The biggest reason the Eagles blew it in Dallas

 

ARLINGTON, Texas — Miles Sanders knew what was coming and he opted to just get it over with.

Still in full uniform and standing by his locker, Sanders took ownership for his major blunder on Saturday afternoon in the Eagles’ 40-34 loss to the Cowboys.

"Fumbled. Gotta hold the ball,” Sanders said. "Bad situation. Fumbled at the wrong time. I take full responsibility. Nobody’s fault but mine.”

Sanders’ fumble came with 2:19 left in the fourth quarter with the Eagles down three. His turnover was the fourth of the game for the Eagles. It’s pretty darn hard to win a game with four turnovers.

So it’s pretty amazing the Eagles even had a chance to pull it out at the end.

"Yeah, as far as the turnovers, we can’t give a good team like that the ball four times and expect to win the game,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. "It put the defense in a tough spot.”

The Cowboys kicked a field goal on the ensuing drive after that Sanders fumble and ended up scoring 20 of their 40 total points off turnovers.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why the Eagles lost this one.

Sure, giving up a 3rd-and-30 didn’t help. Letting Dak Prescott complete 77% of his passes wasn’t ideal. But if the Eagles were able to score on one of their drives that ended in a turnover, they probably beat the Cowboys on Christmas Eve.

"It’s simple,” Sanders said. "We can’t win no game turning the ball over four times. Simple as that. Still got a lot of stuff in front of us, but really wanted this one.”

In addition to the Sanders fumble on Saturday, there was also a botched hand-off from Gardner Minshew to Boston Scott that was credited as a fumble lost to Minshew. And the backup quarterback also had two passes intercepted while targeting Quez Watkins.

The Eagles have lost just two games this season and they’ve turned the ball over four times in each of those losses — to the Commanders in Week 10 and to the Cowboys in Week 16.

On the season, they have a total of 17 turnovers and 8 of them (47%) have come in their two losses. After turning the ball over just twice in their first seven games, the Eagles have coughed it up 15 times in their next eight games.

After their blazing start in turnover differential, you figured there would be some regression. But they just can’t pile up like they did on Saturday. Do this in the playoffs and your season’s over.

The Eagles did a lot of good things on offense Saturday. They had 442 yards of offense. They didn’t punt once. They were moving the ball at will. But the only drives that didn’t end in scores were the four that ended with turnovers. That was the difference in this game.

"It’s pretty standard in this league,” center Jason Kelce said. "If you turn the ball over, you’re going to lose more games than you win. I think you gotta take care of the football.”

The Eagles are now 70-194-9 (.273) all-time in games when they turn the ball over four times. Under Sirianni, they’ve now lost all three such games.

"That’s a good football team,” Sirianni said of the Cowboys, "but we can’t help a good football team beat us by giving the ball away.”

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-turnovers-kill-them-crushing-loss-cowboys

It's quite simple... This team needs to clean it up because these turnovers are becoming a trend. Second half of the year they've been coughing it up too often and they need to sort that for the play offs. 

10 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

It's quite simple... This team needs to clean it up because these turnovers are becoming a trend. Second half of the year they've been coughing it up too often and they need to sort that for the play offs. 

The turnovers for sure are concerning.  But the defensive game plan was also super concerning.  Allowing Dak to go 24 for 24 for 300 yards and 3 TDs against zone coverage and fail to adjust was equally frustrating.  Had flashbacks of 2021.  Gannon needs to pull his head out of his arse ... simply cannot allow that.  

13 hours ago, time2rock said:

The turnovers for sure are concerning.  But the defensive game plan was also super concerning.  Allowing Dak to go 24 for 24 for 300 yards and 3 TDs against zone coverage and fail to adjust was equally frustrating.  Had flashbacks of 2021.  Gannon needs to pull his head out of his arse ... simply cannot allow that.  

Yes Gannon was our weakest link