PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Eagles won the battle for early NFC East supremacy by beating the Dallas Cowboys 26-17 in the Week 6 showdown. In what is likely backup quarterback Cooper Rush’s final start, the clock struck midnight turning the prince back into a pumpkin in defeat.
This was the way that most Cowboys fans thought it would look without starting quarterback Dak Prescott under center. There were too many mistakes from Rush, and even though the defense did a solid job of keeping the Eagles’ offense in check, Dallas wasn’t as crisp in any of the three phases as they were during their winning streak to overcome a poor performance from their signal caller.
The Sunday Night spectacle was ugly from the start. The vaunted Cowboys defense gave up an 80-yard touchdown drive on Philadelphia’s second possession. As expected, it was the running game and short passes that kept Dan Quinn’s unit off balance. Even so, it appeared that Dallas had the Eagles stopped on fourth down to limit the damage to a field goal try.
Instead, one of the biggest problems with the Cowboys on the night reared its ugly head. Pass rusher Dante Fowler jumped offsides to give the Eagles a first down and it took the Philly offense just one play to cash in with a touchdown. The penalty was the second costly mistake early in the game and a sign of things to come.
The Cowboys were ultimately penalized 10 times for 72 yards, while the Eagles were flagged just twice, something that likely won’t go unnoticed within the organization. Cornerback Kelvin Joseph had two flags dropped on him during special teams plays alone that cost the Cowboys valuable yardage.
Being down early and often hasn’t been a problem for these Cowboys under Rush, but the crisis management wasn’t as sharp in this one. Rush’s first pass while trying to get the offense going was a poor throw that was deflected and picked off to give the Eagles great field position. Philadelphia took advantage of the short field by scoring another touchdown to go up 14-0 and put an undermanned Cowboys team in a big hole.
The snowball was growing for Dallas, and it didn’t look like Rush could stop the avalanche. The next mistake, however, came from head coach Mike McCarthy, who didn’t challenge an obvious first down catch by wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. The officials only credited Lamb with nine yards on third down, leaving them a yard short on their own side of the field.
Instead of challenging the call, McCarthy went for the yard on fourth down on his own 34-yard line and the rollout throw was a doomed play call from the start. All the Cowboys needed was a half-yard and instead of sneaking forward for the first down, McCarthy and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore got cute and it didn’t work. The play and execution might have been worse than not challenging.
After Philly added three more points, Rush made another mistake on the next possession. A poorly thrown ball by the veteran backup was intercepted by cornerback Darius Slay and the Eagles took over on Dallas’ side of the field again. The defense stiffened and only allowed three more points to keep the team in the game but the deficit was severe.
Here’s the breakdown of what went wrong on seven consecutive series, which essentially decided the game:
- Eagles possession: A Dallas penalty gives the Eagles a second crack at seven points, instead of three. Eagles lead 7-0.
- Cowboys possession: An interception.
- Eagles possession: Short field touchdown, Eagles lead 14-0.
- Cowboys possession: Turnover on downs, despite likely having a first down.
- Eagles possession: Field goal, they’re up 17-0.
- Cowboys possession: An interception.
- Eagles possession: Field goal, they’re up 20-0.
The first half was nothing short of a comedy of errors for the Cowboys. The offense did manage to move the ball late before halftime to connect on a field goal to provide some hope for the second half.
All of the mistakes from the first half can’t be erased but what happened in the final 30 minutes is what Cowboys fans should take from this game. Dallas came out in the third quarter and showed the backbone that they’ve displayed all season long. They were down, but not out.
After getting a quick stop on defense, the Cowboys’ offense showed some skill. Rush led the Cowboys on back-to-back touchdown drives. The first score came via running back Ezekiel Elliott finding a mammoth-sized hole and then cutting back for a vintage 14-yard score.
The defense came through with another stop and gave the offense another crack at an Eagles defense that started showing cracks in the facade. Rush engineered a 15-play, 83-yard scoring drive that ended with tight end Jake Ferguson’s first NFL touchdown. The score featured some fancy handwork by Rush on the play-action fake and Ferguson made a defender miss on the seven-yard touchdown.
The Cowboys could have quit after a terrible first half but, after mounting a comeback, Dallas found themselves down just 20-17 with a quarter left to play. Regardless of what happened for the rest of the game, the Cowboys had shown their resiliency once again. America’s Team fought back.
However, despite the gritty attempt, the mountain proved too steep to climb. The defense that had been the driving force in winning four straight games couldn’t get the stop that would have allowed the offense a shot at the go-ahead score. The Eagles ran all over the Dallas defense in their first possession of the fourth quarter, gaining 45 yards on 10 carries before throwing for the final 29-yards and a touchdown.
The next Dallas possession ended in another turnover from the hand of Rush. After not making many mistakes in his first four starts, Rush threw three interceptions and missed too many open receivers.
Even with a laudable effort in the second half, a lot of NFL truisms played out in this game. Not many teams are going to win a game where they fall behind 20-0 with their quarterback throwing three interceptions and the squad called for 10 penalties.
The Cowboys earned a four-game winning streak by playing clean football, which wasn’t the case against the rival Eagles and they suffered a loss with a lead in the NFC East on the line because of it.
Week 6 wasn’t kind to the Cowboys; they made too many mistakes and handed an important game away. It’s back to the drawing board, with a new pencil as Prescott eyes a return for Week 7 against Detroit.
Are you satisfied with a 4-2 record for the Cowboys without Dak Prescott? Share your thoughts with Ben on Twitter @BenGrimaldi.
