Cowboys can’t play spoiler on street as Eagles proceed streak of flip-flopping NFC East

For the primary time in effectively over a decade, the Dallas Cowboys had been swept by their fiercest division rival in Philadelphia. Shedding 41-7 to the Eagles on Sunday afternoon, the Cowboys allowed the house crew to start out the celebration for successful the NFC East early regardless of additionally enjoying with a backup quarterback. Any semblance of the Cowboys enjoying complementary soccer that made them a feel-good story in current weeks was nowhere to be discovered after Dallas fell behind 7-0 regardless of beginning with the ball. In his third profession begin in opposition to the Eagles, Cooper Rush was intercepted for the fourth time on the seventh play of the sport. He would end with a number of interceptions for simply the second time in his profession, each occasions in opposition to the Eagles on the street.

Confronted with their first try on third down of the sport, C.J. Gardner-Johnson might as effectively have been the meant receiver as an alternative of Brandin Cooks as he caught Rush’s throw and took it again 69 yards for the sport’s first landing.

Gardner-Johnson would have one other interception within the second quarter that led to the Eagles scoring on the final play of the primary half, greater than placing a Jalen Tolbert landing behind them and going to the locker room up 24-7. The Eagles have been constructed all yr to get on prime of groups and management video games with the lead, one thing they had been determined to get again to after blowing a 14-point lead on the street on the Commanders final week. Philadelphia did so whereas lacking not solely beginning QB Jalen Hurts, however later within the sport backup Kenny Pickett, who bought the beginning however was injured.

Third-string Eagles QB Tanner McKee got here in for the primary time in his NFL profession as a 2023 sixth-round draft decide. The Cowboys protection allowed two of his first 4 ever makes an attempt to go for touchdowns to A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. It was Smith that broke this sport large open for the Eagles, successful nearly each one-on-one matchup in opposition to Cowboys reserve cornerback Andrew Sales space to common 20 yards a catch on six receptions for 120 yards and two scores.

Now locked into the quantity two seed within the NFC with a press release win to clinch the division for the second time in three years, the Eagles turned the newest crew to remind the Cowboys who they are surely this season. The Cowboys had placed on a valiant effort to rewrite their season-long narrative in current weeks with wins in opposition to the Commanders and Giants, an in depth loss to the Bengals, and wins in opposition to the Panthers and Bucs. The issue is, in a convention on the cusp of getting a possible 14-win Lions or Vikings crew be a street wild card crew because the 5 seed within the playoffs, none of those current Cowboys outcomes have come in opposition to the playoff contenders they swore they’d be themselves in 2024. If it’s the Lions that earn the NFC’s prime seed, the Cowboys could have misplaced to the highest two convention seeds by a mixed rating of 88 to 16 this yr.

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There will probably be only a few positives the Cowboys can take from one more loss the place the turnover differential gave them no probability. The struggle and management they had been displaying on the sector regardless of being eradicated from the playoff image two weeks in the past was absent, on the identical time star receiver CeeDee Lamb was out of the lineup to supply this and extra on offense. The protection had just a few flashes within the first half following the Cowboys tying the sport at seven, however discovered themselves the sufferer of one more opponent that knew find out how to goal their weakest hyperlink within the secondary. The Cowboys offense has not had this identical skill with Mike McCarthy as play-caller, particularly in opposition to a Vic Fangio protection that annoyed them for the third time in two seasons. Fangio was with the Dolphins final season for a 22-20 win over the Cowboys, and now was an enormous a part of sweeping two video games in opposition to Cooper Rush with out a lot push again.

This loss additionally ensures the Cowboys will end with a dropping document for the primary time since 2020, McCarthy’s debut season. Dallas will probably be trying to shut the season with their fourth NFC East win by sweeping the Commanders at house. They haven’t gained lower than 4 video games in opposition to their division, at the moment sitting on a sweep of the last-place Giants and street win on the Commanders, additionally since that 2020 Covid season. Setting expectations for McCarthy’s first season beneath these circumstances was tough then, however didn’t need to be so tough right here in 2024. It might really feel like historic forgotten historical past that this Cowboys crew was imagined to be a viable NFC contender to maintain their core in place. With all that’s left to play for being avoiding one other harsh reminder of how a lot they missed this mark earlier than the offseason, the entire Cowboys failures all through this season had been on full show in entrance of hostile followers in Philadelphia.

For the penultimate time this season, listed below are just a few additional notes on the Cowboys 41-7 loss to the Eagles, their worst since week 17 of 2008 to Philadelphia.

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On each first half possessions that resulted in interceptions for the Cowboys offense, they’d performs previous to it for first downs to Brandin Cooks. Performing because the crew’s prime receiver with out Lamb, Cooks was capable of run sharp routes and are available again to the ball for just a few simple completions for Rush. Cooks appeared explosive out and in of his breaks and was capable of promote vertical routes earlier than creating separation to reap the benefits of a Fangio protection that desires to remove area downfield as their prime precedence.

