EAGLES NOTEBOOK: Dak Prescott's Shoulder; Pederson Gives Team Day Off

Cowboys quarterback was limited in practice with an AC joint sprain while the Eagles returned to practice after a day off

PHILADELPHIA - There’s some Dak drama in Dallas.

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was limited during Wednesday’s practice with a shoulder injury suffered early against the Los Angeles Rams last week. Nobody expects the quarterback not to play when Dallas (7-7) travels to South Philly to try to wrap up the NFC East title with a win over the 7-7 Eagles.

“I’m pretty sure he’ll play,” said Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins. “At least that’s what I’m going to tell myself.”

Cowboys players are saying the same thing.

“Knowing Dak, you’d have to kill him to keep him off the field,” said guard Zack Martin on the Dallas team web site.

Running back Ezekiel Elliott said the shoulder injury is an AC joint sprain, but Elliott also expects to see Prescott behind center.

“If I know Dak, I know his toughness, I know he’ll play,” said Elliott on the team web site.

Cooper Rush took all the first-team reps on Wednesday.

Prescott isn’t the only key Cowboy in distress. Left tackle Tyron Smith has an eye injury that prevented him from practicing at all on Wednesday.

“Hopefully we can get that situation rectified and he’ll get more work as the week goes on,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said on a Wednesday conference call with Eagles reporters.

Day off

Eagles head coach Doug Pederson gave the players off on Tuesday and on Wednesday had them practice without their helmets.

“These guys have been battling,” said Pederson, explaining his decision to give the players an extra day off. “Go back to the Miami game. It was like 70-plus plays from an offensive perspective, I look at that, and then 90-plus plays against the Giants; another 79 or 80 plays the other night. That's a lot of football in a row and defense the same way.

“You get to this time of the year and Tuesday’s are all about conditioning, lifting, and some meetings to go through the tape anyway. So to give them a little extra time just to rest and come in, maybe get a workout in on their own, conditioning, things like that, extra treatment, is beneficial.”

Other than an extra day of rest, Pederson said he plans nothing different the remainder of the week.

“Get the guys well-prepared, however we do that,” said Pederson. “Have great meetings, have great walk throughs, have great practices, study the tape, and prepare like we have done all season.”

Destiny

Pederson and Jenkins talked about playing the biggest game of the year at home and that the season was probably destined to come down to this week, no matter the opponent.

“It just happens to be that this is the Cowboys game, but you look at our schedule and where we are, whoever we were going to play this week, it's a must-win situation for us to continue our season,” said Pederson. “I think that any time you play your division, these are great games. Our last two have been great games, tough games, hard-fought games and this is no different. This is going to be one of those games.”

Added Jenkins: “You can’t ask for a better situation. If we all wrote this story up earlier this year, the records might be different, but the result would probably be the same, playing at home with first place on the line against the Cowboys, so we got everything we asked for.”

And what will playing at home mean?

“It’s going to be whatever we make it. If we show up and lay an egg it’ll be the loudest boos we’ve heard since I’ve been here. If we show up and play some ball, I think it’ll be rockin.”

Injury update

Pederson said that defensive end Derek Barnett is close to returning to returning to practice. Barnett has missed the past two games with an ankle injury.

“We’re going to progress him a little bit further this week and see where he is,” said Pederson.

The Eagles released an estimation from Wednesday since the practice was just a walkthrough, and Barnett was listed as not practicing along with receiver Nelson Agholor (knee) and tackle Lane Johnson (ankle).

Limited were guard Brandon Brooks (calf), defensive tackle Fletcher Cox (triceps), cornerback Ronald Darby (hip flexor), and running back Jordan Howard (shoulder).

“Nelly and Jordan are really status quo right now,” said Pederson. “Lane is getting better. Again, we’ll see.”