Despite the Cowboys handling the Eagles on Sunday night with relative ease, there were points in the second half where the game was totally in reach. After the Jalen Carter scoop and score, Dak Prescott converted a tough 3rd and 6, and the Cowboys tacked on a field goal to increase their lead to 27-13.

That led to the most infuriating sequence of the game.

The Eagles started driving and moved the ball down to the Dallas 30. They lost a yard on a 1st and 10 running play, then Jalen Hurts escaped the pocket on second down and just missed DeVonta Smith on an improvised end zone shot:

The first play there is poor, bad reps across the board from the offensive line. It’s an inside zone run, and Jordan Mailata and Landon Dickerson receive a couple of bodies, but don’t move anyone anyhere. Jason Kelce doesn’t do much to contribute to that double team before leaving for the second level, Cam Jurgens gets manhandled, and the play is blown up for a loss.

The second play is a boom or bust type of thing. Hurts and Smith connect on that and it’s a one-score game, so I don’t fault him or blame him for taking that shot. The problem, though, is that it put them in 3rd and long, and if he had decided instead to pull it down and run it, they could have turned that improv into 3rd and manageable, instead of 3rd and 11. He had some room to run here:


Facing 3rd and long, they then go shallow here for A.J. Brown, but the timing is janky and Smith can’t run any kind of meaningful interference on Stephon Gilmore:

They pick up three yards, and instead of kicking the field goal, they decide to go for it on 4th and 8 instead. Everybody knows Dallas is sending the house, Hurts throws late off his back foot, and Gilmore blows it up again:

That was the point where I said to myself “alright that’s it, they’re cooked.” They did drive down the field again, before the Smith fumble, but it was a three-score game by then, with less than seven minutes remaining.

So in reviewing that sequence I shared:

  1. crap reps and a loss of yardage on 1st down
  2. a gamble on 2nd down that doesn’t come off
  3. poor execution on 3rd and 4th after getting behind the chains

Again, it’s hard to go back and criticize Jalen too much for that second down decision. He just barely missed DeVonta’s finger tips. If that catch is made, it’s 27-20 with several minutes remaining in the third quarter. It could have changed everything. Totally different ballgame. But they didn’t connect, and it compromised the drive, putting them in 3rd and 11 just outside the red zone. The gambles are what they are, right? Sometimes you hit big, and they pay off. In this case, no pay off, and shoddy execution on the other three downs squandered the opportunity.