Big Facts: Defense On Historic Pace; Dalton is 2-0

Both teams looking to make history with improbable playoff runs

While neither team's playoff prayers are likely to be answered, there is a potential for chaos to reign in the NFC East these final two weeks. Should the Cowboys win their final two bouts against Philadelphia and New York, they would be the third team in NFL history to make the playoff with seven wins joining the 2010 Seahawks and 2014 Panthers. But should things work out for Philadelphia, they would make the playoffs with just six wins, the first team in history to do so.

Hurts and Dalton have each found a rhythm

The Cowboys and Eagles are a combined 3-1 over the past two weeks thanks to the solid quarterback play they've each enjoyed. Jalen Hurts and Andy Dalton have each had at least four touchdown passes and no interceptions over the last two games. Dalton has registered a 107.3 passer rating (highest of the season) and Hurts has completed eight passes of over 20 yards in his first two games as an NFL starter.

Hurts is the fifth quarterback to tally 670 total yards in his first two starts

Prior to the 2020 season, there had only been three rookie quarterbacks to record over 670 total yards In their first two NFL starts. Cam Newton led the way with 925 and was followed up by two Heisman Trophy winners from Oklahoma, Kyler Murray (674), and Baker Mayfield (670). This season, both Jalen Hurts and the Charger's Justin Herbert joined that list with 674 yards in their first two starts as well.

Tony Pollard's 130-plus yard game was better than any Ezekiel Elliott game in 2020

In Sunday's win over the 49ers, Tony Pollard recorded his first career start and tallied 132 total yards in the process. Pollard's 130-yard performance surpassed any game that Ezekiel Elliott has managed from scrimmage in 2020 and a stat line that Zeke has not reached since the Cowboys beat the Rams in Week 14 of last season. He has been close though, as Elliott's best performance from scrimmage this season came Week 1 against the Rams as well, with 127 total yards.

Dallas Defense still on pace to set franchise-worst mark in points allowed

Even with back-to-back wins for the first time all season, the Dallas defense still managed to allow 33 points in the win over San Francisco. It was the eighth game this year where an opponent has topped 30 points, third-most in the league behind only the Jets and Raiders who have nine. Dallas currently averages 30.9 points per game allowed, which would be the worst mark in franchise history should it not decrease over the last two weeks.

Andy Dalton is 2-0 against the Eagles in his career

With the majority of his career being spent in the AFC, Andy Dalton has met the Eagles just twice in his career, both resulting in wins. The first meeting came back in 2012 where Dalton threw for just 127 yards but had both a rushing and passing touchdown to accompany 24 unanswered points in the second half for a 34-13 win. Dalton had to labor a bit more in his 2016 win against Carson Wentz with 322 yards on 23-31 passing and two scores

Dallas and Philly go for it on fourth down more than anyone

Both the Cowboys and Eagles lead the way among all NFL teams as the most aggressive in going for it on fourth down. Philadelphia (31) attempts to convert on fourth down more than any team in the NFL with a 41.9% conversion rate while the Cowboys (30) are in a close second place but have converted 53.3% of the time.

Eagles-Cowboys with 4 different QBs this season

If Jalen Hurts gets the expected start this weekend against the Cowboys, it will mark four different starting quarterbacks in this Cowboys-Eagles rivalry this season.

In the first meeting, Carson Wentz got the start against Ben DiNucci, who was making his first career start in place of Andy Dalton, who is now back healthy again and will start Sunday opposite Hurts.

It'll be the first time to have four different starting QBs in a season in the Cowboys-Eagles rivalry since 2006 when Donovan McNabb and Drew Bledsoe faced each other early in the year, followed by Jeff Garcia and Tony Romo in a Christmas Day meeting.

LP Ladouceur closes in on Witten

Last week, deep snapper L.P. Ladouceur surpassed kicker Eddie Murray for the most career games by a Canadian-born player with 251. But while it can't happen this year, Ladouceur is nearing Jason Witten's career mark of games played with 255. If he finishes out this year, he'll be at 253. If the veteran snapper chooses to come back for a 17th year, he can pass Witten after the first three games of 2021.

Pollard has most KO Return yards since 2014.

Pollard is starting to make more of an impact on offense, but he's made his presence known as a kick returner as well. With 705 yards, Pollard has the most kickoff return yards by a Cowboys player in a season since 2014, when Dwayne Harris posted 745. With two games to play, Pollard seemingly can pass Harris that season, but it might be tough to top Harris' 857 yards in 2013. Pollard does have three returns of 60+ yards this season. The Cowboys' franchise record for kickoff return yards in a season is 1,399 yards by Tyson Thompson in 2005.

Diggs had his best game vs. Philly

Trevon Diggs is back from a broken foot injury that sidelined him nearly a month, but the rookie still leads the team with two interceptions – both of which occurred against the Eagles in the first meeting. With one more pick this year, Diggs would have the most in a season by a Cowboys cornerback since Brandon Carr had three in 2012. Terence Newman had four picks for the Cowboys in 2011.

Lamb to face all 3 of his college QBs

It's somewhat rare for a rookie receiver to play his college quarterback in his first season in the league. It's unheard of for a player to face all three of his college quarterbacks in his first year. Lamb played with Jalen Hurts last season at Oklahoma and will play against the Eagles rookie on Sunday. Earlier this year, Lamb squared off against his 2018 quarterback – Kyler Murray with the Cardinals – and also played against Cleveland's Baker Mayfield, who threw passes to Lamb as a freshman in 2017.