Eagles at Cowboys Final Injury Report: Philly and Dallas are healthy – Brandon Lee Gowton, Bleeding Green Nation
Both Philly’s offense and defense get playmakers back from injury.
The Philadelphia Eagles issued their third and final official injury report on Friday in advance of their Week 14 Sunday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys.
The good news is that zero players on the active roster were listed with a game status.
And thus Dallas Goedert is indeed set to play for the first time since getting hurt in Week 9 (against the Cowboys).
Zach Cunningham is also set to return after missing one game.
Darius Slay will start despite missing practice on Wednesday and Thursday. He was full go on Friday.
Julio Jones was listed under DNP on Wednesday and Thursday and was limited on Friday … but he’s set to be available.
Eagles DBs: Can’t allow Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb ‘freestyle’ their way to big plays Sunday – Kevin Patra, NFL.com
Unscripted plays cannot happen if the Eagles’ defense wants to control Dak Prescott.
Philadelphia came out victorious in a Week 9 matchup against the rival Cowboys, but to duplicate that outcome on Sunday in Dallas, Eagles defenders know they must do a much better job slowing CeeDee Lamb.
Lamb set a career-high with 191 receiving yards in Week 9, catching 11 of 16 passes. Of his 11 grabs, 10 went for 10-plus yards (his shortest for nine) and five for 20-plus yards.
Eagles cornerback Bradley Roby noted that most of the big plays came when Dak Prescott extended the play, allowing Lamb to wiggle free from coverage.
“A lot of the stuff last game was like the second play,” Roby said, via Olivia Reiner of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “They were extending the plays, and they were just freestyling and running everywhere. So that’s just really what it was, in my opinion, that Dak would extend the play and they would run another route and we would just not win on those routes.”
Prescott ripped up the Eagles’ secondary in the last meeting, throwing for 374 yards and three touchdowns.
“Guys were kind of able to uncover and make some plays on the back end,” safety Kevin Byard said. “And I think that’s where a lot of our explosive plays came from in that game. So I think just going into this week, being conscious of that, like, OK, we could be really good on the first play, but also making sure to, hey, Dak can get outside the pocket and extend those plays. So we have to be really good, just make sure we’re plastering receivers down the field. We may have to cover two or three routes within one play.”
Bradley Roby excited for huge task of slowing down CeeDee Lamb – Dave Zangaro, NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles’ DB is ready to take on Dallas’ WR1.
It’s not about stopping CeeDee Lamb. It’s about slowing him down.
Because the Cowboys do everything in their power to get their No. 1 weapon the ball. We saw it the last time the Eagles played their division rival, we saw it last week when Lamb got 17 targets and we’ve seen in throughout Lamb’s four-year career.
But these are the kinds of opportunities Bradley Roby relishes.
“Hell yeah,” Roby said this week. “I told coach at practice, ‘I need some more rocks at practice, man.’ Because it’s just about playing football. It’s about making plays and making more plays than you give up. I love opportunities like this. I look forward to games like this.
“This is what it’s all about. This is football at the highest level. Cowboys vs. Eagles, playoffs on the line, No. 1 seed on the line, all this type of stuff. This is what you want to play for.”
One thing is for sure. It figures to be a busy night for Roby at AT&T Stadium.
“They’re doing a great job of making sure he touches the ball,” Roby said. “He’s a great athlete, he’s long, he has good speed, he’s also quick. He has good hands, he’s a little slippery. He’s one of the top receivers out there.
“I feel like this year they’re making sure there’s a big emphasis on getting him the ball kind of like the Bills with getting Stefon (Diggs) the ball. When you have top guys, you want to make sure you do that. You don’t want to have games where they don’t touch the ball.”
Philadelphia Eagles Burning Midnight Oil Looking For Answers to ‘Unacceptable’ Defense – Ed Kracz, Sports Illustrated
HC Nick Sirianni and his team are hoping to fix their struggling defense against Dallas.
PHILADELPHIA – The many windows that line the Philadelphia Eagles training facility begin to glow with lights earlier and earlier these days with darkness blanketing the Philly area sometime around 4:30 p.m.
When exactly do those lights go out? Well, maybe a little later than usual this week as the Eagles prepare to play the Dallas Cowboys.
Head coach Nick Sirianni and his defensive coordinator Sean Desai may be burning some midnight oil in search of answers for a defense that can’t get off the field on third down and can’t keep opponents from scoring touchdowns in the red zone.
“We’ll be doing some different things this week, and we’re continuing to try to find ways,” said Sirianni earlier in the week. “Obviously, that’s unacceptable on our end. That’s everybody. That’s coaching. That’s playing. We have to fix that. To say, ‘We’re going to do this, this, and this,’ obviously I won’t say that.
“I know it’s going to be a long two days of us grinding through it and trying to get it right.”
Set to meet the Dallas Cowboys in primetime on Sunday night, the Eagles have to be better in both areas to find a way to win, and maybe the Philly offense can help with the third down part of it.
The inconsistency on that side of the ball has led to a large number of snap counts for the defense. Here are their snap counts for the last four games:
59 against the San Francisco 49ers
95 against the Buffalo Bills
79 against the Kansas City Chiefs
75 against the Cowboys
“Sustain drives, be more consistent,” said center Jason Kelce. “It’s difficult as a defense to defend consistently when you’re fatigued. I’m not making excuses at all. We have to be better on offense, defense, across the board, but I think that as an offense when you’re functioning you’re keeping guys fresh.
“We can do a better job of keeping those guys fresh just by functioning better as an offense.”
Here are the Eagles’ and Cowboys’ final Week 14 injury reports.
#Cowboys final injury report vs. Eagles in Week 14:
Everybody’s a go — including Peyton Hendershot in his return from IR.
Matt Waletzko ruled out as a technicality, seeing as he’s still on IR. pic.twitter.com/U1erOmhDNN
— Patrik [No C] Walker (@VoiceOfTheStar) December 8, 2023