Eagles-Cowboys Final Score: Observations from Philadelphia’s meaningless loss to Dallas, 6-0

The Philadelphia Eagles were defeated the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field by a final score of 6 to 0. The Eagles dropped to 13-3 following their final game of the 2017 NFL regular season. Read on for a recap and observations from the game. Up next for Philadelphia is a first-round bye and then a playoff game in the divisional round. Who’s excited!

FIRST QUARTER

Cowboys win the toss and elect to defer. Eagles offense up first.

Nick Foles completes his first pass to Alshon Jeffery for an 8-yard gain. You knew that was a concerted effort after last week’s game. A handoff to Nelson Agholor moves the chains. LeGarrette Blount runs for five yards. Then Foles hits Zach Ertz for a chunk gain. Eagles get into 3rd-and-7 at the Cowboys’ 49-yard line. A wide open Torrey Smith bobbles and drops a pass on a crossing route. Awful. Doug Pederson goes for it on 4th-and-7 and Foles throws high to Smith. Incomplete.

Cowboys take over. No Sidney Jones on the first Dallas drive. Rasul Douglas, who is starting at corner, puts some big hits on throws that go to Dez Bryant. Douglas allows Bryant to get wide open on one play but at least he recovers to make the hit and force an incompletion. Dallas gets into 4th-and-1 and goes for it. Vinny Curry disrupts the blocking and Ezekiel Elliott gets tackled by Dannell Ellerbe for a loss. Lol Cowboys. Turnover on downs.

Foles remains in for the Eagles’ second drive. Philadelphia can’t get anything going. Punt.

Ronald Darby breaks up a Dak Prescott pass to bring up 3rd-and-8. Then Prescott’s third down pass for Bryant sails high out of bounds. Imagine thinking this guy is good. Cowboys punt. Sidney Jones got his first NFL snap on the Eagles’ punt coverage team.

Foles out with the starters again for the Eagles’ third drive. He completes a pass to Ertz to bring up 2nd-and-1. Blount rushes for a first down. Foles fumbles a shotgun snap but recovers. Foles fumbles a Foles tries to throw deep to Jeffery but the ball is woefully underthrown and easily picked off by rookie corner Chidobe Awuzie. Foles stinks.

Cowboys take over and can’t get much going. Najee Goode tackles Zeke for a loss. Najee Goode! Then Prescott throws #ShortOfTheSticks on third down. Punt.

Corey Clement picks up a first down on a screen play, but Jason Kelce gets flagged for a block in the back. Ugh. On 2nd-and-21, Foles throws a very inaccurate pass to Smith. Then the Eagles have to punt after a checkdown to Agholor. A little scuffle breaks out between the two teams but nothing major. A few “Dallas Sucks” chants break out at the Linc. Eagles punt.

Sidney Jones comes on the field for his first defensive snaps. He lines up against Bryant.

SECOND QUARTER

Cowboys can’t get much going and have to punt.

Nate Sudfeld enters the game! He immediately completes a pass for a 4-yard gain. And then another to Mack Hollins for a first down. Blount runs and gets over the 21-yard mark! That’s an extra $300,000 for him. Sudfeld tries to scramble but slips for a 1-yard loss. Lol, ouch. Philly gets into 3rd-and-13. Sudfeld eludes a pass rusher and throws a ball on a rope to Marcus Johnson along the sideline. Unfortunately, it gets called back due to holding on Halapoulivaati Vaitai, but still a nice throw. Eagles end up having to punt.

Elijah Qualls stuffs Zeke on first down. Then Steven Means sacks Prescott on second down. Cowboys starters getting wrecked by the Eagles’ backup defenders. Dallas has to punt.

Sudfeld keeps on the run-pass option and shows a quick release on a throw to Hollins. Unfortunately, the ball goes right through the rookie wideout’s hands. Sudfeld gets sack on third down after Will Beatty, who is playing at right tackle, gets beat(ty) badly by Datone Jones. Donnie Jones runs on to the field with sweatpants on (lol) before taking them off in order to punt. These are the kind of highlights we get in Week 17.

The Cowboys fumble on a handoff exchange and the Eagles recover but it’s wiped out due to an offside penalty on Destiny Vaeao. Prescott airs it out deep to Bryant, who makes a contested catch, but it’s called back due to a Byron Bell hold on Vinny Curry. Bad job by Douglas on that play, by the way, who could’ve picked that ball caught by Dez. Zeke takes a carry and gets matched up with Sidney Jones on a run to the outside. The corner fails to make the tackle and Elliott runs for the first down. Tough play. Cowboys move to the Eagles’ 43-yard line while running their two-minute drill. An offensive holding penalty sets Dallas back to 2nd-and-20 from their own 47-yard line. Bad throw from Dak brings up 3rd-and-20. Prescott checks down for an 8-yard gain and the Eagles call a timeout to force a punt.

