It’s safe to say the first half of the season hasn’t exactly gone the way the Philadelphia Eagles hoped. The team hasn’t had a winning record once, dropping their first two games and sitting at 3-4 coming out of their bye week. Quarterback Sam Bradford is a shell of the promise he showed as a preseason passer, and big-name offseason acquisitions like DeMarco Murray, Nelson Agholor and Byron Maxwell have failed to even remotely meet expectations.
Despite all of their struggles, however, the Eagles remain just a half game out of first place in the conference’s weakest division. The Giants, at 4-4, lead the division, but the Eagles’ 27-7 victory over the Blue Crew gives them a very important tiebreaker, if needed. The Redskins, also 3-4, beat the Eagles 23-20 in Week 4 behind a last-minute game-winning touchdown drive from Kirk Cousins, and the Cowboys are freefalling, having lost five in a row after a 2-0 start, largely because of the absence of Tony Romo and Dez Bryant.
It’s safe to call this the biggest game of the season for the Eagles, one they’ll need to win if they realistically have any chance of winning the division title. Below are five predictions for the Eagles’ Sunday night game against the Cowboys, which will be their third straight on prime-time TV.
1 – Sam Bradford plays his best game of the season.
It’s been a shaky season, to say the least, for former number one overall pick Sam Bradford. Through seven games, Bradford is one of the lowest-rated passers in the game, having tossed 10 interceptions against just nine touchdown passes. He’s led the Eagles to just one first-quarter touchdown and he’s done nothing to suggest he can lead the Eagles to a big win on Sunday Night Football. But with 14 days to prepare, I expect Bradford to come out and finally, finally, play closer to the level the team was expecting when they traded for him last offseason.
2 – DeMarco Murray struggles, again, against his former team.
There is absolutely no chance that DeMarco Murray plays as poorly as he did against the Cowboys in Week 2. That’s simply not possible. Dallas held last season’s rushing champion to 13 carries for 2 yards, one of the worst single-game rushing performances by any player in NFL history. I expect Murray to average more than six inches per carry, obviously, but defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli seems to have figured out the Eagles’ offensive line and its running attack. In a game where backup Ryan Mathews is questionable with a groin injury, the Eagles will really need Murray to come up with a big game. I just don’t see it happening. I’ll predict a stat line of 18 carries for 67 yards, which is just over 3.5 yards per carry.
3 – Breakout game finally comes for Jordan Matthews.
After an impressive rookie season in which he caught 67 passes for 872 yards and eight touchdowns, Jordan Matthews has been among the most disappointing players on the Eagles in 2015. The drops have been well-documented, and it looks like last year’s slot receiver just isn’t good enough to take over for Jeremy Maclin as the team’s number one receiver. Chemistry with Sam Bradford will come with time, though, and I think that starts on Sunday night. Against a weak Dallas defense that lacks anything resembling a number one cornerback, I expect Matthews to finally rise to the occasion and match hobbled Dallas receiver Dez Bryant in production.
4 – Greg Hardy dominates new left tackle Lane Johnson.
Future Hall of Fame left tackle Jason Peters has officially been ruled out of tomorrow night’s game against the Cowboys with a lower back injury, one he suffered against Carolina on Monday Night Football in Week 8. That means Lane Johnson will slide over to protect Sam Bradford’s blind side, something he’s never done before. Oh, and he gets to face dominant edge-rusher Greg Hardy, who has been wreaking havoc on the rest of the league since he returned from suspension last month. Johnson is a very capable player, but this stage may be too much for him, especially against one of the league’s best at collecting sacks. This feels like a multi-sack game for Hardy, and a rude awakening for Johnson at the position he’ll likely be playing full-time once the Peters era ends in Philadelphia.
5 – Eagles win handily, 34-20, to improve to 4-4.
The Eagles were thoroughly embarrassed by the Dallas Cowboys at home in Week 2, losing 20-10 in a game that wasn’t even remotely as close as the score indicated. In his three seasons in Philadelphia, Kelly has shown a knack for beating the Cowboys on the road, however, winning in the final game of the season in 2013 and on Thanksgiving day in 2014. With 14 days to prepare against a Dallas team that is still forced to start Matt Cassel and a less-than-healthy Dez Bryant, expect the Eagles to turn in their most impressive performance of the season. If they do win, evening their record at 4-4, they’ll have a relatively clear path to reclaiming the NFC East division title.
