The Eagles formally unseated the Dallas Cowboys as NFC East Champions Sunday, defeating their division rivals 41-7 without quarterback Jalen Hurts, who remains in concussion protocol.
While there was some thought coming into the game that a feisty Cowboys team could keep things close against the Eagles without Hurts, both Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee shined the absence of the franchise quarterback, a reminder of how talented of a team Howie Roseman has assembled. Dallas is decimated by injuries, but they had won four out of their last five games entering Sunday, only to get stomped by 34 points in Week 17.
With the win, the Eagles move to 13-3, winning the NFC East and assuring they will go the entire regular season without losing consecutive games. Here's four takeaways from the blowout victory.
Pickett and the Eagles offense struggled in the first quarter, with a pick-six from C.J. Gardner-Johnson — one of his two interceptions on the day — the lone source of scoring for Philadelphia.
The Kenny Pickett experience ™️pic.twitter.com/vtBAyY6Zp3
— On Pattison (@OnPattison) December 29, 2024
To his credit, Pickett overcame the viral miscue above to put together a big second quarter, which included two huge connections with DeVonta Smith, the first of which was a 22-yard touchdown pass:
DeVonta Smith can Pickett 🎯
pic.twitter.com/RyWPGnqX7L
— On Pattison (@OnPattison) December 29, 2024
Earlier in that second-quarter touchdown drive, Pickett and Grant Calcaterra combined for an impressive 34-yard play:
F it, Grant Calcaterra down there somewhere 😅
pic.twitter.com/RvHIk17lEv
Pickett, who entered the game with a rib injury, departed early in the third quarter after taking a hit from Micah Parsons. He gave way to Tanner McKee, who completed three of four pass attempts for 54 yards and two touchdowns in his first regular-season game action:
Tanner McKee can play, man… pic.twitter.com/wslU9AlmhX
One would think that Hurts will clear concussion protocol in time for next week's game. It may be that this week was what the Eagles really needed from Pickett. And he certainly stepped up to the plate, completing 10 of 15 pass attempts for 143 yards, a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown:
It’s the hair flip 😎 pic.twitter.com/b4ODo4PdLc
Eric Dickerson owns the NFL single-season rushing record with 2,105, a mark he set with the Los Angeles Rams in 1984.
Dickerson didn't mince words this week when asked about Barkley potentially breaking his record:
"I don’t think he’ll break it. But if he breaks it, he breaks it," Dickerson told Sam Farmer of The Los Angeles Times. "Do I want him to break it? Absolutely not. I don’t pull no punches on that. But I’m not whining about it. He had 17 games to do it? Hey, football is football. That’s the way I look at it. If he’s fortunate to get over 2,000 yards and get the record, it’s a great record to have."
Barkley rushed for 167 yards on 31 carries Sunday, becoming the ninth running back in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. He joins the 2K club, whose other members are Dickerson, Adrian Peterson, Jamal Lewis, Barry Sanders, Derrick Henry, Terrell Davis, Chris Johnson and O.J. Simpson:
2K for Saquon pic.twitter.com/WpgnNOfNbg
He'll enter Week 18 needing 101 rushing yards to break Dickerson's single-season record. Granted, Barkley does have the benefit of an extra game. But even Dickerson acknowledged that he broke Simpson's record, and O.J. had rushed for 2,003 yards during a 14-game season. This is also the fourth season of the 17-game slate, and Barkley is the first running back to even rush for 1,900 yards under the new format.
In any event, Barkley can set a new record next week. And he'll get the opportunity to do so against the New York Giants, the team he spent the first six seasons of his career with. Sports are great like that, sometimes.
With the victory for the Eagles, they move to 13-3. They'll almost certainly be the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs, though they aren't entirely eliminated from the race for the No. 1 seed yet.
What needs to happen for them to get the No. 1 seed? The Green Bay Packers would need to defeat or tie the Minnesota Vikings this afternoon, and then have the Detroit Lions lose or tie tomorrow night against San Francisco 49ers for it to still be a race entering Week 18. If either team wins in Week 17, the winner of the Week 18 game between the Vikings and Lions will claim both the NFC North title and get the No. 1 seed.
But if both the Vikings and Lions lose or tie in Week 17, and then the Vikings defeat the Lions in Week 18, an Eagles victory would give them the No. 1 seed, as noted by Sterling Xie of Pro Football Network:
"If the Eagles and Vikings finish in a two-way tie for the best record in the NFC at 14-3, the Eagles would win the tiebreaker by virtue of the common-games tiebreaker (5-1 vs. 4-2). That’s because a 14-3 tie with Minnesota winning the NFC North would necessarily involve a Week 17 loss to Green Bay, whom Philadelphia beat back in Week 1."
The Eagles will finish their regular-season slate with a matchup against the Giants at Lincoln Financial Field in Week 18.
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