Monday Night Game Offers Two Losing Teams a Shot at the Division

A division race is still open for teams with losing records.

The Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles meet on Monday night. Both teams are 2-4. The game is in Philadelphia. It is a chance for either team to gain ground. The NFC East is weak. The New York Giants are 3-2-1 and lead the division. The Cowboys and Eagles are close behind. In the last two weeks, no team in this division won a game. Every team played twice. This has not happened in a division since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.

The Eagles have lost four straight. They have scored 58 points in that span. The offense is struggling. Quarterback Jalen Hurts is injured. He is on injured reserve with blood clots. He is not expected to play this season. Tanner McKee will start. He was a backup for most of his first two seasons. He made two starts after the team had already made the playoffs. Last week's loss to Carolina was his first important start. He had only two days of practice with the first team. This week he has more time to prepare. He will work with first-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion. "I feel like I have a good preparation process," McKee said. He plans to meet with the coaching staff more often.

The Eagles have issues at running back. Saquon Barkley has missed time with a hamstring injury. He might return. Will Shipley and Tank Bigsby are also hurt. Carson Steele hurt his shoulder last week. Dameon Pierce was the only Eagles running back to carry the ball in that game. He ran for 35 yards. Dallas has allowed 4.7 yards per carry this season.

The Cowboys have their own issues. Their defense ranks 30th in the league. Christian Parker is the new coordinator. On offense, the team scored 29 points in its last two losses. The last game was a 23-13 loss to Green Bay. The team has scored fewer than 20 points in consecutive starts by Dak Prescott. This has not happened since 2019.

Owner Jerry Jones spoke on Wednesday at the NFL's fall meeting. He does not plan more coaching changes this season. He called the hiring of Mike Pettine strategic and unique.

Some players are near record marks. Javonte Williams has seven rushing touchdowns. He is the second Cowboys player to do this in the first six games. Emmitt Smith did it in 1994 and 1995. CeeDee Lamb has 48 catches. This is third in the NFL. It is the most in team history for six games. He is close to 8,000 career receiving yards. Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert needs one catch to move into third place on the franchise's career list.

Dallas is favored by 4 points. The Cowboys are 3-3 against the spread. The Eagles are 1-5. Dallas leads the all-time series 72-58. They won the last meeting 24-21 in November 2025. The game starts at 7:15 p.m. CST. It will be on ESPN. After this game, the Eagles play Washington on November 1. They then host the Giants. These games will show if the season can be saved.