December 22, 2019
As many of us expected when the schedules were released way back in April, the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys will square off for the NFC East crown on Sunday. Well, sort of. If the Cowboys win, they'll win the division. If the Eagles win, they'll still need to beat the Giants Week 17, or have the Cowboys lose to Washington Week 17. Anyway, shut up. It's a huge game.
As always, the Eagles are very banged up. In addition to the long list of players on injured reserve and the offensive skill positions littered with practice squad players, the Birds will be without star RT Lane Johnson, leaving them vulnerable on the edge against DeMarcus Lawrence. The Cowboys, meanwhile, are very healthy in terms of players on IR (or lack thereof), but there are certainly concerns about Dak Prescott's shoulder, and whether or not he is 100 percent. You can find the final Eagles-Cowboys injury report here.
As we noted in our five matchups to watch, the Eagles' defense is going to have a difficult time stopping the diversified ways the Cowboys can beat you offensively. If you prioritize taking away the deep ball, Ezekiel Elliott can do damage in between the tackles. If you pack the box, you leave yourself vulnerable to the deep ball, which has killed the Eagles all season long. Of course, how well Prescott's shoulder is functioning will factor in.
The Cowboys were initially 2.5-point favorites, but that dipped to 1.5 points when it was revealed that Prescott did not practice earlier in the week. With positive results coming back on Prescott late in the week, the spread is back up to 2.5. Here are our staff writer picks, and who some others around the country are picking in this matchup. For the gambling degenerates, you can find my Week 16 NFL picks here.
The rest of the NFL's slate of Sunday games:
Early games:
Later games:
Primetime:
Feel free to discuss the games below.
