It's Dallas Week in Philadelphia as the 5-0 Eagles get set to host the 4-1 Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.
The No. 1 job on the plate of Eagles coach Nick Sirianni is protecting Jalen Hurts from Micah Parsons, and a ferocious Cowboys pass rush.
"Whatever you do, again, you're trying to put your players in the best position to succeed, and while you're doing that, you're trying not to allow their best players to wreck the game," Sirianni said Monday. "So, (Parsons will) be accounted for every single play. That doesn't mean he's not going to make some plays here and there. He's a really outstanding, outstanding player. I think we all know that. The league knows that. He's proved it for the last year and a half.
"So, we need to do our jobs as coaches and put the guys in positions to not only be at their best, but also to defeat their best, right, and contain their best. He'll be thought about."
Blocking Parsons is always the top objective of opposing offenses, but it's far easier said than done. Despite battling a groin injury last week against the defending Super Bowl champs, Parsons still netted two sacks, three QB hits and one forced fumble. It marked Parson's third game with two-plus sacks this season, tops in the NFL.
Parsons sits tied atop the NFL with six sacks on the season, and his 17 QB hurries lead the league, per Next Gen Stats.
The Cowboys have allowed 14.4 PPG through Week 5, their fewest in the first five games of a season since 1994 (11.2, finished 12-4, won NFC East). Dallas has allowed fewer than 20 points in each of their first five games for the first time since 1972 (1 of 2 NFL teams in 2022, along with SF).
Sirianni lost his first two games as head coach to the Cowboys, getting blown out in each contest last season. Philly hasn't beaten the Cowboys since Nov. 1, 2020.
The coach isn't worried about past performances, just playing well Sunday in prime time in front of the home crowd.
"Like, hey, this series has been -- this is a whole new year, whole new players," he said. "What does S] [Chauncey [Gardner-Johnson] care about what the series have been in the past? What does A.J. [Brown] -- A.J. doesn't care about that. He's here to play this week.
"We know how big of a game it is because it's the Cowboys and we know how big of a game it is because it's the next one and we know how big of a game it is because it's a division game. We're just going to go about our business that way to prepare like we always prepare and leave no stone unturned. So, we don't get wrapped up in that. The best teams I've been on don't get too wrapped up in all those different things and they go about their business this week to get ready."
