Eagles in First in the NFC East

Thursday night, the Philadelphia Eagles claimed their first place spot in the NFC East with a big win against the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas. The Eagles have bettered their Thanksgiving day playing record to 5-0* depending on who you ask.

In Philadelphia’s 33-10 defeat of Dallas, they secured the sole top spot in the NFC East. The playoff implications that came along with this game were huge. With the Eagles victory, the Cowboys won’t have the possibility of a head-to-head tiebreaker game. The Eagles are 3-0 in conference play while the Cowboys dropped to 2-2. A Cowboys win and the teams would have been even at 3-1.

The next time the Eagles and Cowboys face each other is December 14 on Sunday Night Football in Philadelphia. The Eagles have won their last ten games in a row on Sunday Night Football. With another win, the Eagles are going to be the conference’s first repeat champions since 2000.

McCoy had another huge game and was instrumental to the Eagles win with his fourth 100-yard game in the past seven games. Sanchez also had a great game and was 20-29 and 217 yards with no butt-fumbles as we saw the last time Sanchez played on Thanksgiving, two years ago when the Jets played the Patriots.

The Eagles have another big match up on Dec. 7 at home against the Seattle Seahawks before they face the Cowboys again.

*Thanksgiving Records:

Nov. 27, 2014: Philadelphia Eagles 33, Dallas Cowboys 10

Nov. 27, 2008: Philadelphia Eagles 48, Arizona Cardinals 20

Nov. 23, 1989: Philadelphia Eagles 27, Dallas Cowboys 0

Nov. 28, 1968: Philadelphia Eagles 12, Detroit Lions 0

Nov. 23, 1939: Philadelphia Eagles, 17, Pittsburgh Steelers 14

*Debate over the wins being five comes from a presidential decision from Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 when he moved Thanksgiving from the final Thursday in November to the fourth Thursday in November. While the Eagles won their game on the new Thanksgiving holiday against the Steelers, 17-14, the following year, the Eagles moved Thanksgiving back to the original holiday at the end of November. That year, 1940, the Eagles lost to the Steelers 7-0 and it was indeed Thanksgiving in Philadelphia.

If you count 1939, the Eagles are 5-1 playing on what is known as Thanksgiving in Philadelphia. If you count official, U.S. recognized holidays, the Eagles are 5-0.