By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia Eagles entered their primetime match-up with the Dallas Cowboys today, with everything on the line. The game was essentially win and they get a playoff match-up next week against the Washington Football Team. Unfortunately, for them dumb mistakes and bad secondary play ultimately doomed them, as they lost to the Cowboys 37-17.

Early on it looked good for the Eagles. They went right down the field on their first two drives and got out to an early 14-0 lead. Both drives were capped by a rushing touchdown by running back Miles Sanders and a returning DeSean Jackson. Rookie quarterback Jalen Hurts was looking confident and the offense was humming. Had the game ended in the first quarter the Eagles would not be eliminated from the playoffs.

Hurts had another solid game, but he made some costly plays that cost the Eagles the game. Late in the fourth quarter he forced a pass to the end zone and got picked off by Cowboys safety Anthony Brown. That would cost the Eagles the game but Hurts in the second half started playing like a rookie. He was indecisive with some of his decisions. He made late decisions to run the ball which allowed for him to get sack. That along with some dumb penalties committed by tight end Zach Ertz and guard Matt Pryor. Those penalties took the Eagles out of field goal range.

On the team effort, “Super disappointed. We work our asses off… I do believe this is a great team… this city is so passionate… better days are coming,” said Sanders.

The Cowboys had a solid gameplan. Much like the Cardinals did last year they attacked the depleted secondary of the Eagles. The specific target was corner back Michael Jacquet. He got burned a couple of times by receiver Michael Gallup. He scored two touchdowns on Jacquet and caught six passes for 121 yards. Jacquet was benched and Jalen Mills had to play corner. That did not help the Eagles either.

On the defensive performance , “We gotta figure out ways to win games and not beat ourselves… no sense crying about it,” said defensive end Brandon Graham.

The Cowboys were able to take advantage of dumb mistakes by the Eagles defense and when the Eagles lost Fletcher Cox to a stinger injury. The Cowboys went on a 24-3 run.

The Eagles will look at this as a lost season, the spark that they had with Jaen Hurts died in Dallas, now they have been eliminated from playoff contention. Hurts’ skills could not cover up what is wrong with the team. Which is that the roster has aged fast in all phases of the game, and that the Eagles have a stagnant offense no matter who the quarterback is. The blame for all that lies at the feet of Doug Pederson and Howie Roseman whose futures are both in doubt. 

Pederson and the Eagles have one last chance to play spoiler as they face the Washington Football Team next week. They will need to find someone to spark this offense if they want to beat them.