Cowboys vs. Eagles: Live updates, predictions, odds, inactives and ...

Dallas wide receiver Michael Gallup has been very quiet in fantasy scoring of late, posting only 12.5 PPR points over the past three weeks combined. That trio of contests followed a two-game stretch where Gallup tallied 26.2 PPR points, so he has shown a penchant for putting up solid points at times.

Today’s matchup against Philadelphia may be another of the impact game variety for Gallup, as he is likely due to face Eagles cornerback James Bradberry in coverage. Bradberry is a quality cornerback, but he is by far the Philadelphia cornerback teams like to target, as since Week 5 Bradberry has allowed an insanely high 22.4 PPR PPG (per Stathead). A big part of that is the five touchdowns Bradberry has allowed, which is tied for the most in the league in that span.

Add it up and Gallup is someone to strongly consider for a flex spot.

For those considering placing a wager on today’s Cowboys-Eagles game, here are some odds trends courtesy TruMedia:

• Dallas is 5-1 against the spread when the line is between -3 and +3 since 2022. The Cowboys are currently listed at +3 points for this game, per BetMGM.
• Philadelphia-Dallas games have hit the over in total points in all four of the games between these clubs since 2021. The over/under in total points for this matchup is 46.5, per BetMGM.
• Dallas is 14-7 against the spread in road games since 2021.
• Dallas is 18-8 against the spread in its last 26 games as an underdog.
• Dallas is 10-3 against the spread against division opponents since 2021.
• Philadelphia is 1-4 against the spread in its last five games in November.

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has been one of the most prolific passers in the 2023 season, as he started Week 9 ranked seventh in passing yards this season. Hurts has also been one of the most consistent passers, as he has thrown for 277 or more passing yards in every game since Week 3.

The betting public thinks that trend may end today, as the over/under for Hurts’ passing yards today is 253.5, with -115 odds on either side of that wager.

This shows a lot of faith in the Dallas pass defense to step up, which seems a bit odd considering that since Week 5 this platoon ranks 30th in fantasy points allowed per game on vertical throws (8.71, per TruMedia) and is 30th in sack percentage (4.10).

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown was frustrated in Week 2.

His team beat the Minnesota Vikings 34-28 to improve to 2-0, but TV cameras caught Brown on the sideline in the fourth quarter having a heated discussion with quarterback Jalen Hurts. Brown went largely overlooked in the second half of the game, catching four passes for just 29 yards. Coach Nick Sirianni eventually stepped in and assured Brown he remained a focal point of the Eagles offense.

The coach was right. And since then, Brown has been a man on a mission. He erupted in Week 3 with nine catches for 131 yards and has since reeled off performances of 175, 127, 131 and 137 receiving yards.

Then came the convincing 31-17 victory over the usually electrifying Miami Dolphins on Sunday, when the fifth-year pro continued his assault on NFL secondaries with a season-high 10 receptions and a touchdown. Brown’s dominance on a talented yet inconsistent Eagles offense has helped Philadelphia remain one of league’s elite teams.

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A.J. Brown is making NFL receiving history, leaving the Eagles and others in awe

When it comes to NFC East rivalries, it doesn’t get much better than Cowboys–Eagles. This week, NFC-leading Philadelphia (7-1) welcomes Dallas (5-2) for a matchup that features the top two teams in one of the league’s most storied divisions. In the last seven seasons, both the Eagles and Cowboys have won the NFC East three times. However, Dallas has won four of the last five meetings with Philly, including a 40-34 shootout last Christmas Eve with Jalen Hurts sidelined with an injury.

The Eagles will try to give themselves an early cushion in the division, while the Cowboys aim to take steps toward overtaking their hosts. To do so, Dallas will have to slow one of the top offensive attacks in the game — a tall task. That Hurts-to-A.J. Brown connection is as strong as they come. Brown is riding a historic six-game streak of games with at least 125 receiving yards. However, the Cowboys have yet to allow 100 yards to a receiver this season. Which streak ends this week?

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NFL Week 9 storylines to watch: AFC heavyweight matchups, NFC East showdown, Raiders reset

Much like their measuring stick game against the San Francisco 49ers a month ago, the Cowboys head into a huge divisional, and conference, game against the Eagles fully healthy. Tyron Smith missed last week's game against the Rams but picked up his practice workload during the week and was listed as questionable, as was his backup, Chuma Edoga, who got hurt in that Rams game last week. Both offensive linemen are officially active, giving the Cowboys their full arsenal up front.

