A couple of Eagles' young stars want to play vs. Cowboys

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Before Jalen Hurts answered the question, he laughed.

That told you all you needed to know.

Because, yes, of course, if given the choice, Hurts would like to play in Week 18 against the Cowboys. The problem is that this is a game that won't mean much at all for the Eagles in terms of playoff seeding.

"I love football and I'm preparing," Hurts said. "It's business as usual."

We'll see about that.

The Eagles could end up as the No. 6 seed or the No. 7 seed but it doesn't really matter. Their most likely first-round opponent in the wild-card round is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers either way. And since the Eagles-Cowboys game got moved to Saturday night, it's not like the Eagles can control their playoff opponent because they won't know what's going to happen in games the next day.

All that boils down to a looming decision for Sirianni: He can play the majority of his starters or he can decide to let them rest up for the playoff run.

As of earlier this week, Sirianni claimed he hadn't yet made that decision. He said everything was on the table.

But if Sirianni were to leave it up to his players, we know how some of them would vote.

"I feel like I need to be out there," rookie receiver DeVonta Smith said. "I feel like the whole team needs to be out there. Just a momentum thing. We kinda got everything going in the right direction. 

"So just keep that momentum building. Just another week to fine-tune the small things, just to keep everything going in the right direction. I mean, it means a lot. Just to go out and keep things going in the direction they've been going the last few weeks."

Smith, 23, is just 37 yards away from tying DeSean Jackson's Eagles record for receiving yards as a rookie. Smith has claimed he doesn't care about records and is generally unaware of them ... but this one's right there.

Meanwhile, Hurts certainly looked healthier on Sunday in Washington but he has been nursing an ankle injury for a while. So getting another week to rest it before the playoff run would make a lot of sense.

It's great that these guys want to play -- that's their competitive nature -- but ultimately it'll be up to the coaching staff to do whatever they feel is best for the playoffs.

 

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