Eagles have a plan to stop Dak Prescott

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Closing the gap atop the NFC East is the goal this weekend as the Dallas Cowboys head to Philadelphia to face the Eagles.

Even though the Cowboys trail the Eagles by two victories for the division lead, there is plenty of reason for optimism on the Dallas side heading into this encounter.

Among the biggest positives going for America’s Team is the play of Dak Prescott, who is 8-3 in his career against the Eagles, winning his last three starts against them.

In those three games versus the reigning NFC champions, Prescott has been sparkling, averaging 293.3 passing yards, with 11 touchdowns and just one interception.

Prescott is averaging 250 yards through the air all-time per game against Philly with a total of 19 TD throws, three scores on the ground and only eight picks overall.

The Eagles plan for stopping Prescott

Given his career numbers against Philly, it’s no wonder Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has a lot of game planning to do.

Sirianni says he’s aware of how challenging it will be to slow down the Cowboys pivot.

“He’s done really well against us the last couple of times he’s played us,” Sirianni said Wednesday via team transcript. “And just like any quarterback, what I’ll say, like any quarterback, you have to try to confuse. You have to try to hit them and to try to knock him off his rhythm.”

As for how the Eagles intend to stop Dak, Sirianni was relatively mum so as not to reveal the defensive schemes being put together by his coordinator, Sean Desai.

In the last three starts made by Prescott against Philly, the Cowboys have put up 132 combined points, 12 more than their defense has allowed to this stage of the 2023 regular season.

The Eagles are coming off a dismal defensive display in their 38-31 victory over the Washington Commanders, allowing 472 total yards, including 388 through the air.

They are sixth in the NFL regarding quarterback sacks (25) but only had one in Washington last Sunday.

Before that game, the Eagles had registered four or more sacks in four successive fixtures.

While Prescott always seems to bring his best against the Eagles, the Cowboys have struggled a little on the road against their division.

Yes, they defeated the New York Giants handily in their season opener, but they lost their final two away contests against NFC East opponents in 2022, scoring just six points in a loss at Washington (26-6) and only managing 17 points in their last encounter in Philadelphia minus Prescott (26-17).

Since tossing three interceptions in their disastrous loss in San Francisco on Sunday Night Football (42-10), Prescott has thrown five touchdown passes with just one interception in their last two games.

He’s also thrown for over 250 yards in each victory, with CeeDee Lamb registering a pair of 100+ yards receiving versus both the Chargers and Rams.

Perhaps no one gets criticized in the NFL more than Prescott, but if he puts together another strong performance on Sunday, it will be interesting to see if anyone changes their tune about him.