NFL
Intriguing Game of the Day
Dallas
Cowboys @ Philadelphia Eagles
Bias+
Score 6 Favors Philadelphia Eagles
There
are always at least a few somewhat intriguing games on any NFL Sunday. My
cohort at Ben and Barry on Football got juiced at the thought of the Bills vs
the Chiefs. He was not alone. However, after the work I put in early in the year
in a segment called “Best Job in the NFL, Backup Quarterback”, we found this
group intriguing in itself. They all had great life stories and were generally
making a small percentage of what the starting QBs were getting.
Factors
that make this game intriguing are first, the Eagles are defending an unbeaten
record. But also, it’s against a Division rival with plenty of bad blood. The
deciding factor was Cowboy backup QB Cooper Rush and the question, ’Can a
Backup come into Philly and upset their apple cart? Can Rush take it from
Hurts? Can you imagine?
Cooper
Rush is a 29-year-old Undrafted Free Agent who has 4 Accrued Seasons. Coming
into the season his stats include 3 touchdowns to 1 interception. I tweeted at
one point that he made less than 1% of Dak Prescott’s contract. However, after
Dak was injured in game one, Cooper rush took over and like Jalen Hurts is
undefeated this season.
First
let’s look at the 5 and 0 Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles rank 3rd
in Net Points at +9.4. They are 5th in scoring at 27 points per game
and 7th in Defensive scoring allowing17.6 points per game. They hold
1st place in Average Turnover Differential (ATOD) at +1.8.
The
Cowboys rank 6th in Net Points at + 4.2. They rank 24th
in scoring at 18.6 points per game and 3rd in Points against at 14.4
points per game. They rank 2nd in ATOD at +1.
This
got me thinking. What are Cooper Rush’s numbers sans the game 1 Cowboy’s loss
to Tampa Bay with Dak at QB?
First
like the Eagles, Cooper rush is undefeated in 2022. The Cooper Rush led Cowboys
would rank 4th in Net Points at +9 displacing the KC Chiefs. Cooper’s
Cowboys averaged 22.5 points per game without the Dak numbers. The Eagles would
still be favored but only by .4 Net points and all of a sudden, this game looks
a lot more competitive.
Bottom
line, it’s a tall order for Cooper rush to come into Philly and steal a win.
However, he has already done that to the likes of Joe Burrow and Matthew
Stafford. He’s been around for 4 years so he should be familiar with the rabid Philly
fan base and he’s only asked to be fundamentally sound. The 3rd place Cowboys
Defense will have their hands full with this loaded Eagles offense but if they
can hold the eagles to their average of 14.4 points and Cooper Rush can his average
of 22 points per game, then WHAT??? Noooo. Maybe??? Enjoy!
Barry
Sterling Mitchell 10/16/2022
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