Doug Pederson says Jalen Hurts will start at QB Week 16 for the Eagles.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) December 21, 2020
The Dallas Cowboys (5-9) couldn’t beat Carson Wentz earlier in the season, now they’ll get a chance to take down his replacement. As all expected, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson ended his coy routine on Monday and announced that second-round rookie Jalen Hurts would get his third consecutive start in Week 16. Hurts won his first game and played extremely well in Week 15’s road loss to the Arizona Cardinals that dropped the Eagles record to 4-9-1 and moved them into the NFC East basement.
Both teams have distant playoff chances, and it will be a battle of the backups as Andy Dalton looks to give the Cowboys their first three-game winning streak since the opening three weeks of the 2019 season. Dalton himself hasn’t won three straight games since Week 2 of the 2018 season and in three consecutive weeks since the Cincinnati Bengals opened the 2015 season 8-0. BetMGM has the Eagles as 1.5-point road favorites in this contest.
In the first matchup between the clubs, Dallas started rookie Ben DiNucci after Dalton was knocked out of the previous contest with a concussion against Washington. DiNucci looked completely lost under center in a 23-9 defeat that saw rookie corner Trevon Diggs, drafted ahead of Hurts in Round 2, intercept Wentz twice in the end zone.
The Cowboys are now 3-4 with Dalton starting, and the QB has thrown for 11 touchdowns against six interceptions though he’s throwing for the lowest yards-per-attempt number (6.1) in his entire career.
Hurts meanwhile has taken over for an inept Wentz and injected life into a listless Eagles offense that was a sack and turnover factory. Hurts has thrown for over 500 yards with four scores and no picks in two games, and also ran for 169 yards and another score. He has fumbled four times, which could bode well for a Dallas defense that all of a sudden are turnover machines, forcing seven in the last two games including five recovered fumbles.
The two teams will match up in the late afternoon game on FOX.
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