Following a dominant victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 8, Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott feels confident going into a matchup with the 7-1 Philadelphia Eagles.
The team had their most complete game of the season last week, but will they be able to keep the momentum rolling and take down their hated division rival on Sunday?
Jerry Jones Hesitant To Speak on Eagles Matchup
After the win over the Chargers Sunday, team owner Jerry Jones was asked if the complete team win had him looking ahead to the Super Bowl.
“Well, no, I think we just need to call it for what it is,” Jones said. “We played a good game today, and we got to do it again here next week. I’ve been watching, on the side up there, the Washington, Philly game, and both those clubs are ahead of us — Washington two times. Philadelphia two times. We got our work cut out for us.”
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Jones appears to be avoiding any pregame talk of the big matchup against the Eagles, especially after pregame hype ahead of their Week 5 game against the San Francisco 49ers seemed to backfire, as they took their most embarrassing loss of the season against the NFC foe.
“Yeah, let’s soak this one up. I don’t want to do anything to poke the bear… I made every mistake talking about it [the Week 5 game at the 49ers] too early or too late that you can make,” Jones said on Sunday. “Yeah, I learned from that one.”
Dak Prescott Encourages Pregame Hype
In his postgame press conference Sunday, Prescott was told the comments Jones made, and said, “I don’t believe what you just said.”
“Pour honey on me,” Prescott said in response. “I always say that. If you see me and a bear in a fight, pour honey on me, so you can poke it. It’s part of the National Football League. Whether we talk [about it] or not, we know what’s ahead of us. Great opponent. Excited for it. Opponent we are familiar with and vice versa.”
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Prescott has won seven of his last eight starts against the Eagles, throwing 17 passing touchdowns and four interceptions. Prescott also had his best performance of the season in Week 8, as he completed 80.4 percent of his pass attempts for 304 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception.
Prescott said he recognizes that this game is a big rivalry and that it will mean a lot down the line in the season.
“We’re not going to compare this to a few weeks ago (the 49ers game),” Prescott said. “Obviously, we learned a lot about that, but that’s not to say in a sense that’s apples to apples, that’s apples and oranges … It’s a matchup in Philly we’re looking forward to. I can promise you that.”
On Sunday after the win, Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy seemed to side more with Jones, as he declined to speak too much on the matchup with the Eagles.
“I’m not far enough into it, really, to get to that,” McCarthy said when asked if he’s had a chance to look at Philadelphia. “They’re obviously playing extremely well, but I’m not far enough into it.”
When asked how the team will prepare for the game with all the media hype surrounding it, McCarthy said, “When is there no media hype around our team?”
“Our football team has to deal with this all the time,” McCarthy said. “We have history with this team, played twice last year, and just really, we got to dive into who they are today, you know, not last year. So I’m not really concerned about the media hype — that’s part of being the Dallas Cowboys.”
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