The bonus advantage of blowing out the Cowboys with an impending Thursday game originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The first three quarters were a lot of fun for the Eagles starters. They overcame a rough start to build a big lead over the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.
The last quarter was even more fun. Because they have to leave the field, rest their bodies and watch the substitutes finish the match.
And with just a week going by, it’s huge.
Nearly all of the offensive starters left the game after Jake Elliott’s basket gave the Eagles a 31-6 lead six seconds into the fourth quarter. The first defense played the next series, then took their place on the bench next to the offense.
“Yeah, it’s still important,” Sirianni said. “Every time we can do this, it’s been three times in the last four weeks. We managed to do it against the Giants. We managed to do it against Cincinnati. It adds up.
“I mean, it’s three quarters now and we were able to do it tonight. And so it adds up and it’s huge for this match. We know we have a tough game coming up.
The Eagles managed to rest their starters for most of the fourth quarter in their 28-3 win over the Giants three weeks ago, their 37-17 win over the Bengals two weeks ago and their 34 -6 against the Cowboys on Sunday. everything on the road.
This week was bigger than ever as the Eagles are back in action Thursday night in a battle for first place in the NFC East with the Commanders.
Even though the Commanders were home and didn’t have to deal with a three-hour flight, their game against the Steelers came down to the wire and wasn’t decided until Zach Ertz was judged before a first test on a 4.th-and-9 with a minute to play and the Steelers lead 28-27.
The loss dropped the Commanders to 7-3 while the Eagles’ fifth straight victory brought them to 7-2.
So that may not seem like much, but it was important to get Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, Dallas Goedert and everyone else off the field quickly.
Playing two matches in five days is physically brutal. Having to play a quarter less football in that five-day period is a big deal.
“Every NFL player who has played a Thursday Night Football game knows how quickly it happens after this Sunday,” Nakobe Dean said. “The recovery begins now.”
NFL teams assign quality control officers to start breaking down an opponent’s Thursday night tape a week early so that as soon as coaches arrive at the NovaCare Complex, they can get to work preparing.
And for the coaches in Dallas, the preparation process began as soon as their charter reached a comfortable cruising altitude and they could open their iPads.
“I’ll watch the tape on the plane, meet the coaches briefly on the plane, dive in, process it and as soon as we set foot again in Philadelphia, it’s over,” Hurts said. “We are moving forward. Usually we impose a 24 hour rule there. I do. But that’s obviously something that’s going to be mitigated. So we’re going to go there.
The Eagles are 2-1 on Thursday under Sirianni, losing to the Bucs 28-22 early in his first year in 2021, then winning at Houston 29-17 midway through 2022 and beating the Vikings 34-28 early in last year.
Going back to 2016, they are 8-1 on Thursdays. All-time, they are 19-7.
The last time the Eagles and Commanders met both teams playing .700 football was in 1996, when they were both 7-3 heading into a Week 12 game at the Vet. Washington won 26-21, Gus Frerotte over Ty Detmer.
“This one we had a little fun with, but we know we’re playing on a short week against a really good opponent,” Sirianni said. “And we must have a good mind and a good body.”
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