Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on you. The Philadelphia Eagles were on the national stage Monday night, a chance to prove the critics wrong about this team. Instead, they proved the critics right as the Eagles were manhandled by the Dallas Cowboys 41-21 at AT&T Stadium.
From the get-go, the Eagles were dead on arrival, and it showed. On the Cowboys first possession of the game, they went six plays for 75-yards in three minutes before running back Ezekiel Elliott rushed for a one-yard touchdown.
How did the Eagles respond to the drive? A Jalen Hurts underthrow interception intended for Jalen Reagor. Luckily, the Eagles defense came through when Javon Hargrave stripped the ball away from Dak Prescott and recovered by Fletcher Cox for the touchdown. It looked like the game was turning in the Eagles favor. Nope, not a chance.
The Cowboys responded by going six plays for 55-yards in three minutes and six seconds before Prescott threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Dalton Schultz. From there, Dallas was doing whatever they wanted to Philadelphia.
Cowboys running backs Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard combined for 28-carries for 155-yards and two touchdowns. Both rushing touchdowns were from Elliott.
The Eagles’ offense had no answers for the Cowboys’ defense. On the third play in the third quarter, Jalen Hurts pass to DeVonta Smith was intercepted by Trevon Diggs and returned for a 59-yard touchdown as the Cowboys were now up 27-7. Smith tripped during the play that allowed Diggs to intercept the ball.
The Eagles would get a touchdown on the next series when Hurts threw a three-yard touchdown pass to Zach Ertz for a 27-14 lead. The Eagles defensive coaches never blitzed the Cowboys to throw them off. Dak Prescott threw two more touchdowns in the second half. Prescott went 21/26 for 238-yards and three touchdowns.
The Eagles would get one more touchdown late in the game when Hurts found Greg Ward for a 15-yard touchdown. By that point, the Cowboys had most of their backups in for the rest of the game.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts went 25/39 for 326-yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and 35-yards rushing. Despite what others might say about Hurts, I think he can be a good quarterback with the right coach who knows him.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni had no game plan. The Eagles barely practiced leading up to this game. Instead, they were watching the history of this rivalry, and the coach wore a beat Dallas t-shirt, which gave Dallas momentum heading into this game.
The Eagles now sit at 1-2 in the NFC East and return to Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, who lost to the Chargers on Sunday. Kansas City must win to stay competitive in the AFC West. Both Denver and Las Vegas are 3-0, while the Chargers are 2-1. The schedule only gets harder.
After the Chiefs, the Eagles play the Panthers, who are 3-0, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 2-1, and the Las Vegas Raiders. There is a chance this team will be 1-6 after these games.
This team lacks discipline, leadership, practice, and everything else. When the Sirianni era began, many questioned this team from the front office to the owner, and so far, they’re right. During the Eagles post-game live, a shot showed owner Jeffrey Lurie on a golf cart looking ticked off. Well, he created this mess, and now he has to deal with it.
It’s very hard to imagine that this team won the Super Bowl four years ago, and the future looked bright. Instead, poor decisions led by Howie Roseman and Jeffrey Lurie have put the Eagles in this mess, and it will be a while or years before this team gets good again.