Tyron Smith is expected to start at left tackle, with Tyler Smith next to him at left guard. Tyler Biadasz is at center, Zack Martin at right guard and Terence Steele at right tackle. The Cowboys will not only need all five guys to be present but they will need them at their best, individually and as a unit, against a talented Eagles defensive front. Aside from Smith being active, the Cowboys are completely at full strength. Obviously, they're without a couple of key defensive pieces in Trevon Diggs and Leighton Vander Esch, both out long term with injuries and neither on the Cowboys roster anymore, but Dallas is otherwise fully available.

Philadelphia tight end Dallas Goedert has been very inconsistent this year, as he was a subpar scorer in Weeks 1-4 (21.8 PPR points in that entire span) and has since posted games with 25.7 and 18.7 PPR points to go along with two games below the 10-PPR point mark.

Today’s game against Dallas trends Goedert towards the upside, as the Cowboys rank 30th in PPR PPG allowed to tight ends since Week 5 (17.23, per TruMedia). That makes Goedert a very strong flex candidate at the very least and may land him in the top five tight ends in Week 9.

Eagles QB Jalen Hurts leads all quarterbacks with six rushing touchdowns this season and Hurts has 32 in his career. With one rushing score Sunday against the Cowboys, Hurts would tie Cam Newton (33) for the most by a QB in their first four seasons in NFL history.

With at least two rushing touchdowns Sunday, Hurts would tie Newton (10) for the most career multi-rush TD games by a QB in NFL history.

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said Wednesday that "we're really excited about" edge rusher Nolan Smith, the team's No. 30 overall pick in April. Smith has totaled 47 snaps through eight games (never more than nine), but there are signs that his usage will ramp up starting today against the Cowboys.

Derek Barnett, who practiced all week, has been named a healthy scratch within the team's inactives list. Barnett has played in 19.6% of the team's defensive snaps through all eight games, and he's produced three, tackles, one tackle for loss but no sacks and no quarterback hits. Smith has recorded one sack and two quarterback hits while playing in 9.31% of the team's defensive snaps.

Eagles inactives vs. Cowboys:

• QB Tanner McKee
• CB Bradley Roby
• RB Boston Scott
• DT Moro Ojomo
• TE Grant Calcaterra
• DE Derek Barnett

Eagles 27, Cowboys 24.

I think this one lives up to the hype. I predict the Eagles will pull out to an early lead but the Cowboys will claw back in it and have a chance late. But I’m going with the home team in both of the Cowboys versus Eagles matchups this season. Dallas will have a chance to get a stop late in the fourth quarter but will come up short on a tush-push play that allows Philadelphia to run out the clock. The Eagles will run that play three times Sunday and convert all three times.

It’s hard to look at this Cowboys-Eagles matchup and point to a decisive advantage for Dallas, but one area where it could have an advantage this week is its pass rush against Jalen Hurts. The Eagles have a good offensive line and that is the first layer the Cowboys' pass rush has to deal with, but Hurts is clearly dealing with a knee injury. The Eagles quarterback is at his best when he’s able to use his mobility to extend plays and create offense. If Micah Parsons and company can bottle him up in the pocket, his physical limitations could prove advantageous for the Cowboys.

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Cowboys vs. Eagles, Week 9: Dak Prescott, Jalen Hurts will be on the spot Sunday

Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb said last week that he wanted to be more involved in the offense and Dallas did just that.

Lamb had a season-high 15 intended touches (targets + rushes) and gained a career-high 170 scrimmage yards in the win over the Rams (11.3 yards per intended touch). Lamb is averaging 11.1 yards per intended touch this season, fifth best in the NFL (min. 50 intended touches).

The Eagles defense ranks 17th in sack rate this season (7.3%) a year after leading the NFL with an 11.2% sack rate in 2022. One reason for the dropoff (beyond the fact that replicating that kind of production would be outrageous) is that opponents are getting the ball out quicker to neutralize the Philly pass rush.

Eagles opponents are averaging a league-low 2.55 seconds from snap to throw this season (down from 2.75 in 2022). Philadelphia is still tied for sixth in the league with 25 total sacks in part because they’ve averaged 3.04 seconds from snap to sack (fifth in NFL), down from 3.44 in 2022 (16th in NFL).

Shortly after defeating the New England Patriots 38-3 a month ago, Dak Prescott stood on the postgame podium and questioned whether a reporter was trying to anger him. Prescott was responding to a question about the feeling he had leaving the locker room after the team’s most recent playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Prescott’s fiery response seemed to indicate that the Dallas Cowboys would be more than ready for their rematch against the 49ers the next Sunday.

