The Philadelphia Eagles[10-3] defeated the Dallas Cowboys[10-3] 33-13. Next week, the Eagles travel to play the Seahawks while the Cowboys travel to play the Bills.
1st Quarter: Cowboys Quarterback Dak Prescott throws a 13-yard touchdown to Wide Receiver CeeDee Lamb. Eagles Quarterback Jalen Hurts fumbles the ball and Cowboys Safety Donovan Wilson recovers at the Dallas 21-yard line. Cowboys Kicker Brandon Aubrey kicks a 60-yard field goal.
2nd Quarter: Eagles Kicker Jake Elliott makes a 52-yard field goal. Cowboys Running Back Rico Dowdle runs in a 1-yard touchdown. Jake Elliott kicks a 44-yard field goal. Dak Prescott throws a 1-yard touchdown to Wide Receiver Michael Gallup. Cowboys lead 24-6 at halftime.
3rd Quarter: Jalen Hurts throws a pass to Wide Receiver A.J. Brown, who fumbles the ball, and the Cowboys recover at their own 37-yard line. Eagles Defensive Tackle Fletcher Cox strip-sacks Dak Prescott and Defensive Tackle Jalen Carter returns it for a 42-yard touchdown. Brandon Aubrey kicks a 59-yard field goal.
4th Quarter: Brandon Aubrey kicks a 45-yard field goal. Jalen Hurts finds Wide Receiver DeVonta Smith who fumbles the ball and the Cowboys recover at their own 12-yard line. Brandon Aubrey kicks a 50-yard field goal. Cowboys win 33-13.
Eagles Notes:
The players have been given too much hate from the fans. I am going to only talk about coaching because if you look at the individual statistics on the year from nearly everyone then that would explain the record but these games are so much closer than they should be. Brian Johnson has no idea when to run the ball and who to run the ball with. It is like it is a chore for him to pick a run play. He is too dependent on getting to 3rd or 4th and short that the first two play calls are terrible. Nobody gets in motion. Going into this week the Eagles were dead last in plays with players in motion. There is a serious lack of deep shot plays being called despite that being a strength last year with Jalen, A.J., and DeVonta. There are too many designed runs for Jalen Hurts. He has been banged up all year but Brian Johnson just does not seem to care about his Quarterback’s safety. This ends up resulting in fumbles, late hits, and a QB who has to get up from a big hit and call a pass play. Hurts must be exhausted. Now the defense. Sean Desai turned from a potential upgrade from Jonathan Gannon to being Jonathan Gannon without the pass rush. Slay and Bradberry not being allowed to follow receivers allow for any team with a good Wide Receiver to move to the slot and dominate this defense. Kevin Byard is not playing great but he is not playing bad. I feel like Reed Blankenship and Kevin Byard need to switch spots. Byard has been so great in deep coverage his entire career and now he’s playing the box. Blankenship is an amazing tackler and is being used in deep coverage. When Reed got hurt and Sydney Brown came in, Desai switched Byard to deep, and suddenly the Cowboys were not playing offense nearly as well as they began. This should be the blueprint to switch Blankenship and Byard full-time. I never wanted to see Nicholas Morrow play in an Eagles game ever again. Then he goes and plays the whole game. Morrow had the green dot which means he calls plays. I honestly do not think any of these linebackers should be calling plays. Shaq is too new to call plays. Cunningham and Morrow are the two worst starters on the defense to be calling plays. Maybe make Blankenship or Cox call plays. The pass rush has been nonexistent. Fletcher Cox got so frustrated that he went and forced a defensive touchdown for Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate Jalen Carter. I believe, and I have been saying this all year before the season started, it is because of the lack of 5-man front plays. If we put Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat on the edge, Jalen Carter and Fletcher Cox at the defensive tackle spots, and Jordan Davis at nose tackle then there is no way everyone gets blocked consistently as they have been these past couple weeks. Then you could rotate Brandon Graham and Nolan Smith on the edge, while Milton Williams, Marlon Tuipulotu, and Moro Ojomo are rotated on the interior d-line. Having 5 guys on the d-line will force the offenses to keep an RB or TE back to block and that gives fewer receiving options for the Quarterbacks and more time for the Defensive Backs to make plays. Finally, the slot corner position needs to not be rotated. Just pick someone already. Bradley Roby is good for smaller receivers who are good route runners while Eli Ricks is good against big, lengthy receivers because of his wingspan. Also, where is Kelee Ringo? Maybe give him a shot on defense. Sydney Brown would also be a great option against teams who focus more on multiple tight ends or a heavy run game because of his tackling ability. But do not use Sydney Brown in the slot against teams like Dallas, Kansas City, or Buffalo. I would have been interested in seeing him play there against San Francisco. Nick Sirianni needs to address the issues of the team with Brian Johnson and Sean Desai. You can not keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results. It is the definition of insanity.
I have been saying it since before the first Cowboys game. The Eagles could lose 2-3 games during the long stretch of games after the bye and still be in a good spot. I am not concerned with the losses but I am concerned with how they lost 2 of those games. The coaches need to change their philosophy to improve. Adapt to survive.
-Jordan Burden