Free safety Brian Dawkins is on track to return to the field for Sunday's matchup against the Dallas Cowboys. After practicing with the scout team for the past two weeks, Dawkins will work with the first-team defense in practice this week said head coach Andy Reid during his press conference one day after Sunday's 23-16 win over the Vikings.

"The last couple of weeks you've seen him work with the scout team, this week he'll start off – unless something crazy happens in the next day or two – he'll start off with the defense and start working with them," Reid said.

FS Brian Dawkins

"(Quintin has) done very well in there and it's not a situation where Brian would have to play every snap when he comes back," Reid said. "We can ease him back in there and get him started here."

Dawkins suffered a stinger injury during the Week 2 loss to the Washington Redskins. Even though he has missed most of the season Reid said that he believes Dawkins can get back to the level of play that has earned him six trips to the Pro Bowl.

Reid also took time in his Monday press conference to praise the other banged-up players who toughed it out on Sunday.

"I was proud of the injured players, the guys that were banged up a little bit. They worked very hard to get back out on the field," he said. "When you are sitting there with a losing record at that time in the National Football League, you don't always see that, but these guys, they have a lot of pride."

One of the players Reid was referring to was undoubtedly tackle John Runyan, who played through a painful glute contusion. It was Runyan's 167th consecutive start.

The Eagles suffered a few new injuries on Sunday. Reid said that wide receiver Reggie Brown suffered trap spasms, wide receiver Greg Lewis suffered a shoulder sprain and cornerback Will James suffered a case plantar fascitis that Reid said is "not severe".