The actual fact the Cowboys weren’t capable of finding any consistency in any respect on this space and make this an honest sport to judge their receivers past Lamb was a letdown. Not creating any motion within the run sport in opposition to an even bigger Eagles entrance made this even more durable.

There will probably be a ton of debate from all angles of this blowout loss as to the way it pertains to McCarthy’s future with the Cowboys. A very powerful factor that should be stored in thoughts via all of that is that the Cowboys must be extra dynamic on the perimeter to be taken extra severely as an actual playoff risk anytime quickly. It might be true that some groups overate this single facet of the sport when deciding the function their head coach could have in it, however underrating it with a crew that’s already financially dedicated to Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb is a dying want. Dallas wants these two franchise gamers to be on the sector deciding video games as a lot as doable, and nothing they did with out both in opposition to the Eagles impressed confidence that most of the items are in place elsewhere at WR, TE, or up entrance to assist them do this with out discovering room to shake issues up someplace within the offensive equation.

Even the Cowboys’ lone scoring spotlight on this sport, Jalen Tolbert’s sixth landing of the season, was a gifted alternative after an Eagles holding penalty on third down prolonged the drive. It was one more third down Dallas invited themselves into with a second down and long term for Ezekiel Elliott. The Cowboys offense wasn’t anticipated or known as upon to have an ideal outing in opposition to the Eagles, however one which didn’t lead on to being run off the sector would have been most popular by anybody with eyes on the long run within the Dallas entrance workplace, as an alternative seeing former OC Kellen Moore have his approach with a Dallas protection given no probability from the beginning. This was a Cowboys crew that’s lacked an id as a result of accidents, a scarcity of depth, and a predictable reliance on rookies that bumped into one of the vital outlined id groups within the league this yr, permitting the Eagles to use this totally for 60 minutes.

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If there may be one place group that may make a long-lasting influence on the season and supply hope for the long run, even after this sport, it’s in all probability at linebacker. Former DC Dan Quinn didn’t go away this group in good condition after departing for the Commanders HC job, a crew he’s now led to the playoffs in his first yr with a number of former Cowboys defenders within the lineup. The Cowboys had been getting by with transformed safeties and additional defensive backs rather than conventional linebackers, one thing that needed to change shortly when transitioning to Mike Zimmer this yr. Zimmer reuniting with veteran Eric Kendricks because the Cowboys solely persistently contributing free agent decide up has been a saving grace for your entire protection, however on this sport Kendricks was helped alongside by rookie Marist Liufau as effectively. Liufau has been the subsequent man up at LB following DeMarvion Overshown’s season-ending damage that’s anticipated to sideline him for some if not all of subsequent yr. The Notre Dame product is taking full benefit of the chance in entrance of him, teaming up with Kendricks to pressure a 3 and out following Tolbert’s landing.

The Cowboys appeared to have some life on this sport after getting one other cease from Kendricks on third down the subsequent time the Eagles had the ball. What Dallas is lacking within the tandem of Kendricks and Liufau is the power to have an effect on the passer from the second degree of their protection although. For one of many first occasions all season, the Cowboys appeared determined and never well-positioned when having to dial up stress from different areas of the protection, even when making an attempt to get to backup quarterbacks. One such nook blitz led to a Smith landing that put the Eagles forward by ten, a lead that already felt insurmountable for the offense. A Jake Ferguson fumble on the subsequent drive would ultimately add three extra factors for the Eagles after Chauncey Golston shut down a drive that entered the purple zone with a move breakup. Whether or not it was subject targets or touchdowns although, any factors the Eagles put up whereas draining day without work the clock went a really good distance in icing this win for Philadelphia on a day the place Dallas merely didn’t come to play in any of the three phases.

The Eagles and Cowboys have flip-flopped as division winners yearly since 2021. The Cowboys being three video games higher firstly of this streak in ‘21 was the widest hole between these groups over that point. The Eagles will play on for an opportunity to enter the playoffs with a successful streak by beating the Giants. In doing so, they may have their very own three-game hole on the Cowboys ought to they lose to the Commanders. Choosing practically any crew from across the league to match to the Cowboys proper now would present Dallas lagging behind, however the Eagles particularly lapping them on this approach ought to increase alarm bells round The Star.

The house crew on Sunday in Philly proved they’re infinitely higher the place it issues probably the most between the strains. It isn’t all that always a 41-7 rating within the NFL doesn’t paint the complete image of which crew was worlds higher than their opponent on any given Sunday, however by some means this sport felt prefer it all the time may have been worse for an uninterested Cowboys facet.