The Philadelphia Eagles were handed a crushing 33-13 defeat by their division rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, on Sunday night. With the loss, the Eagles and Cowboys are now knotted at 10-3 atop the NFC East standings.
It was an ugly performance all-around for Philadelphia, who failed to score an offensive touchdown the entire game. Costly turnovers and an inability to finish drives ultimately doomed the Eagles in this rivalry showdown.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts struggled mightily, fumbling the ball in the red zone on Philadelphia’s opening drive. That turnover set the tone for what would be a long night for Hurts and the Eagles’ offense. Hurts did little through the air, finishing with just 197 passing yards on 18 completions.
Conversely, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was surgical in his dissection of the Eagles’ defense. Prescott tossed two touchdowns while amassing 271 yards on 21-of-27 passing. His connection with wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was on full display early, as the two hooked up for a 13-yard score to give Dallas a 7-0 first quarter advantage.
The Eagles had opportunities to respond but simply failed to capitalize. Kicker Jake Elliott booted two field goals in the first half, but head coach Nick Sirianni’s squad couldn’t puncture the end zone despite venturing into Cowboys’ territory on multiple occasions.
Costly errors again reared their ugly head before halftime. Wide receiver A.J. Brown’s fumble erased another potential scoring chance, highlighting Philadelphia’s difficulties protecting the football. Dallas gladly seized on the Eagles’ mistakes, taking a commanding 24-6 lead into the locker room.
Clearly whatever Sirianni said at intermission didn’t spark his team. The Eagles opened the second half with another spirit-crushing turnover, as Brown’s second fumble of the night allowed Dallas to maintain control of the contest.
Not even a defensive score could ignite a comeback. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter did manage to scoop up a Fletcher Cox forced fumble and return it for a touchdown, slicing the deficit to 24-13. But even then, Hurts and his offense failed to complement that defensive effort.
Prescott continued his masterful performance after Carter’s score, clinically leading the Cowboys down the field. Kicker Brett Maher banged home two second half field goals to keep Dallas comfortably ahead 30-13.
With the game out of reach late in the fourth quarter, the Eagles had seen enough. Hurts was pulled in favor of backup quarterback Gardner Minshew. But not even Minshew could engineer any late magic, as Dallas coasted to an emphatic 20-point victory.
Conclusion
This marked the second straight week Philadelphia stumbled against an NFC East foe, having just dropped a similarly disappointing game to Washington. It was the Eagles’ first loss this season coming off a bye week, snapping a perfect 5-0 mark in such spots under head coach Nick Sirianni.
The team’s normally prolific rushing attack was also uncharacteristically tamed. Miles Sanders and Kenneth Gainwell combined for just 58 yards on the ground.
All told, the Eagles were thoroughly outplayed in every phase of the game. Missed opportunities, costly turnovers, and offensive ineffectiveness plagues Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Dak Prescott and the Cowboys dominated time of possession while converting touchdowns in the red zone.
With matching 10-3 records, both teams still have a stranglehold on the NFC East lead. But Dallas now holds the all-important head-to-head tiebreaker, should things come down to that at season’s end.
The Eagles will look to stop the bleeding next Monday night when they host the struggling Seattle Seahawks. But confidence in Philadelphia has to be wavering after such an utterly inept performance against their fiercest foe. Two blowout losses in a row raises legitimate concerns about this team’s ability to make real noise in the playoffs.
