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Hayes: Eagles unexpectedly unpredictable

B Y RIGHTS, the Eagles should have little chance to win at Dallas. The Cowboys are 5-1, have won five in a row and are coming off a bye.

B Y RIGHTS, the Eagles should have little chance to win at Dallas.

The Cowboys are 5-1, have won five in a row and are coming off a bye.

The offensive line, anchored by three first-round picks, is the best in the business. Running back Ezekiel Elliott leads the league in rushing and is the early Rookie of the Year favorite. Rookie quarterback Dak Prescott has been sacked just nine times, fourth fewest sacks taken among regular NFL starters. His passer rating of 103.9 is fifth in the league, largely because has has thrown only one interception, and he is expected to get No. 1 receiver Dez Bryant back for Sunday night's game.

Meanwhile, the Eagles' reconstructed defensive backfield lost cornerback Ron Brooks for the season in its upset win over Minnesota last weekend, and it was the defense's win, to be sure. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz abandoned his Wide 9, four-man-rush template and blitzed skittish Sam Bradford without relent.

Which underscores the reality that is 2016:

Little about this season has been predictable. The Eagles could blow out the Cowboys as easily as the Cowboys might grind the Birds into sausage.

You should just sit back and enjoy the ride.

The unpredictable outcomes so far have been truest, perhaps, of the Eagles, both in overall result and means by which it was reached. From first-year coach Doug Pederson to rookie quarterback Carson Wentz to Schwartz's just-add-water success on defense to the remarkable improvement of two-week right tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai, the Birds' baffling, 4-2 start includes wins over the Steelers and Vikings, both of which were previously undefeated.

It also includes a giveaway loss at Detroit, a one-win team at the time.

Few of the season's developments were completely foreseeable.

Sure, you could figure that the Geno/Fitz situation would sabotage the Jets, and maybe the Patriots wouldn't miss Tom Brady too much during his four-game suspension, and the winless Browns would stink . . . but did you know the Panthers would be just one win better?

The Panthers' dive into irrelevance - only Andy Reid's 2015 Chiefs made the playoffs after a 1-5 start - is not unprecedented for a participant from the previous season's Super Bowl. In fact, it isn't even the worst start for a Panthers team after an NFC title; they went 1-7 to start 2004.

"That's the NFL every year," said veteran Eagles tight end Brent Celek. "I think people just forget."

Sure, there are surprise winners and stunning losers every season. Parity repels dominance.

"The world's flat in the NFL," said veteran safety Chris Maragos. "The talent level is so close, the players are so good, the schemes are so elaborate.

"How do teams match up? One coaching staff might see one weakness in the other team and just pick at it," he continued. "A lot of times it comes down to variables you just can't see. You can look at a guy's measurables. You can look at the stats he puts out. What you can't see is what's inside that player?"

Exactly. Outcomes in the NFL are unpredictable in the most static of circumstances.

The one variable this season:

Quarterback turnover.

"This year's been a little bit different," Maragos admitted, "because of so many new quarterbacks."

There's no way to have predicted that Wentz, who played just 1 1/2 seasons at FCS (I-AA) North Dakota State and missed 75 percent of the Eagles' preseason, would be 4-2. Not even his coaches knew he would be this good this quickly. The same is true of Prescott, a fourth-round pick and the seventh quarterback taken (the Browns took eight other players, including a quarterback, before the Cowboys nabbed Prescott at No. 135).

From the draft through the seventh weeks of competition, the only certainty has been uncertainty.

Did you honestly think the Eagles would be able to commit four turnovers - three by Wentz - and still roll over the Vikings, 21-10?

If you did, congratulations.

Then maybe you also knew that tight ends Zach Ertz (11) and Brent Celek (five) would have combined for 16 catches through six games. Each has single-game bests better than their season totals (15 and 10).

You could have foreseen Connor Barwin on track for his lowest sack total in three seasons (five).

And, surely, you expected Vaitai, who was criminally inept in his debut at Washington, to play very well in his second career start, against the Vikings and their monstrous pass rush.

If you anticipated any of these developments to the degree they developed, good for you.

Now be so kind to forecast what's going to happen Sunday night.

@inkstainedretch Blog: ph.ly/DNL