The Philadelphia Eagles are 6-2.
On one hand, the team is one Saquon Barkley drop away from being 7-3, which would put them as the top team in the NFC East with room to spare. But did you watch the Birds in Week 9 against the Jacksonville Jaguars? Well, if you turned it off at halftime, you likely slept pretty, dreaming of a very easy W by Philly's finest, but for the rest of us who watched the entire game? Yikes, things got really testy down the stretch, with some magic needed by Barkley, DeVonta Smith, and Nakobe Dean needed to keep Nick Sirianni's team perfect after the bye.
Who are the Eagles? Are they a good team with some flaws? Or are they a middle-of-the-road team that really hasn't been challenged much in 2024?
Fortunately or not, depending on your take, Eagles fans likely won't find out the answer to that question in Week 10, as their favorite team will be traveling to Dallas to face off against a Cowboys team down Dak Prescott and as many as half a dozen other starters. Now granted, if all you really care about is securing the win, then that's very good news indeed, as the one things most Philly fans like almost as much as an Eagles win is a Cowboys loss, but will it even feel as sweet if Jalen Hurts, Barkley, and company secure it against Cooper Rush? Do you know what? I kind of think it will, which is good because this is really shaping up to be a banner week for the Eagles against their archrivals.
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1. Saquon Barkley outruns the Cowboys' offense
Saquon Barkley has been on an absolute roll as a member of the Eagles.
Since putting up 132 total yards in Week 1 down in Brazil, Barkley has recorded at least 100 yards from scrimmage in every game except one, with the Cleveland Browns making it their mission to slow him down while his teammates picked up the slack.
And the best part? Barkley is doing it in a variety of different ways, between the tackles, on outside zones, and even as a pass-catcher, with his Week 9 receiving touchdown as good as anything you will see from a wide receiver on a weekly basis.
So, when the pride of PSU is tasked with a chance to face off against the 30th-ranked rushing defense in the NFL? In his first-ever Eagles-Cowboys game, no less? Goodness gracious, Barkley might just run for 200 yards before the fourth quarter, at least unless Sirianni opts to take him out of the game and finally give some run to Will Shipley.
Allowing an average of 147.75 yards per game through Week 9, the Cowboys have allowed every opponent but one to rush for at least 90 yards so far this season, with the lone exception coming in Week 4, when they faced off against the hapless New York Giants. They gave up 190 yards to the New Orleans Saints, 184 yards to the Detroit Lions in Week 6, 223 yards to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 8, and in Week 3, they allowed Derrick Henry and the Baltimore Ravens to rush for 274 yards, their top mark of the season.
Who, you may wonder, is the only running back with more rushing yards than Barkley through Week 9? That would be Henry, who had his third-highest mark of the year against the Cowboys in Week 3.
Considering the Cowboys have one of the worst rushing offenses in the NFL, recording just 656 yards on a league-low 173 attempts on the year, it's not so much a matter of if Barkley will lead all rushers in yards in Week 10 but if he will single-handedly outrush a team that is only averaging 82 rushing yards per game, or 33.6 less than Barkley on his own.
2. Jalen Hurts has another light, yet efficient day
So, if Barkley – plus Shipley and/or Kenneth Gainwell – are just on a tear on the ground in Week 10, running the ball some 36 times – the team's season average – for the Cowboys' 4.6 yards per carry average, it's safe to assume Hurts will have another light afternoon of work, right?
Yes, after throwing the ball at least 30 times over the first four weeks of the season, averaging 232.5 yards, 3.25 sacks, a touchdown, and an interception per game before the bye, Hurts and the Eagles' offense has really turned things around in a fantastical way. They're throwing the ball less often, an average of 12.25 fewer attempts per game, to be exact, and yet, Hurts is still averaging 211 yards per game, or just under 21.5 fewer yards per game without a single interception to his name.
How is that possible? How is Hurts so much more efficient than he used to be while throwing the ball much less often? Easy: The Eagles' offense remains as explosive as ever.
With AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith both putting up major production on the outside, the tight end position, first Dallas Goedert and now Grant Calcaterra, remaining a steady producer across the middle of the field, and Hurts' own legs accounting for 332 of the Eagles' 1,398 rushing yards on the season, the Eagles' QB1 is still producing in 2024, just not in the same way. And in Week 10, against a team like the Cowboys who have allowed the 14th-most passing yards of any team in the NFL and the second-most rushing yards, Hurts should have a relatively easy afternoon in Dallas.
3. Cooper Rush has a rough evening
So if the Eagles have a huge day on the ground and an efficient passing game, they should pull out the win in Week 10, right? Oh yeah, when Dak Prescott's absence was announced for Week 10, it seemed like a borderline guarantee that Philadelphia would pull out the Dallas Week Pt. 1 with the victory.
But the team's success in Week 10 shouldn't be because their offense puts up big production against the Cowboys' defense but instead because Vic Fangio's defense truly makes Rush's first start of the season an absolute nightmare.
After starting off the season with a rather up-and-down defensive output, looking good one week and really bad the next, the Eagles' defense has really come into its own since Cooper DeJean took over in the slot for Avonte Maddox, now ranking seventh against the pass, fifth against the run, and third-overall in yards allowed at 2,321. Sure, the Eagles could do to sack the quarterback a little more often, as they only have 22 through eight games and are even less effective at picking off the ball, with just five interceptions on the tear. But after allowing the Cincinnati Bengals to march down the field with ease in Week 2, the Eagles are trending in the right direction even without making a move at the trade deadline.
And the Cowboys' offense? With Rush at the helm? Well, it's safe to assume he's going to take a little longer to get the ball out of his hands, make questionable decisions with the ball in his hands, and ultimately end up on the ground as the Eagles' offense puts the pedal to the metal in the pursuit of making his first start of the year one to remember for all the wrong reasons.
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