Who does former NFL great consider to be the ‘X factor’ in Sunday’s Eagles-Cowboys game?

Who could be the key in Sunday’s Philadelphia-Dallas key NFL showdown?

According to Pro Football Hall of Famer Charles Woodson, it could be the play of Dallas’ emerging defensive star.

“The X factor is DaRon Bland,” Woodson said on the FOX NFL Kickoff pregame show. “And I know it’s kind of funny saying that being you got a guy who has five interceptions for touchdowns, eight interceptions on the season.”

Woodson said he wonders if the attention is getting to Bland, who struggled for the first time this season in the Cowboys’ 41-35 win against Seattle a week ago.

“But, I look at the game against the Seahawks, and it looked like the pressure was mounting on him. Didn’t have his best game. The spotlight was on him. He went from being a great story to being a guy that people were talking about being the NFL Defensive Player of the Year. That’s a lot of weight on your shoulders. Now there are expectations that are involved. You are not the coolest story any more. You’re the man. We expect you to shut guys down. We expect you to get interceptions for touchdowns. .... If you watched him, early in that (Seattle) game, you watched in his eyes, it was like a deer in headlights because I felt like that pressure was on him. So it’s going to be like that for the rest of the season.”

So what does Bland need to do against Philadelphia’s talented receiving corps?

“You just got to play your game. You got to trust the process. You got to trust your training. Whatever you do in practice, practice is always easy. take that to the game even though those lights get brighter as we get closer and closer to January.”