The Dallas Cowboys could be extra motivated when they host the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night at AT&T Stadium.
Not only is first place in the NFC East on the line, but Eagles head coach Doug Pederson gave the Cowboys some bulletin board material Monday during a weekly radio appearance on WIP-FM in Pennsylvania, essentially guaranteeing Philadelphia will win the important divisional showdown.
“We’re going down to Dallas, and our guys are gonna be ready to play. And we’re gonna win that football game, and when we do, we’re in first place in the NFC East,” Pederson said, as transcribed by ESPN.com. “We control our own destiny. We’re right where we need to be.”
Sure sounds like a guarantee, right? Well, not so fast, according to Pederson.
“Never said. … I never said ‘guarantee a win,'” the Eagles coach later clarified while speaking with reporters. “I’d never do that.”
So, does Pederson regret how he phrased things?
“No, because it shows confidence in our football team,” he said. “I promise you (Cowboys coach) Jason Garrett is going to say the same thing with his team, that they are going to win the football game as well. I’m not going to stand up here and go on record and say, ‘We’re going to go there and try and win a game. Man, hopefully we can go win this one.’ It just doesn’t show confidence. And I want to show confidence in our players. We got a ton of confidence in them.”
The Eagles and Cowboys both are 3-3 heading into the Week 7 showdown. Philadelphia is coming off a 38-20 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 6, while Dallas has lost three straight, including a 24-22 stunner to the New York Jets on Sunday.
