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Pathetic Choke Job – 30 Immediate Observations from Cowboys 24, Eagles 21
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Well that was gross. They choked away a three-touchdown lead in Dallas after looking like they were gonna run away with it.
The offense looked unstoppable early, then couldn’t do anything at all in the second half. Saquon Barkley fumbled the ball, Xavier Gipson fumbled the ball, Zack Baun dropped an interception, and Jake Elliott missed a long field goal. Throw in one hundred penalties for one hundred million yards (actually 14 for 96), and you have all of the required ingredients for a crap sundae.
Other than that, it was great!
Jokes aside, it’s one of those games that either lights a fire under these guys, or kicks off a 2023-like skid. Negadelphians have been manifesting the latter for much of this season, so we’ll see if that ends up being true moving forward, or whether the Birds rally and get it together.
To the observations we go:
1) It was good to see Jalen Carter chasing down Dak on the first drive. No spitting incidents this time around. No cheap ejections. No DAK TUAH to dominate the headlines, though maybe it would have served as a nice distraction.
2) After the Cowboys’ opening turnover on downs, that was six out of six times in the last five quarters that the defense has held on 4th down attempts. They extended it to 7 for 7 over eight quarters by the end of this game. They left some plays out there, but don’t get the blame for the loss. Those injuries to Reed Blankenship and Adoree’ Jackson were really unfortunate, but they certainly did enough to win the game, the D.
3) Two snaps for the Eagles, two targets for A.J. Brown. Coincidence? Of course not. The touchdown was the cherry on top of a great opening drive. Jalen Hurts put this right over the top of the linebacker, who didn’t get enough depth:
4) There’s a Fox producer who plays The War on Drugs at least once during every Eagles game. You’ve heard that, right? The song is “Under the Pressure.”
5) The start of the Eagles’ second drive was as bad as the first drive was good. That’s to be expected at this point. On first down, they lose a yard on a negative rushing play, then Fred Johnson false starts and they punt after throwing short on 3rd and 14. Thankfully the Cowboys’ replay guys were snoozing and didn’t challenge Ryan Flournoy tipping the ball on the roughing the passer penalty, which gave the Birds a lifeline. Bottom line, running Saquon through the middle on 2nd and 16 is pointless. You don’t pick up enough yardage with that play to make 3rd down any more manageable.
6) Likewise, you probably gulped when they handed it to Barkley on 3rd and 3 later in the drive. He turned a loss into a first down, but the difference there is that they were in 4th down territory and would have tush pushed on fourth if they hadn’t gotten it. Still risky, but makes more sense situationally.
7) Django django django django! They line up in 13 personnel (three tight ends), then motion out of it into a five-wide spread. Hurts pounds the rock right through the A gap for the touchdown. They’re so good with that empty set QB draw. It remains one of the best plays in their arsenal.
8) CeeDee Lamb dropping passes against the Eagles this year has been a welcome development. What’s his deal? He had 3 in this game alone, including what would have been the game-winning TD.
9) Hilarious turn of events with CeeDee’s fumble being overturned, only for Kavontae Turpin to trip over his own feet and run into a lineman, coughing the ball up on the very next play. Why are they handing him the ball out of that formation anyway? He’s a receiver, returner, and gadget guy, not someone you want running between the tackles.
10) DeVonta Smith rules. Nothing more to be said there. Dude always brings it and now is catching passes horizontally:
11) No issues with the pop pass. They called it twice in the first half, one to Smitty and one to Xavier Gipson. It gets the defense moving laterally and creates variety in the running game.
12) That tush push touchdown is dedicated to Cowboy lover Dean Blandino. Had to suck for him to watch it live, against his Cowboys.
13) The Cowboys had the ball on the one and then false started. Next play – pick. Who do they think they are, the Eagles?
14) A little soft from the defense right before halftime. The Turpin chunk play was the killer, but they really didn’t do much buckling down after that. Six plays for the Cowboys to go 72 yards in 2:31.
15) That illegal formation penalty on Matt Pryor was a big one. They went from 1st down in Cowboys territory to a failed 3rd and 7 and punt just two plays later.
16) Braden Mann is having a really nice season. Guy just quietly goes about his business, rarely ever shanks or mishits anything. 58 yards after the three-and-out to open the second half was very nice, followed up by 48 yards to put the Cowboys on their four yard line. It was pretty significant in snuffing out Dallas momentum after the Birds’ offense was flat in the third.
17) Nakobe Dean:
18) Cooooooooooooop! Funny how even in Jerry World the traveling Eagles fans are loud and clear.
19) Sure would have been nice to get the full replay from Fox on the 12-men penalty that wiped out the interception. It looked like Moro Ojomo was late getting off the field, but the producer running the tape didn’t press play, so we didn’t see the point when Dak actually snapped the ball.
20) Brandon Aubrey with a shank-o-potamus on the first one. If he remembered where he came from, he would have missed the second one on purpose:
21) Saquon was at 2.2 yards per carry midway through the third quarter. Nine carries for 20 yards. They threw him a screen pass that also went for nothing. Mix in a Jalen overthrow or two and they just couldn’t do anything right for about three and a half drives. At one point I was pining for another Tank Bigsby carry. At least he just puts his head down and goes north and south. Makes the offensive line look better than they’ve been this year.
22) Zack Baun drops an interception then the Eagles jump offside and Dak heaves up a prayer that’s caught by CeeDee. Throw in a DPI and two injuries in the secondary, and Dallas goes halfway down the field in less than a minute. Then they score. Panic time!
23) Horrific penalties on the Eagles. 12 at the start of the 4th quarter. 13 total. Undisciplined, sloppy shit football. Get it TOGETHER. It also doesn’t help when the refs are calling fugazi OPI on DeVonta Smith. At that point you knew they were battling three entities: the Cowboys, the refs, and themselves.
24) Jake Elliott’s been great this year but we could have really used that one. He’s now 3-5 from 50+ this season, 11-14 overall.
25) Great catch by George Pickens. Obviously they were gonna take a shot after the missed field goal. Also kind of wondering what Sydney Brown was doing on that drive.
26) It’s really incredible how quickly the Eagles offense can turn a good thing into a bad thing. After the Cowboys tie the game at 21, they go 43 yards in six plays to get to the Dallas 28, then on a first down completion Fred Johnson gets flagged for hands to the face and Saquon fumbles on the ensuing play. They kill off their own drives almost instantaneously.
27) Gipson shouldn’t be fielding a punt on the one-yard line to begin. Just let it bounce. What are you doing?
28) If you’re Dallas, you gotta kick the field goal instead of going for it on fourth down, right? This is an Eagles team that hadn’t scored in the entirety of the second half. Did they really think they were gonna go up 24-21 and then their D, with all the momentum in the world, would fall apart completely?
29) Saquon should have had a first down on that dump off over the middle against the Matt Eberflus zone. Instead he slipped (again) and couldn’t get there. Last year’s Barkley moves the sticks. He hasn’t been himself this year.
30) Michael Carter II running into Quinyon Mitchell to allow a huge George Pickens gain was a nice way to cap off this turd burger. And Hurts had no business taking that sack. Throw the fucking ball. And what’s Sirianni doing with his timeouts at the end there?
Have a great night!
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com