Eagles vs Cowboys: Reasonable requests, bold expectations for a Week 9 NFC East clash

The Eagles and Cowboys renew their heated rivalry in Week 9.

Week 9's meeting between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys treats its viewers to a slice of history. Every so often, these rivals meet for the occasional postseason tussle. That's happened four times, but more often than not, these age-old rivals are only scheduled to cross paths twice annually.

Most of us missed their games during the late 60s and the 70s. Let's just say the football gods were unking to Philly. Dallas won 11 straight meetings from December of 1967 to November of 1972 and nine straight from October of 1974 to December of 1978.

That has a lot to do with the all-time series sitting at 73-55 in the Cowboys' favor. Every victory over the Eagles' rival is a reason to celebrate. Heck, every Cowboys loss in a game they play against someone else puts a smile on our face, but something tells us the Birds will make up some ground on Sunday.

A victory over the Cowboys will improve Philly's record to 8-1 before the bye week. That will also give the Eagles a stranglehold on the National Football Conference. A loss means they and the Cowboys both have two losses and Dallas would have an early tie-breaker to hold over them.

Make no mistake. This is an important game for several reasons.