They were not.

Dallas was dominated 42-10 as Prescott turned in one of the worst performances of his eight-year career, throwing three interceptions and posting a 51.6 passer rating.

Prescott and the Cowboys have played well in their two games since, defeating the Los Angeles Chargers 20-17 and Los Angeles Rams 43-20. But neither of those teams has the talent of the Philadelphia Eagles, whom the Cowboys will face Sunday.

Read more here.

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Cowboys lock in on Eagles while distancing themselves from lopsided loss to 49ers

Scrolling through Julie Cousins’ Instagram this week was a heartbreaking experience. The wife of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins shared the emotional aftermath of the 35-year-old’s season-ending Achilles tendon tear suffered Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. On Monday, dozens of cards made out of construction paper were stacked up on their kitchen counter. Their sons’ classmates scribbled with crayons the words “feel better” along with drawings of rainbows, hearts and clouds.

No card posted had the words Vikings or SKOL. Yes, Cousins is the quarterback of the Vikings and one of the most famous people in the state, but he’s also just Turner and Cooper’s dad. The next day, Julie posted a picture from their patient room at the Twin Cities Orthopedic office where Cousins was getting his surgery. The window faced a player meeting room at the Vikings facility, which is less than 30 yards away. They could clearly see Cousins’ teammates sitting in chairs, looking at a big screen with film of the Falcons as they prepared for their game against Atlanta. Cousins wasn’t technically with the team, but he was close by.

Read more here.

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Russini: What I’m hearing about Vikings QB plans post-Cousins, Justin Fields and Kyler Murray

Are these Eagles built for another run at the Super Bowl?

There’s no more important question in the wake of a deceptively quiet trade deadline Tuesday in Philadelphia. Not even with the division-rival Cowboys arriving Sunday in a game that can directly influence the fate of the NFC East. Dueling with Dallas will be the first of a strenuous six-game stretch that will challenge an Eagles roster that’s been moderately modified by general manager Howie Roseman in the last three weeks.

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni (again) brought up the “Beat Dallas” T-shirt he wore as a rookie head coach in a 2021 loss. And, evoking his estimation of the Eagles’ fan base, Sirianni said he’d expect people to respond to any rhetoric of “ramping it up” against the Cowboys by saying, “Well, that’s why you lost to the Jets.”

Some Philly fans might indeed say that (some while wearing “Beat Dallas” T-shirts). It would likely come from a place of having just watched yet another come-from-behind win against the Washington Commanders in which Sam Howell hung four touchdowns and nearly 400 yards on an Eagles defense whose leaders acknowledge they have yet to play their best football.

Read more here.

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Is this Eagles roster built for another Super Bowl run post-trade deadline?

The NFL trade deadline passed Tuesday without the Dallas Cowboys making a move. That shouldn’t come as a huge surprise considering that team owner and general manager Jerry Jones has been saying for the last week that a deal was unlikely.

While the Cowboys stood pat, their top competition in the NFC playoff picture each made at least one move in the last eight days. The Philadelphia Eagles traded for Pro Bowl safety Kevin Byard, the Seattle Seahawks traded for starting DL Leonard Williams, the Detroit Lions traded for WR Donovan Peoples-Jones and the San Francisco 49ers traded for DE Chase Young, the second overall pick in the 2020 draft.

Jerry Jones said last week that if they didn’t do anything at the trade deadline, he still felt like the Cowboys have a team “that can get us where we want to go.”

Read more here.

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Cowboys stay out of trade deadline action as several NFC teams make moves

The NFC East was the epicenter of NFL trade deadline activity. The Washington Commanders and New York Giants each sent away high-quality defensive linemen in return for premium draft picks as both slow-starting teams look toward the future. The Philadelphia Eagles, meanwhile, got their deadline shopping in early with last week’s acquisition of All-Pro safety Kevin Byard. That left the Dallas Cowboys as the only team not to get in on the deadline action.

With so much changing in the division and a monster Eagles-Cowboys matchup on deck this weekend, we turned to The Athletic’s NFC East beat writers — including our new Eagles reporter, Brooks Kubena (Welcome, Brooks!) — to ask them five questions ahead of Week 9. Here’s what they had to say.

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NFC East roundtable: Commanders, Giants chart new paths at trade deadline; Cowboys stay quiet