PHILADELPHIA — Dak Prescott bumped into Dallas’ locker room with a message for any NFC group he’ll play subsequent week within the playoffs.
“The true (stuff) begins,” he mentioned.
It begins with discovering out the Cowboys’ wild-card opponent, and Prescott might be like thousands and thousands of soccer followers each Sunday and watch the scoreboard with their playoff destiny at stake.
Prescott threw a career-high 5 landing passes in opposition to Philadelphia Eagles backups, Cedrick Wilson and Dalton Schultz every had two scoring catches and the Cowboys saved their slim hopes for a No. 2 seed within the NFC playoffs alive with a 51-26 victory Saturday night time.
The Cowboys nonetheless had seeding to play for in opposition to an Eagles group that rested Jalen Hurts and different key starters forward of an NFC wild-card recreation subsequent week.
The NFC East champion Cowboys (12-5) want losses Sunday by reigning Tremendous Bowl champion Tampa Bay in opposition to last-place Carolina and in addition for the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals to lose to earn the No. 2 seed. There is also a path to the No. 3 seed for Dallas.
The Cowboys can’t end worse than the fourth seed. The Eagles (9-8) might nonetheless be the sixth seed.
Prescott stayed within the recreation till the fourth quarter, the lead growing seemingly with every throw and so, maybe, the chance of harm for a QB practically 15 months faraway from the ugly compound fracture of his proper ankle that ended his 2020 season.
Prescott did his finest to get an offense that routinely produced a minimum of 400 yards throughout a 6-1 begin again on observe headed into the playoffs following a two-year absence. He was 21 of 27 for 295 yards and no interceptions.
“It’s a hell of a yr for a man that was in as hunch,” coach Mike McCarthy deadpanned.
He got here out unscathed — and with the Cowboys’ document for landing passes in a season with 37. Tony Romo threw 36 in 2007. Prescott threw an 8-yard landing go to Corey Clement early within the fourth quarter to make it 37-20 and set the mark and, mercifully for the Eagles, get him out of the sport.
His teammates knew Prescott set the TD mark. Prescott wanted a reminder of his document.
“Simply coming off the sphere, they’re saying congrats and I believed they have been saying congrats for 5 touchdowns,” Prescott mentioned.
In fact, Prescott received his document within the seventeenth recreation this season.
Staying sharp, piling up factors, and, sure, ending 6-0 within the NFC East have been all wanted excessive factors for the Cowboys.
However, just like the group information on either side that saved falling, the win comes with a little bit of a shrug. With nothing to play for, the Eagles handled the sport like a preseason finale. Hurts, with 3,144 yards passing and a team-high 784 yards speeding, received the night time off. So did sort out Lane Johnson, cornerback Darius Slay and 11 extra gamers on the reserve/COVID-19 checklist.
Gardner Minshew began for Hurts and — for a drive, a minimum of — it was Minshew Mania once more when he threw a 3-yard landing go to Tyree Jackson on the opening drive. It was the primary catch of Jackson’s profession.
The rating sparked an “E-A-G-L-E-S!” chant from followers throughout the road on the Flyers recreation after a replay was proven on the large display.
Philadelphia didn’t give anybody in inexperienced a lot motive to chant and cheer the remainder of the sport. Eagles coach Nick Sirianni defended his choice to relaxation Hurts, who missed a recreation this yr with a sprained left ankle, forward of the playoffs.
“We thought it was a chance to get him again to 100%. We want to have the ability to have our full arsenal of offense going into the playoffs,” Sirianni mentioned.
Prescott sucked the vitality out of the stadium early. He hit Wilson for TD receptions of 14 and 24 yards within the first half after which related with Schultz twice over the ultimate 1:45 of the half for a 30-17 lead. Schultz turned solely the fifth participant since 2000 to catch two landing passes inside the ultimate 2 minutes of the primary half.
Already a sparse crowd due to the low stakes and decrease temperatures, Eagles followers fled for the exits on the half.
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