Surging Eagles defense prepares for a Dak Prescott-less Cowboys squad on Sunday: ‘We’re just locked in’

Dak Prescott or no Dak Prescott, the surging Eagles defense is preparing for the Dallas Cowboys the same way.

“We’re in the NFL. You take no team lightly,” Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean said. “We’ve been preparing for them tough, whatever they got, whatever they’re going to throw at us.”

For the record, it will be no Prescott. The Cowboys quarterback is out Sunday and could be out much longer with his hamstring injury. The Dallas Morning News reported Thursday that Prescott’s injury could require season-ending surgery.

It’s Cooper Rush time in Dallas as the Cowboys will turn to their 30-year-old backup to right a sinking ship. The team has lost three straight games to fall to 3-5, three games behind the Commanders and Eagles in the loss column.

Rush has been with the team since 2017 — which is the last season the Eagles won in Dallas — and has played in 30 games, though the most recent of his six career NFL starts was a 2022 loss at Lincoln Financial Field.

Rush has been on the field during four games this season: once to take a single game-ending kneel, twice in garbage time of blowout home losses to New Orleans and Detroit, and last Sunday replacing an injured Prescott in the fourth quarter of the loss in Atlanta. He completed 13 of his 25 pass attempts for 115 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown late in the game.

“He hasn’t really played too much this year, but we noticed that the offense really don’t change much as far as the way they run it,” Dean said. “You can tell they trust him. You can tell he’s smart. He’s up there reading coverages, making checks, doing stuff, running the offense in a way that you wouldn’t think a backup would run it.”

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This Eagles defense doesn’t seem to be an ideal defense for a quarterback making his first start in two years. The Eagles have been dominant since their Week 5 bye. Their four-game winning streak — albeit against teams that would not be in the playoffs if the postseason started this weekend — has seen the Eagles allowing just 14.75 points per game, and even that doesn’t tell the whole story.

The lone touchdown Cleveland scored against the Eagles in Week 6 was a returned block of a field goal. The Jaguars this past Sunday returned a fumble for a touchdown. The defense has surrendered just four touchdowns over the last four games and has takeaways in its last two.

“We’re just locked in,” defensive tackle Jalen Carter said. “We see how everybody is playing; we’re all feeding off each other and celebrating the little things.”

The surge has a bit of a University of Georgia flavor. Dean had the game-sealing interception against Jacksonville in a game that Carter, his college teammate, dominated. Edge rusher Nolan Smith has been playing some of his best football lately, too.

“We didn’t expect just to get drafted and not play well,” Dean said. “We expected to try to be the best at our position in the NFL, essentially be the best in the world. We continue to try to push toward getting better and better, each week, each day.”

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Bryce Huff said his wrist is feeling better after he played sparingly during Sunday’s win against Jacksonville. He said something “flared up” during warmups. He played one snap in the first half and then five more late in the game as the Jaguars were trying to pull off a come-from-behind victory.

“It was kind of a game-time decision,” Huff said.

Huff has just 1½ sacks after posting a career-high 10 sacks last season. The Eagles signed the edge rusher to a three-year, $51.1 million deal this past offseason.

Huff’s name popped up in trade rumors leading up to Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline, however unlikely moving him was. The Eagles did not make any trades, and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said he liked what the Eagles had in the room.

Huff, Fangio said, will “obviously play more” when he’s healthy. Huff was a full participant in practice Thursday after being listed as limited during Wednesday’s walk-through.

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Every player on the active roster practiced in some capacity in practice Thursday, including wide receiver DeVonta Smith, who sat out Wednesday’s session with a groin injury. The Eagles listed Smith as limited Thursday along with offensive tackle Fred Johnson (knee), edge rusher Nolan Smith (groin), and linebacker Ben VanSumeren (concussion). The rest of the players who were on Wednesday’s injury report were full participants Thursday, including wide out A.J. Brown (knee).

At defensive end, the Eagles signed Tarron Jackson to the practice squad while releasing quarterback Will Grier.