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PHILADELPHIA -- With no guarantees of improving their playoff seeding, the Philadelphia Eagles rested the bulk of their starters in a 51-26 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday night. One of the few regulars who did suit up, DeVonta Smith, had three catches for 41 yards in limited action, and established a new franchise record in the process. He finishes with 916 yards this season, passing DeSean Jackson (912) for most receiving yards by a rookie in team history. Philadelphia's attention now turns to the postseason. The Eagles have an 80% chance of facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild-card round of the playoffs, according to ESPN's Football Power Index. The other teams in play are the Los Angeles Rams, Arizona Cardinals or these Cowboys, depending on how Sunday's slate of games shake out. "That's been the goal the whole time -- get to the playoffs and try to win it all," said Smith. "That's what it's all about. We didn't come this far just to stop now." As far as seeding, it's pretty simple: The Eagles will be the NFC's No. 7 seed unless the San Francisco 49ers lose to the Rams and the New Orleans Saints beat the Atlanta Falcons, in which case they would jump up to No. 6. The Eagles (9-8) faced two of their prospective first-round playoff opponents in the regular season -- the Bucs and Cowboys -- and failed to register a win. They lost to Tom Brady and the Bucs in Week 6, 28-22, and fell to the Cowboys in both of their matchups. But they're in the dance, and that's a feat in itself following a 2-5 start under first-year head coach Nick Sirianni. Rushing prowess: The Eagles rushed for 100-plus yards for the 12th straight game, their longest streak since 2010-11 (19). They established a team record for most rushing yards in a season (2,715), a mark that had stood since 1949 (2,607). There are records falling in Philadelphia and elsewhere thanks in part to the added 17th regular-season game. QB stats: Gardner Minshew got his second start of the season and finished 19-of-33 for 186 yards with two touchdown passes and an interception. The Eagles scored 17 or more points in the first half five times this season, two of which came in Minshew starts. "I was 1-1 for this team. I wish I could have played well enough for us to win today," Minshew said. "That's the biggest regret, but grateful for every opportunity I get and hope to do better with the next one." Starting QB Jalen Hurts was one of the many regulars getting the night off. He's still dealing with a nagging high-ankle sprain suffered in late November. The Eagles are trying to get him as close to 100% as possible before the postseason. "We've got to be able to be our full arsenal of offense and not have any limitations to do what we want to do in the playoffs. That's what went into that [decision]," said Sirianni of resting Hurts. Can they beat a good team? The Eagles dropped to 0-7 against teams with winning records this season. They took care of business against mediocre to bad teams (9-1), but have yet to prove they can topple high-quality competition. They'll have another opportunity next weekend.
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