Eagles vs. Cowboys instant observations: In a trade of epic meltdowns, the Birds won – so they lost.

Turnovers, penalties, and offensive dysfunction all contributed to the Eagles blowing a three-touchdown lead in a loss to the Cowboys.

By Geoff Mosher
PhillyVoice Staff

Kevin Jairaj/Imagn Images

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni looks on before the game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.

For the first 15 or so minutes of the Eagles' big clash Sunday against their NFC East rivals, they looked every bit as dominant as the 8-2 record they carried into AT&T Stadium.

The Eagles scored touchdowns on their first three possessions against the hapless Cowboys. A.J. Brown caught a touchdown, Jalen Hurts ran for two, and DeVonta Smith added some spectacular catches. The Cowboys dropped passes, fumbled twice, and committed fourth-down penalties that enabled their 21-point deficit.

Then came the rest of the game, in which the Eagles looked more like the inconsistent team they've been all season – a bunch of three-and-outs, a bunch of penalties, no run game to stabilize the offense, and a pass rush that disappeared.

By the fourth quarter, the Eagles hadn't scored any more points, while the Cowboys stopped shooting themselves in the foot and actually rallied back to tie the game on Dak Prescott's third touchdown. 

Then came a series of blunders for the Eagles, including two lost fumbles, that cleared the way for Dallas to march downfield against an injury-depleted Philly defense and win 24-21 on Brandon Aubrey's 42-yard field goal. 

The Cowboys nearly had the game won on the prior possession, but CeeDee Lamb's end zone drop on a ball put right in his wheelhouse, followed by a failed fourth-down attempt, put the ball back in the Eagles' hands. But the Birds' possession ended with Jalen Hurts taking a third-down sack to force a punt. They never got the ball back.  

The Eagles fell to 8-3 while the Cowboys won their second straight to get to 5-5-1.

Let's take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from this game:

Good (bear with us here...).

• Getting the ball to A.J. Brown early and often for the second straight week helped kick-start the offense, and this time it came in a more productive manner than just stop routes, hitches and comebacks. His 16-yard touchdown catch on a deep post was his longest catch since Week 8 against the Vikings. Brown led Eagles receivers in targets last Sunday against the Lions but averaged less than 8 yards per catch. This time, he went over 100 yards and averaged almost 14 yards per reception.

• How good is DeVonta Smith? He's like Plastic Man and Megatron combined. I don't know how many receivers with his skinny frame make as many contested catches as he does, including the one like his 41-yarder on 3rd-and-long that resulted in Smith landing flat on his back. That couldn't have felt great. Did he come out for a break? No, he actually took a shovel pass on the very next snap for eight yards to set up a touchdown. Smith, who had to take a delayed flight to Dallas for personal reasons, finished with 89 yards and averaged almost 15 yards per catch.

• The designed QB keeper once again led to positive results, as Jalen Hurts dialed his own number on a 2nd-and-7 on the second possession and straight up the gut for a touchdown, making sure to keep his knee off the turf as he barreled into the end zone. It's the third straight week the Eagles have gone to the keeper in a high-leverage situation, and it makes you wonder why it was kept in the playbook for the first eight weeks. He had another later in the game that maybe was designed but came against a slot corner blitz. Hurts eluded the tackle to get 9 yards. Unfortunately for the Eagles, this has become one of their most impactful rushing offensive plays. 

• Pass protection was generally good for Hurts, who was sacked just once and had plenty of time on most of his 39 attempts. The o-line is struggling to help the run game and had way too many penalties, but overall, pass protection for Hurts was once again a strong point. Even on that late sack, Hurts had enough time to drift around the pocket. Maybe nobody was open, but that wasn't a pass pro breakdown.

• Add Javonte Williams to the list of running backs that Nakobe Dean has blown up over the past three weeks, along with Josh Jacobs and David Montgomery. Dean came on a SIM pressure in the third quarter on Dallas' opening drive, bull-rushing Williams back before shedding Williams to sack Dak Prescott for a 7-yard loss on third down. It's a feather in the cap to Dean that the offense can pick up his blitz and still can't stop the fourth-year linebacker from drilling the quarterback.

Bad 

• It feels pretty safe by now to say the Eagles just aren't going to reprise the lethal run game that carried them to a Super Bowl last year. They've tried some different things – under center, jumbo packages, 12 and 13 personnel. Nothing is working. The o-line just isn't opening massive holes, and Barkley continues to have far more runs of minimal yardage or stuffed runs than productive runs. Somehow, the Eagles have covered up this flaw, but it's probably time to do away with any hope that the run game will be the foundation of their offense. 

• Like we've seen all season, a red-hot Eagles offense went ice cold. After the 21-0 lead, the Eagles punted on four straight possessions from the second to the fourth, with two three-and-outs in there. Then came the weird stuff – a missed Jake Elliott field goal, followed by a rare Saquon Barkley fumble. They closed the game without scoring for about 42 minutes. The last two will get plenty of attention this week, but it shouldn't dwarf the fact that the Eagles once again showed no ability to sustain their offense after another hot start. After converting four of their first five third downs, the Eagles finished 5-of-12, which. means they went 1-for-7 the rest of the game.

• Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio's four-man rush wasn't as impactful against a good Cowboys offensive line as it had been recently. Most of the Cowboys' deficiencies early in the game were the result of self-inflicted wounds, not a suffocating Eagles pass rush. In the second quarter, Dak Prescott capitalized on a good pocket and moved the ball efficiently, finally getting the ball into the end zone before halftime.  His sudden ability to move the ball carried into the second half as Dallas scored 17 unanswered points. Three different Cowboys receivers had receptions of 43+ yards. 

• Adoree' Jackson got picked on in the season opener against Dallas, and was fortunate that some passes that night were dropped. The Cowboys went after him again and hit on some impactful plays, including George Pickens' touchdown right before halftime, and kept it up until he left with an injury. Which led to ... 

• For the first time, Cooper DeJean saw significant outside cornerback reps, in place of Jackson. It didn't go well. He was on the wrong side of several Dak Prescott connections, including a 48-yarder by Lamb that came with a pass interference that was declined. It had been a while since CB2 on the Eagles was exploited, but when it came, it really stood out.

Ugly 

• Holy penalties! The Eagles were flagged 14 times for 96 yards, and three of the starting five o-linemen were each flagged – at some critical times. If turnovers were the Eagles' biggest culprit, penalties were a close second. The Eagles have been hurt by flags over the past few weeks, but this was their worst. Fred Johnson and Matt Pryor, the two fill-ins, each had really bad penalties in the second half that put the offense behind the sticks.
  

• Brace yourself for the injury report in a short turnaround week before Friday's "Black Friday" game against the Cowboys. Adoree' Jackson, Reed Blankenship and Moro Ojomo each left from injuries, and later in the game Quinyon Mitchell went down. The Eagles won't have much time to lick wounds this week.

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