Even Lane Johnson's grandma knows Eagles-Cowboys rivalry means more this year

PHILADELPHIA – Lane Johnson thought he had convinced his grandmother, who was born and raised in Texas, to forsake her beloved Cowboys to support the Eagles.

This was almost two years ago, when he saw her watching the Cowboys on TV during the playoffs. Johnson started trash-talking with her and said: "If you want to see 75, you better shut your mouth."

With the Eagles set to face the Cowboys on Sunday in Dallas, with first place in the NFC East and perhaps the Eagles' chances for a postseason berth on the line, he's still not so sure about his grandmother's loyalties

"It’s everybody’s dream in Texas," Johnson said about the Cowboys winning. "They want to see the Cowboys doing good. I think my grandma wants to see them do good. We’ll have to see about that."

When reminded about his grandmother rooting for the Eagles last year in the Super Bowl, Johnson responded: "She may have just been doing that for the cameras. You never know about old folks today. We’re going to have to Facetime her, see where she’s at."

Old habits die hard, especially in a rivalry as intense as the Eagles-Cowboys. But there's more to it than trash talking between a man and his grandmother.

The Eagles found that out this week when linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill told NBC Sports Philadelphia, "Look at Dallas’ history. They always choke, so we’ll go down there and make them choke.”

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But the words mean nothing if there's nothing on the line. How often are the Cleveland Browns, for example, able to trash talk with the Steelers without anyone on the Steelers breaking out in laughter?

That's what makes Sunday's game compelling.

If the Eagles win, they'll pull into a first-place tie with the Cowboys. It can be a three-way tie for first place if Washington beats the Giants.

If the Eagles lose, they'll fall to 6-7, two games behind Dallas with three games left. But Dallas will hold the tiebreaker because it would have won both games this season.

That means the Eagles would have to win their last three games and Dallas would have to lose its last three in order to win the division.

"We’ve been within reach (of first place) all year," Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins said. "It’s been frustrating that things haven’t been like we drew them up to be. But at no point did we ever feel like we were out of it."

Neither team would want it any other way, with a division race going right down to the end of the season.

"It seems like it’s been that way for a long time in the NFC East," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "One of the things you find out, really in any division, is that it’s a long year. And you just gotta keep playing and keep fighting."

The reality is there haven't really been many games in the month of December between the two teams with so much on the line, at least over the last 20 years.

Continue reading below graphic.

From 2001-04, the Eagles won the NFC East every year while Dallas was far back.

The Cowboys were dominant in the early to mid-1990s, winning their last Super Bowl in 1995, while the Eagles were in decline.

The two teams haven't played a meaningful December game since 2014. That day, the Cowboys won 38-27, sending the Eagles to their second straight loss after the Eagles had beaten the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day to improve to 9-3.

The Eagles lost the following week to Washington and were eliminated from the playoffs.

Last season, the Eagles clinched the NFC East with three games left. So the season finale between the two teams was meaningless. The Eagles rested most of their starters and lost 6-0.

It was the other way around in 2016. The Cowboys had clinched the NFC East while the Eagles were finishing up a 7-9 season. In the season finale, Dallas rested its starters and the Eagles won 27-13.

For Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz and Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, both drafted in 2016, this will be the first meaningful December game against each other.

"First of all, every game is big, is kind of how I view it," Wentz said. "No matter where you’re at in the season, where you’re at record-wise, whatever it is, I try to not make any game bigger than another game."

But sometimes, it just is.

In 2013, the two teams played in the finale in Dallas. The winner would win the NFC East, the loser would be eliminated.

The Eagles held a two-point lead when Dallas got the ball back with less than two minutes remaining. That's when Eagles cornerback Brandon Boykin intercepted Kyle Orton to preserve the 24-22 win.

Perhaps the most memorable of the games in recent history came in the season finale in 2008. The Eagles came into the game 8-6-1, the Cowboys 9-5. The Eagles had to win, then hope both Chicago and Tampa Bay lost in order to make the playoffs (the Giants had already clinched the division).

Both Chicago and Tampa Bay obliged by losing earlier in the day, leaving the Eagles and Cowboys playing a win-or-go-home game. The Eagles buried the Cowboys 44-6 to get the No. 6 seed. They won two road playoff games before losing in the NFC Championship game to the Arizona Cardinals, a step from the Super Bowl.

The next year, the two teams played in the season finale. The Eagles were 11-4, the Cowboys 10-5. The winner would win the division and the loser would get the wildcard spot.

The Cowboys won 24-0 in Dallas, then hosted the Eagles the next week in the first round of the playoffs. The Cowboys won again 34-14.

No doubt, two straight losses in two straight weeks to the Cowboys outraged many Eagles fans. 

Eagles wide receiver Mike Wallace can relate. While he has never taken part in an Eagles-Cowboys game, he's very familiar with an intense NFL rivalry. He played for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2009-12, who had to go through the Baltimore Ravens in order to win the AFC North.

"If you lost to those guys, it was the worst feeling in the world," Wallace said. "There was nothing that needed to be said to get up for those games. Guys were emotional. Guys were ready."

"We respected each other because we knew it was two great organizations going against each other. There was definitely a lot of hate."

That's how it is with the Eagles and Cowboys. But not all rivalries are created equally.

Jenkins went to Ohio State and played Michigan every year.

"Literally, at Ohio State, there’s a clock that’s counting down the days, even right now [just weeks after this year's game]," Jenkins said. "It’s not quite the same here."

Maybe not, but the Eagles counted down the days this week to a game that could make or break their season.

All they have to do is get Johnson's grandmother behind them.

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.