Getty Former college teammates Darius Slay and Dak Prescott exchange jerseys after a 2018 game.
Welcome to Dallas Week. The Philadelphia Eagles will take on their hated NFC East rivals on Monday Night Football on Sept. 27 down in Texas. A lot of the players on the Philly sideline are new to the rivalry, but that didn’t stop Darius Slay from sharing a fun anecdote from college.
Cowboys starter Dak Prescott was teammates with Slay for two years at Mississippi State (2011, 2012) where the two developed a fast friendship. Slay called Prescott “my dog” and relayed a story about how the dual-threat quarterback saved him from a back ache in college. Slay got caught cheating during workouts. The punishment? To carry a 240-pound Prescott up a hill. Here’s what the Eagles cornerback said:
So one day I got in trouble at Mississippi State for cheating in the workouts, right? So I didn’t want to lift the weights so I just cheated or whatever. So they made me carry Dak up the hill and my boy Dak kind of like says, ‘alright I know I’m heavy – this time he was like 240 [pounds], though, this is young Dak when he was real big – so I had to carry him up the hill on my back, right?
He like jumped off my back for a little bit and just ran up the hill with me and spared me because you know he was heavy. Because I wasn’t going to carry him up there. He knew I wouldn’t. But that’s my dog, man, glad to see him back out there. Glad he’s healthy and I’m going to keep praying he has a healthy season.
That’s a good friend. Prescott had been down to 229 pounds, but he’s officially listed at 239 pounds this year in the Cowboys’ media guide. The Eagles should literally have their hands full with the bulky signal-caller in Week 3.
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Prescott Tried to Recruit Jalen Hurts
Jalen Hurts shared a tale of Prescott trying to recruit him to attend Mississippi State in 2015. The Houston native actually went down to Starkville on an official visit and stayed with Prescott. Current Eagles quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson was serving in the same role for the Bulldogs at the time. And Hurts and Johnson had known each other since they were four years old.
Jalen Hurts said Dak Prescott tried to recruit him to Miss State but wasn’t too successful. Hurts knew he was going to Alabama. #Eagles #FlyEaglesFly
It seemed to be a match made in heaven, right? Wrong.
Not after Hurts saw the twinkle in Nick Saban’s eye. He was fully committed to going to Alabama. Prescott failed to land the four-star recruit out of Channelview High School.
“He actually helped recruit me to Mississippi State when Brian [Johnson] was there. Fun fact,” Hurts said. “I kind of was going to Bama. Great guy, though.”
Nick Sirianni Stokes Rivalry Flames
Head coach Nick Sirianni showed up to his media availability on Thursday (Sept. 23) wearing a “Beat Dallas” t-shirt. According to Lane Johnson, he handed them out to the entire team to stress the importance of beating the Cowboys. Those two divisional games are must-wins every year, especially for the fan base.
Philadelphia HC Nick Sirianni wore a “Beat Dallas” shirt to his Thursday press conference.
“They’re definitely probably our biggest rival since I’ve been here, probably the team I don’t like the most,” Ezekiel Elliott said.
Sirianni isn’t numb to it. He can feel the rivalry’s intensity from walking around the city and talking to people at the NovaCare Complex.
“You can definitely feel it. I can’t tell you how many times since I’ve been here having an interaction with a fan, it’s, like, ‘Hey, beat Dallas’,” Sirianni told reporters. “And I think that’s really cool. I think that’s awesome. So really love the fact that I’m able to partake in this rivalry and it means a lot to the city, to our team, it means a lot to this building.”
Head coach Nick Sirianni wearing his Beat Dallas tee shirt
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Eagles-Cowboys Week: Darius Slay Tells Hilarious Dak Prescott Story