By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia Eagles travelled to Dallas to faceoff with the Cowboys for the second time this season, Philly controlled its destiny and even with a loss still had strong chances at the number one seed in the NFC. However, the Cowboys played like the hungrier team and ran the Eagles off the field 33-13.

The Eagles once again faced a team that was hungry to stake their claim to be the best team in the NFL at their expense. Dak Prescott took full advantage of Philly’s inability to get pressure on him early as he connected with CeeDee Lamb for an early score that put the Eagles on their heels early in this contest. Once again even with the addition of Shaq Leonard the Eagles still showed an inability to stop a quarterback who can get the ball out quick. Prescott was finding his receivers all over the field and there was nothing the Eagles could do to stop him. He completed 24/39 passes, for 271 yards, and completed two touchdown passes. Dak Prescott was in his bag tonight and the Eagles were able to slow him and the Cowboys offense down in the second half.  They finally put pressure on him and forced a turnover which allowed them to score their only touchdown of the night.  The Eagles defensive unit has a lot to fix. They have allowed 75-points in back-to-back contests.  Playing as horribly as they are right now this is not a defensive unit that anyone can have faith in right now to stop somebody. Sean Desai will need to make some huge adjustments especially with an easier stretch of games coming up starting next week. The Eagles just seemed lifeless on every side of the ball but special teams in this contest.

On the offensive side three promising drives were ended by three fumbles all recovered by the Cowboys which set them up with a shortened field and most of those drives ended in points for Dallas while it felt like the Eagles offense was playing against the 80’s Chicago Bears out there because they were struggling throughout the night. Brian Johnson and Nick Sirianni need to find some better play calls that maximize the ability of Jalen Hurts. It does not seem like they are putting him in the best position to succeed and even when they are he turns the ball over like he did tonight. The offense only scored six-points in tonight’s contest which is unacceptable.  The Eagles have too much talent on that side of the ball to only score six-points. Something has to change you can’t beat the Seattle Seahawks, New York Giants (twice), and Arizona Cardinals with an offense who can barely score touchdowns in games. They need to use D’Andre Swift way more than they are specifically with the screen game let this dynamic playmaker loose and there will be way more space for DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown to operate. However, the trio of Hurts, Smith, and Brown will need to learn to hold on to the ball, all three of them accounted for the three turnovers Philly had in this game.  Additionally, the usually sure-handed Brown and Smith both had key drops that took points off the board. Both players have to clean that up and work on ball security. When the Eagles play a balanced game, limit turnovers, and put pressure on the opposing team’s quarterback they are usually a hard team to beat. They need to look themselves in the mirror and find that Eagles squad that started the season strong and even though they were struggling they found ways to make impactful plays and win games. That is what is missing on all sides of the ball, the impactful plays that help you win games.

The Eagles will now prepare for a Monday Night game with the Seattle Seahawks, another hungry team fighting for their playoff lives. They cannot take them lightly or they will lose their third straight game. Brian Johnson needs to mix more run plays in and now that he has Dallas Goedert back attack the middle of the field with him and AJ Brown. The Eagles are at their best when they are attacking the middle of the field and running the ball.  Additionally, on the defensive side it will be important for Desai to find a way to put pressure on Drew Lock or Geno Smith. He cannot give them time to find Metcalf and Lockett. The Eagles will lose if one or both of those players go off, so it is important to not give either quarterback time to find either one of those players. If they can implement these things, they should be able to get their 11^th win of the season.