Eagles DT Fletcher Cox still wants to play this Sunday

The Philadelphia Eagles plan to rest some starters this week, but Fletcher Cox doesn’t want to.

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson has some big decisions to make this week. With the regular season pretty much wrapped up, he has to decide who will play and who will sit on Sunday. This week’s game against the Dallas Cowboys means pretty much nothing to both teams. The Eagles will mostly play their depth guys, while the Cowboys will be playing for pride.

After last week’s gritty win over the Oakland Raiders, the Eagles defensive starters may have earned themselves an extra week off. While some could use the extra rest, others are still anxious to go out and compete. Defensive tackle, Fletcher Cox is among those who want to continue to eat out on the field. Can you really blame him?

Fletch is fired up!

Does he have a point?

Cox told NBC Sport’s Philadelphia’s John Clark on Thursday morning that he wants to continue to play. While some may think playing Cox and company would be a bizarre thing to do, he does make a great point. Along with this Sunday, most of the Eagles starters would be sitting out for two weeks. Now it sounds great considering it is plenty of time to rest up, but it could also affect the team negatively come playoff time.

Let’s be honest, the Eagles weren’t exactly firing off on all cylinders when they returned from their Week 10 bye. It took an entire half for them to start looking like themselves after a full week off. At the time it was acceptable considering it was still the middle of the season. But when it is playoff time, the team needs to compete at one-hundred percent for four quarters in order to pull out a victory.

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Will the Eagles coaching staff listen to Cox? It seems doubtful. But it shouldn’t be a major deal if he gets to play a series or two as if it was preseason. If the players know that they wouldn’t physically be in tip-top shape for playoffs if they miss two consecutive weeks, then the coaches should consider letting them play a bit. It may be a huge gamble, but sometimes the bet is worth it. We should be finding out very soon who will play and who will sit. Stay tuned.