Credit To The Cowboys For Blowing That Lead Against Jacksonville And Now Allowing Jalen Hurts To Rest Up This Weekend
Mitchell Leff. Getty Images.The Dallas Cowboys had a chance to make this thing interesting. All they had to do was take care of business yesterday, and the Christmas Eve showdown between the Eagles and Cowboys would have had massive implications. An 11-3 Cowboys team hosting a 13-1 Eagles squad with a chance to make the race to the finish line atop the NFC East a dead sprint at the very end. They were up 21-7 at halftime and everything was looking honky dory. And then what happened?
With that loss, this game in Dallas on Christmas Eve essentially means nothing. All the Eagles need to do is win one of their remaining 3 games of the season and they'll lock up the 1-seed in the NFC. Could happen as soon as this Saturday night, or it could be against the dog shit New Orleans Saints. It doesn't matter. And since the game doesn't matter, they've given the Eagles the best Christmas gift they could have ever asked for.
The ability to rest Jalen Hurts a little bit before the playoffs get going.
Now there still seems to be a little confusion as to which shoulder Jalen injured on Sunday. If it was his right throwing shoulder, then clearly it wasn't that serious because he popped up after that hit and immediately threw 2 straight darts afterwards. If it's his left non-throwing shoulder, then who gives a shit because it's not going to effect him anyway. Regardless of whichever shoulder is injured, the Eagles are more than confident that he'll be 100% by the time the playoffs roll around. Hell, he's probably close to 85% right now, but why bother taking the risk?
That's the ability Dallas gave to the Eagles. There's not a doubt in my mind he'd be playing for sure on Saturday if the 1-seed depended on it. But it doesn't. So instead of pushing it and taking a risk of getting injured even further right before the playoffs, Jalen Hurts gets to take the next couple of weeks off. And in the meantime, Micah Parsons will get his wish of seeing whether or not Jalen Hurts is truly the MVP of the league or if it's just the system around him. Because when Gardner Minshew comes out and spanks the balls off the Cowboys, well then maybe there's some validity in that conversation.
Eagles beat the Cowboys backup QB already this season. Now they'll have to beat them with a backup QB of their own.
At the end of the day, none of this is reason for concern. If anything, this is what should be happening anyway. Make sure Jalen is as rested and healthy as possible before going on a deep run in the playoffs. You start the season 13-1 and you get the luxury of not needing the most important player on your team for the last few weeks of the season. So thank you, Dallas. You really shouldn't have. You are far too kind.