Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott doesn’t need any extra reason to root against the Eagles.
At 6-6-1, the Cowboys could still wind up as the NFC East champions this season, but winning their remaining games won’t take care of that on its own. The Eagles are 8-5 despite their current three-game losing streak, so they’ll need to continue dropping games if the Cowboys are going to leapfrog them before the end of Week 18.
Prescott said that the team’s current situation isn’t giving him any extra motivation when it comes to pulling for Philly’s opponents.
“I just got to go win every game,” Prescott said, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. “That’s all I can control. I’m gonna root against them regardless, whether we were in this position or not.”
The Cowboys face the 5-8 Vikings on Sunday night and the Eagles will host the Raiders earlier in the day. The Eagles will then face the Commanders twice in the final three weeks, so the help the Cowboys need may not be coming.
The Eagles have lost three straight games without right tackle Lane Johnson and signs point to them being without him again when they face the Raiders this weekend.
Reporters at the open portion of Thursday’s practice shared that Johnson remains off the field as the Eagles prepare for Sunday’s game. Johnson has been sidelined by a foot injury.
The open portion of practice also unfolded without left guard Landon Dickerson and defensive tackle Jalen Carter. Dickerson was was listed as limited by a calf injury on Wednesday and Carter has been out while recovering from procedures on both shoulders.
The team’s full injury report will be out later on Thursday and they’ll issue injury designations for Week 15 on Friday.
Jalen Hurts’ five-turnover performance in Monday night’s loss to the Chargers elicited enough of a response in Philadelphia that Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was asked on Wednesday if he has considered benching last season’s Super Bowl MVP.
Sirianni scoffed at the idea by calling the notion “ridiculous,” but concern about the state of Hurts and the rest of the offense didn’t just pop up because of one game. The Eagles offense has been a source of concern all season and outside confidence that everything can come together is running low after their third straight loss.
Hurts said on Wednesday that his own confidence level hasn’t been shaken, however.
“Success or greatness, those things aren’t linear,” Hurts said, via the team’s website. “You have your ups, you have your downs, but it’s about how you respond to it. And I think about that. It’s nothing new that I haven’t faced before. It’s a matter of responding to it. And I got a lot of confidence how we will respond, I got a lot of confidence how it will go.”
Hurts showed his ability to rebound from negative turns while in college. He was benched by Alabama at halftime of the national title game after the 2017 season and then came in as a backup to help the team win the SEC title game when Tua Tagovailoa was injured the next year. Hurts also helped the Eagles go from NFC champs in 2020 to melting down in 2023 to winning it all in 2024, so he knows well how much circumstances can change.
The Eagles will be looking for a quicker turnaround than some of those examples and Hurts will try to start providing it against the Raiders this weekend.
One week ago today, the Bills acquired former Steelers cornerback Darius Slay on waivers. Slay has still not reported.
Per agent Drew Rosenhaus, Slay remains undecided about playing again in 2025. For now, Slay is spending time with his family and taking a break from football.
The Bills placed Slay on the reserve/did not report list. They have yet to announce any plans beyond that. By all appearances, they’re waiting to see what Slay does.
On Wednesday, coach Sean McDermott referred any questions about Slay to G.M. Brandon Beane.
The Bills could, if they choose, pursue the recovery of a portion of the $8.74 million signing bonus Slay received from the Steelers as part of his one-year deal. They also could release him, which would subject him to waivers again.
The last time around, the Eagles also made a claim. The Bills had priority. Some in league circles believe Slay had hoped to get back to Philadelphia. When Slay appeared on a podcast last week, he wouldn’t say whether he would have reported to the Eagles, if they had secured the balance of his deal.
It’s prognosis negative for the positivity rabbit.
Via Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the inflatable rabbit that was installed last week to bring good vibes to the Eagles’ locker room has been removed.
As locker-room gimmicks go, it clearly fell on the wrong side of the “goofy as hell” line. And, more importantly, it didn’t work. The Eagles lost to the Chargers in the first (and only) game played with the rabbit in the house.
We’ll see whether the Eagles try something else to turn around a three-game losing streak, beyond the old-fashioned strategy of scoring more points than the other team.
The good news is that, you know, no one nearly chopped his own leg off with the rabbit.
