TLDR: This was supposed to be the NFC East's marquee game. Instead Dallas and Philadelphia both show up on Monday Night Football at 2-4, and the loser is in real trouble before Halloween.
Dallas and Philadelphia meet on Monday Night Football with matching 2-4 records. The Eagles are on Tanner McKee with Jalen Hurts on IR and are still waiting on Saquon Barkley, Lane Johnson and Landon Dickerson to get healthy. The Cowboys are healthy at quarterback and receiver but have scored 16 and 13 their last 2 times out while Dak Prescott keeps throwing interceptions. The board has Dallas as a road favorite, so this comes down to whether Prescott protects the ball and whether the Eagles' patched-up offensive line can protect McKee.
+McKee protected the ball, 0 turnovers vs Carolina
+Home game at the Linc, division stakes
+Goedert productive: 6 catches, 61 yards vs Carolina
Start with the quarterbacks, because that's where the 2 teams look the most different. Jalen Hurts is on injured reserve with a superficial blood clot in his calf. He'll miss at least 4 games, and this is one of them, so Tanner McKee gets the Cowboys. McKee's first start under this setup was a 25-14 loss to Carolina: 26 of 45 for 215 yards, 1 touchdown to DeVonta Smith and no turnovers. That's clean, but the offense never got moving. Dak Prescott is healthy with his whole receiving corps behind him and has been the bigger problem. He threw 2 interceptions in the 24-16 home loss to Tampa Bay, then 2 more in a 23-13 loss at Lambeau, including one at the 2-minute warning when Dallas was already in field-goal range.
The Eagles' injury list goes well past the quarterback. Saquon Barkley was inactive against Carolina with a hamstring, which left Dameon Pierce as the starter. Lane Johnson was out, and Landon Dickerson is on IR with a knee, so 2 of the line's anchors were missing in that game. Tight ends Eli Stowers and Grant Calcaterra are both on IR, and Nolan Smith Jr. left the Panthers game with a concussion. Dallas has its own problems on defense: DeMarvion Overshown, James Houston, Cobie Durant and Alijah Clark were all inactive in Green Bay, and Dee Winters went down with an ankle. With all that missing on the Philly side, the books still have the Cowboys as road favorites in Philadelphia, which says plenty about how the Eagles look right now.
The Dallas offense is the hard part to figure out. In September it scored 37 on Washington, 31 in a loss to Baltimore and 34 in a win at Houston. Then it managed 16 and 13 the last 2 times out, with CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens both active. Green Bay's defense took them both away, and Lamb slipping on a slant set up the killer interception. That's not a talent problem. It's a team that stopped finishing drives.
Philadelphia's slide has been slower but just as real. The Eagles have lost 4 straight as of now: a 27-7 beating in Chicago, then 3 one-score-ish losses to the Rams, Jacksonville and Carolina in which they didn't score more than 20. Nick Sirianni's line after Carolina was that "it's not just one thing," and the injury report backs him up. McKee said it more bluntly: "my team needs me to be better." Carolina beat him with well-timed blitzes and tight coverage, so expect Dallas to try the same.
Neither team plays again before Monday, October 26, so both get a full week to fix what they can. The forecast for Lincoln Financial Field is cloudy, around 60 degrees with almost no wind, so the weather won't decide anything. Kickoff is 8:15 PM ET. Whoever wins gets to 3-5 and stays in the race. Whoever loses has dropped a division game in October and is staring at a lost season.
Cowboys vs. Eagles: Polymarket Odds & Prediction (Oct. 26) — Cowboys and Eagles Meet at 2-4 With the NFC East Already Slipping · Barstool Bush
