The last two weeks have been painful for Dallas fans. They’ve had to watch their bitter rivals barely blink an eye at the Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings en route to the franchise’s third Super Bowl appearance and second since the last time the Cowboys made one. The Eagles weren’t supposed to do this well.

Dallas had their own set of problems in 2017, primarily surrounding Ezekiel Elliott, but the adversity the Eagles overcame on the field was admirable, laying the blueprint of how teams can win with depth.

The Eagles lost key players at similar positions to the Cowboys but the biggest difference was their ability to overcome those injuries and replace them with quality backups.

Philadelphia lost starting linebacker Jordan Hicks for the season after seven games. He was their signal caller, much like Sean Lee is for the Cowboys. Now granted, he’s not the talent of Sean Lee, but he was certainly key personnel. The Eagles were able to fill the void with Nigel Bradham, a six-year pro from Florida State who came to the Eagles in 2016.

Although none of the linebackers on the Eagles were as good as Hicks, they managed to keep it together for the rest of the season. When Lee was injured against Atlanta after one tackle, the Cowboys went 1-5 and couldn’t find anyone on the roster to hold it together.

The same goes at left tackle. The Eagles lost All-Pro Jason Peters after seven games and replaced him with Halapoulivaati Vaitai. Although not perfect, he held his own for the blind side of Carson Wentz and the offensive line didn’t drop off in the same way the line for the Cowboys did when they lost their left tackle, Tyron Smith.

The Cowboys were technically 1-2 in the three games Smith missed in 2017 but it was more like 0-3 because he was out after the first series against the Seahawks, a game with everything on the line, and missed time final game of the year which meant absolutely nothing.

The Chaz Green failure hurt the Cowboys against the Falcons and it’s even more insulting when remembering that the Cowboys spent a third-round pick on him whereas the Eagles spent a fifth on Vaitai.

And of course, the Eagles lost their most important player in Carson Wentz, managing to reach their Super Bowl with a backup quarterback.

This has to be the hardest bite to swallow for Dallas fans when remembering the Cowboys went 1-12 with a backup just two years ago.

Every year the Cowboys fall short of the Super Bowl, it hurts. But it hurts more knowing the Eagles now have a chance to win a Super Bowl and they’re doing it without some key pieces to their team, key pieces the Cowboys have lost in recent years and have not been able to overcome. The Eagles ability to draft and sign free agents to create roster depth is the biggest reason they are successful and it is the one thing that is holding the Cowboys back from reaching their ultimate goal.