowboys rally once again behind backup-turned-starter Cooper Rush? Or will the Eagles smash their archrivals en route to their fifth consecutive win? Let's zoom in on this matchup and project a winner.
How to watch Eagles vs. Cowboys
Date: Sunday, Nov. 10 | Time: 4:25 p.m. ET
Location: AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)
Channel: CBS | Stream: Paramount+ (try for free)
Follow: CBS Sports App
Odds: Eagles -7.5, O/U 43.5 (via BetMGM)
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When the Eagles have the ball
Philadelphia's offense starts and ends with their punishing ground game centered around free agent signee running back Saquon Barkley and dual threat quarterback Jalen Hurts as the Eagles average 174.8 rushing yards per game. That's the second most in the entire league behind only the Baltimore Ravens and their 182.6 average powered by Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson.
Henry (116.9 rushing yards per game) and Barkley (115.6) rank first and second in the entire NFL in rushing yards per game as well as first and third, respectively, in rushing yards per game in a player's first season with a new squad, per CBS Sports research.
Most rush yards/game in first season with team, NFL history
| Season | RB | Rush YPG | New Team |
|---|---|---|---|
2024 | Derrick Henry | 116.9 | Ravens |
2002 | Ricky Williams | 115.8 | |
2024 | Saquon Barkley | 115.6 | Eagles |
1983 | Eric Dickerson | 113.0 | |
1987 | Eric Dickerson | 112.3 |
Barkley has soared sky high his first season as an Eagle. Hs possesses the fifth-most rushing yards, 925, in his first eight career games with a team all time. That production has him in line for 1,965 rushing yards in 2024, which would break LeSean McCoy's single-season Eagles record of 1,607 set in 2013. Barkley is also averaging an NFL-leading 133.9 scrimmage yards per game after racking up 199 -- 159 rushing on 27 carries and 40 receiving on three catches -- in a 28-23 victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 9. Three of Barkley's seven highest single-game rushing yards totals in his career have come in his first eight games with Philadelphia, and he is averaging 2.5 yards before contract per rush, the third-most in the league among running backs in 2024 That's a massive departure from his 2023 yards-before-contact-per-rush average of 1 yard, which ranked 32nd among running backs last season.
Eagles two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Jalen Hurts struggled with an NFL-most 27 turnovers from Week 1 of 2023 to Week 4 of 2024. Then, Philadelphia began its four-game winning streak in Week 6 after its Week 5 bye, which coincided with Barkley leading the league with 490 rushing yards from Weeks 6-9. Naturally, Hurts has gone off for 12 total touchdowns and no turnovers during the four-game winning streak, which is the longest stretch of his career without a giveaway. That's also led to Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J. Brown balling out with 325 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in this stretch. Brown's return from a hamstring injury helped spark the streak as the Eagles are 5-0 when he is in the lineup this season.
Barkley could go the distance on any play: His 12 runs of 15-plus yards are the second-most among running backs in the league. So how will a Cowboys defense that is allowing the third-most rushing yards per game (147.8) and averages the second-highest missed tackle rate (30.1%) in the NFL limit their archrivals on offense? Have fundamentally sound tackling technique and pray.
When the Cowboys have the ball
"We've always invested all the time and energy into the quarterback, Dak, that has the football. So now it's Cooper's turn, and Dak will be part of that process," Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said on Monday. "We'll rally around him and make sure that we do everything we can to make sure that he's prepared. We'll just keep going about it the way we've gone about it."
The reason McCarthy is so excited to start Rush is because Dallas has won five of his six starts in place of an injured Prescott from 2021 to 2022, including wins in four of five in 2022. It's worth noting the Dallas defense allowed just 15.8 points per game in Rush's six starts combined.
Rush's supporting cast is a little different now. The Cowboys had an actual ground game with Tony Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott leading the way in 2021 and 2022 with the Cowboys averaging 129.9 rushing yards per game across those two seasons, the eighth-best mark in the NFL. Dallas also surrendered an average of 20.6 points per game from 2021 to 2022, good enough to rank as the league's sixth-ranked scoring defense. When Rush did start, he wasn't powering the Cowboys to these victories as he was more of a game manager. He threw for seven touchdowns and four interceptions in addition to averaging 213.5 passing yards per game, 7 yards per pass and a 58.5% completion percentage which all added up to a 83.6 passer rating. Three of those interceptions came in a 26-17 road loss at the Eagles in Week 6 of the 2022 season, Rush's last start and the Cowboys' opponent this week.
The support Rush had in 2021 and 2022 from his run game and defense is extinct in 2024: The Cowboys have the second-worst run game in football, averaging 82.0 rushing yards per game and the second-worst scoring defense in football, allowing 28.1 points per game. That's why 2023 first-team All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb knows it's on him to elevate Dallas' 20th-ranked scoring offense (21.4 points per game) in Prescott's absence.
"I've just got to step up, quite honestly," Lamb said Thursday. "That's been my motto since coming back [from his offseason contract holdout]. With that, keeping him [Rush] comfortable back there, making sure I'm available on every route given. Stay in his ear, let him know what I see. Hopefully, he sees the same thing and we'll be on the same page and connect."
Prediction
The Cowboys just don't have the personnel on the interior of their defensive line to slow down Barkley and Hurts on the ground. Defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa's 60.6 Pro Football Focus defensive grade ranks 56th out of 124 qualified defensive tackles while 15-year veteran Linval Joseph's 46.7 PFF defensive grade stands 105th out of 124. Dallas' first-round pick from the 2023 NFL Draft, defensive tackle Mazi Smith, is PFF's lowest-graded defensive tackle in the NFL with a 29.6 defensive grade.
Philadelphia will run over the NFL's third-worst run defense (147.8 rushing yards per game allowed) that is also the second-worst tackling team (30.1% missed tackle rate) in the NFL limit en route to dominant road win. Pick: Eagles 38, Cowboys 13
