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Sunday, Jan 7, 11:30 a.m. Dallas time, Fox

LINE: Dallas by 14

RECORD VS. SPREAD: Philadelphia 9-7-1; Dallas 7-7-2.

SERIES RECORD: Dallas leads the series 44-28 including playoffs; Teams are tied 1-1 in post-season.

LAST TIME MET: The celebrated 4th-and-1 call by Dallas coach Barry Switzer left the Eagles within field goal range to connect and win the come-from-behind game at the Vet by the score of 20-17.

LAST TIME AT SITE: 11/6/95: Eagles 12, Cowboys 34. RB Emmitt Smith rushes for 158 yards & WR Michael Irvin has 115 yards receiving.

LAST WEEK: Philadelphia lambasted the Detroit Lions in the Wild Card game at the Vet by the score of 58-37. Dallas received a bye for owning the best record in the NFC.

COWBOYS OFFENSE (RUSH: #2, PASS: #13, OVERALL: #5)
QB Troy Aikman ended the regular season with a 93.6 QB rating, 16 TDs and 7 INTs. RB Emmitt Smith led the league in rushing amassing 1,773 yards and 25 TDs -- all rushing. He averaged 4.7 yards per carry. WR Michael Irvin 111 passes for 1,603 yards and 10 TDs. Returning to the Dallas lineup will be TE Jay Novacek, who has been recovering from arthroscopic surgery performed Christmas Eve to remove some loose knee cartiledge.

EAGLES OFFENSE (RUSH: #4, PASS: #29, OVERALL: #25)
QB Rodney Peete wound up with a QB rating of 67.3, 8 TDs and 14 INTs. RB Rickey Watters gained 1,273 yards (finishing 3rd in the NFC) for 11 TDs, averaging 3.8 yards per carry. WR Charlie Williams caught 63 passes for 768 yards and 2 TDs.

COWBOYS DEFENSE (RUSH: #16, PASS: #8, OVERALL: #9)
The pass rush has been anemic with DE Charles Haley out from back surgery and likely to miss the playoffs, although his condition could be upgraded pending his physician's approval from Thursday's checkup. DT Leon Lett will remain at his natural position to support the rush defense and DEs Shante Carver and Hurvin McCormack will alternate duties. DT Russell Maryland is likely to play and also help the rush defense, as will the return of MLB Robert Jones.

EAGLES DEFENSE (RUSH: #19, PASS: #2, OVERALL: #4)
The defense had a total of 7 turnovers against the Lions last week, 6 of which were interceptions and each by a different player. 2 were returned for touchdowns. The team led the NFL with 48 sacks, with DE William Fuller leading the NFC with 13.

SPECIAL TEAM
Philadelphia special team coverages allowed an average of 25.8 per kickoff return and 13.6 yards per punt return. ...Dallas K Chris Boniol is the NFL leader in FG percentage (27 of 28) and socred 127 total points this season.

STREAKS, STATS & NOTES
Philadelphia and Dallas are tied in post-season play. The Eagles defeated the Cowboys 20-7 in the 1980 NFC Championship game and the Cowboys returned the favor in the 1992 NFC Divisional game 34-10. In both cases, the home team won. ...Dallas has been in more post-season games (46) than any other NFL team and also hold the record for most points scored in the post-season (1,102). The team clinched it's 4th consecutive NFC East championship ('92-'95) and finished 3rd in the NFL in scoring with 435 points. ...QB Troy Aikman has a 111.6 QB rating in his last 3 divisional playoff games and ranks 2nd all-time for post-season QB rating at 103.8 behind Bart Starr (104.8). ...RB Emmitt Smith obtained his 4th NFL rushing title in 5 years. He tied RB Jim Brown in achieving 100 TDs in the lowest number of games (93) and is only the 2nd NFL player (with Brown) to have more TDs than games. Smith has socred 12 post-season TDs, giving him 3rd place on the all-time list behind Franco Harris (17), Jerry Rice (17) and Thurman Thomas (16). He needs just 81 yards to become only the 5th player in NFL history to reach 1,000 yards in post season, joining Franco Harris, Marcus Allen, Thurman Thomas and Tony Dorsett. ...WR Michael Irvin set an NL record for most 100-yard receiving games in a single season (11). ...Philadelphia broke a 6-game losing streak to Dallas with the victory in week 15. ...Eagles are 10-3 wth QB Rodney Peete as a starter.