So alas Dallas we meet again, this time with playoff implications and a division title/playoff spot on the line. Plain and simple: the winner tonight wins the NFC East division title and will be, and can only be, the # 3 seed in the NFC come playoff time. If the Eagles win they can face a number of teams, depending on what occurs today in games around the league. Come January they would play the second (and last) NFC Wild Card team, aka the # 6 seed, with home field advantage. Depending on how the scenarios play out today, they would either play the 49ers, the Saints or the Cardinals.

Getting in is half the effort. All Philadelphia has to do tonight is focus on Dallas and Dallas only, considering they wouldn’t have to worry about winning and trusting another team to lose/tie in order to make it in.

Dallas is coming off of a close 24-23 win at division rival Washington last Sunday, in which starting quarterback Tony Romo threw a late TD with 1:08 remaining in the game to seal the deal for Dallas. In the game, Romo threw two touchdown passes, on 17 completions (out of 27), to an interception, for a quarterback rating of 98.7. He threw for 226 passing yards in the game, an average of 8.4 yards/passing attempt, and completed 63% of his passes on the day. Dallas scored 10 late 4th Quarter points in the game, in the span of five minutes, to give themselves a shot at a playoff berth come tonight.

As for Philadelphia, they went the easier route by handily defeating Chicago 54-11 in a route. In that game, quarterback Nick Foles completed 84% of his passes, throwing for 230 passing yards with two touchdown passes to 0 interceptions, with an overall QB rating of 131.7. Foles, with his ply this year,  is among the best of all time as far as single-season statistics are concerned. He’s ranked third all-time among quarterbacks for the best single-season quarterback rating, with 118.7.

Kyle Orton has 69 career starts, so he has experience, but I firmly believe his rustiness will be a factor. Then again, if Dallas sticks to their running game early, and more importantly, are successful with the latter they can win.

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Tags: dal, Dallas Cowboys, Football, Kyle Lutz, kyle orton, NFL, Nick Foles, phi, Philadelphia Eagles, Philly Sports Talk, playoffs, sunday night football, tony romo