Sudfeld takes over at the Eagles’ 13-yard line with 31 seconds and two timeouts remaining in the first half. A Blount run and a Blount screen reception take the Eagles to their own 33-yard line with 14 seconds remaining and no timeouts. Sudfeld dodges pressure and completes a pass for no gain to end the first half.

Both team scoreless after 30 minutes. First time that’s happened in an NFL game since 2011.

THIRD QUARTER

Cowboys get the ball to start the second half. Elliott breaks a big run to get Dallas to midfield. Sidney Jones gets beat by Terrance Williams on a double move (the dreaded sluggo route) but gets bailed out by an overthrow from Prescott. Prescott throws high of Ryan Switzer on third down and the Cowboys have to punt.

Sudfeld completes a pass to Brent Celek for a 6-yard gain. The Eagles run the ball for a short gain. Then Sudfeld gets sacked after trying to spin out of pressure. Donnie Jones time yet again.

Cowboys can’t get anything going and have to punt.

Kenjon Barner muffs the punt but ultimately recovers. He’s very fortunate he got that because it would’ve been 1st-and-goal for Dallas. Eagles get to 3rd-and-2. Wendell Smallwood takes a carry and gets a ... what’s that ... a FIRST DOWN?! Man, I remember those. Then Sudfeld runs for a big 22-yard gain! Then the Eagles pick up 15 yards on a Cowboys facemask! Then the Eagles get into 3rd-and-15 and Sudfeld checks down for a 2-yard gain. Sigh. Punt.

Jones unleashes a great punt that goes out of bounds at the 1-yard line. Awesome job by him to pin Dallas deep.

Cowboys get to 3rd-and-5 from their own 6-yard line. Prescott completes a short pass to move the sticks. Darn. Cowboys get flagged for holding to set them back at their 9-yard line. Alfred Morris gets tackled for a 2-yard loss. On 2nd-and-22, Douglas gives up a big completion to Brice Butler for a Dallas first down.

Sidney Jones walks to the Eagles locker room after the third quarter expires. But it’s only cramping.

FOURTH QUARTER

Elliott takes a screen pass to the Eagles’ 41-yard line. Then the Cowboys move to the 28. Prescott gets away with an intentional grounding. Douglas gets flagged for illegal contact while defending Bryant and the Cowboys move into the red zone. Then Douglas gives up an easy touchdown on a slant. Not a great series for the rookie corner. Dan Bailey, who struggled with field goals in warmups, misses the extra point. Hey, the Eagles still have a shot! Cowboys lead, 6-0.

Sudfeld throws to Celek, who gets hit before the ball gets there, but no defensive pass interference flag is thrown. Sudfeld completes a pass to Hollins over the middle after Isaac Seumalo totally whiffs on blocking his man. But it’s short of the marker by one yard. Pederson punts on 4th-and-1 from the Eagles’ own 34-yard line. Fans boo the decision.

Prescott throws on the run and Nate Gerry has a chance to pick it off but drops it. That was sorely needed. Cowboys end up having to punt anyway.

Sudfeld throws for a first. Then he hits Marcus Johnson for another. Then Beatty gets called for holding. On 2nd-and-19, Sudfeld connects with Hollins to set up 3rd-and-7. Then he hits Shelton Gibson (first NFL catch) to set up 4th-and-2. Eagles go for it on the Cowboys’ 44-yard line. Sudfeld’s pass to Gibson is incomplete. Turnover on downs.

Cowboys move into field goal range. Then into the red zone. Then into goal-to-go territory. Cowboys face third down from the Eagles’ 4-yard line. Zeke is tackled for a loss. With no timeouts left, Dallas takes the clock down to 16 seconds and kicks a short field goal. He misses the 23-yard attempt! Hahaha.

Sudfeld gets the Eagles to their own 40-yard line with one second left. Then the offense takes a delay of game, lol. Then the Eagles try to do some lateral stuff but it doesn’t work. Surprise. End of game.

FINAL SCORE

Eagles get shut out at home in the final game of the regular season, 6-0.

How you feeling?

...

Stay tuned for much more Eagles-Cowboys postgame coverage (click here).