The Dallas Cowboys return to action on Sunday, playing both their next-to-last game against the NFC East and for the season as a whole. Week 17 holds no promise or drama though, as Dallas was eliminated from the playoff race last week and has been reduced to the role of spoiler.
Last week’s win knocked the Tampa Bay Buccaneers out of first place in the NFC South and handed control over to the Atlanta Falcons. This week, the Cowboys take on the Philadelphia Eagles, who are currently leading the East by two games with two to go.
If the Eagles lose out and Washington wins out, the Commanders take the NFC East title. Also, the Eagles have a longshot chance at the No. 1 seed in the playoffs if they win out, Detroit loses out and Minnesota falls to Green Bay this weekend.
As such, it would be beneficial to them to have their franchise quarterback, Jalen Hurts, under center. Hurts has had a bounce back year and kept the Eagles from fading down the stretch as they did in 2023. However a concussion suffered in last week’s loss to Washington, which snapped the team’s 10-game winning streak, put his playing status in jeopardy.
On Friday, head coach Nick Sirianni put the concerns to rest and ruled Hurts out of the game.
Veteran signal caller Kenny Pickett will replace him in the starting lineup. Pickett, the former Steelers QB, will make his first start of the season against a Dallas defense that has been ravaged by injury this season. The Cowboys have won four of their last five games on the strength of Mike Zimmer’s defense turning the corner on the year.
Without Dak Prescott under center, Dallas has relied on QB pressure and creating turnovers, a formula they were used to under Dan Quinn for three years but one that didn’t work through the first half of the season.
QB Cooper Rush will look to exorcise his demons against the Eagles, having his two worst starting performances of his career against them. The seventh-year UDFA is now 9-4 as a starter.
