Eagles completely underwhelm in loss to Cowboys, 41-21

The Philadelphia Eagles fall to 1-2 after losing to the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football. Final score: 41 to 21.

The Eagles defense had a decent game, despite what the score might suggest, but rarely got a chance to catch their breath with such poor and ineffective offensive play. Between dropped passes, balls being underthrown, and a couple turnovers, Philadelphia’s offense could not find a rhythm.

Read on for a recap and stay tuned for more BGN postgame coverage.

FIRST QUARTER

• The Eagles won the coin toss and deferred to the Cowboys — one of Dallas’ captains sent to midfield was Corey Clement, former Philly running back and Super Bowl stud.
• The Eagles defense allowed a few short plays to open the game, but were generally quick to the football. That was, until Ezekiel Elliott broke loose for a big first down, followed by a 44-yard bomb to CeeDee Lamb. The Cowboys were on the one-yard line when Javon Hargrave was flagged for a personal foul after shoving a Dallas lineman, making it an easy 6-inch score for Elliott through the pile. EAGLES 0, COWBOYS 7
• Jalen Hurts was ready to answer and threw a nice pass to Dallas Goedert for a 38-yard gain to open their first offensive drive. The Eagles QB followed that up with a 5-yard pass to Quez Watkins. Hurts went deep on a pass intended for Jalen Reagor — which would’ve been for a score — but underthrew the ball right into the hands of Cowboys CB Anthony Brown. It was ugly, and resulted in the first turnover for the QB and the Eagles offense this season. The good news: the Cowboys’ offense get the ball at the 1; the bad news: everything else.
• On 2nd and 6 Javon Hargrave sacked Dak Prescott, forced the fumble, and FLETCHER COX RECOVERED FOR AN EAGLES TOUCHDOWN! EAGLES 7, COWBOYS 7
• The Cowboys leaned on Elliott early, and Eagles second-year safety K’Von Wallace ended up suffering an shoulder injury after trying to take down the Dallas RB. Wallace was taken into the medical tent after the hit — not great for an already-thin Eagles safety position. Marcus Epps went in for Wallace and just a few plays later had a huge PBU on a deep ball to Dalton Schultz near the end zone. A few plays later, the Eagles defense had a HUGE goal line stop, keeping Prescott out of the end zone on fourth down — the ruling on the field was turnover on downs and there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the call. (Thankfully).
• The Eagles were the next team to start on the one-yard line. Hurts got the ball out quick to Zach Ertz over the middle but was tipped off the TE’s fingers and nearly intercepted. The QB went to DeVonta Smith on the outside next for five yards, setting up a 3rd-and-5 situation. Hurts was nearly taken down for a safety but managed to throw it out of bounds, setting up a punt.

• Dallas’ offense steadily made their way down the field and into the red zone with a 12-yard pass to Schultz. False start for the Cowboys set them back a bit, but two plays later, Prescott hit Schultz again for 19 yards and a touchdown. Schultz was WIDE OPEN in the endzone for the score. EAGLES 7, COWBOYS 14
• With 1:31 left in the quarter, the Cowboys had already recorded 182 offensive yards compared to the Eagles unimpressive 48 yards. Miles Sanders had a 9-yard reception, Hurts was bullied by Cowboys’ rookie LB Micah Parsons for a two-yard loss, and an incomplete pass to Ertz completed the three-and-out for the Eagles offense.

SECOND QUARTER

• The Cowboys opened the second quarter with a holding penalty and 10-yard loss, setting up a 1st-and-20. Dallas faced a 3rd-and-8 but Derek Barnett jumped offsides, and Dak Prescott easily managed a first down with a short pass to Schultz. The Cowboys continued to carve up the Eagles defense on a drive that ended with Elliott running up the middle and into the endzone. Greg Zuerlien did miss the point after attempt, so at least there’s that. EAGLES 7, COWBOYS 20
• Miles Sanders carried the ball for 24 yards to open the Eagles next offensive drive, but then Jalen Hurts was forced out of bounds, Sanders took it for three yards, followed by an incomplete pass to Goedert. And, just like that, the Eagles punted the ball. Again. Time of possession was absolutely brutal for the Eagles. With five minutes left in the half, Philly had the ball for just 5:53 compared to 19:07 for the Cowboys.
• The Cowboys quickly faced a 3rd-and-10 thanks to pressure from Javon Hargrave. Dak Prescott threw a deep ball to Cedrick Wilson who made a great catch... out of bounds — Nick Sirianni was forced to throw a challenge flag despite it being obvious, and the call was overturned. The Eagles’ head coach was big mad on the sideline that he even had to waste a challenge, but it worked and Dallas finally had to punt for the first time all game.
• The Eagles offense was back on the field, and on second down, DeVonta Smith moved the sticks with a 19-yard reception and showed some of his ability to bounce off tackles and get yards after the catch. The happiness was short lived, however, when another rookie, Landon Dickerson, gave up a huge sack for an 11-yard loss. Jalen Hurts followed that up with a great throw to Quez Watkins over the middle for 20 yards... but it ended up coming back thanks to a holding penalty by Isaac Seumalo. The Eagles faced a 2nd-and-31, and even a seven-yard pass to Jalen Reagor and 19-yard gain by Miles Sanders wasn’t enough to do anything. Eagles punt. Cowboys took a knee. Halftime. EAGLES 7, COWBOYS 20

THIRD QUARTER

• Eagles offense started the second half strong, with Jalen Hurts completing a pass to Dallas Goedert for 28 yards. Hurts almost connected with the tight end again on the next play but Goedert didn’t make the catch — although he should have. Hurts threw a pick-6 on the next snap. EAGLES 7, COWBOYS 27
• Hurts opened the next Eagles drive with a pass to the back of Kenny Gainwell. Things really started to unravel at this point, and yadda, yadda, yadda, they punted again.

• The good news is that the Eagles defense had some more time to rest thanks to the back-to-back offensive drives, so they came out strong, forcing a Dallas three-and-out. Javon Hargrave had another tackle for loss, and is quickly becoming the most reliably disruptive lineman for the Eagles.
• Back on offense, things started out rocky with another incomplete pass to Zach Ertz and a false start penalty by the veteran tight end. Jalen Hurts managed to connect down field with Quez Watkins for 41 yards and gain a little momentum. The QB rushed for nine yards and followed that up by FINALLY connecting with Ertz for 27 yards. Two plays later, Hurts found the veteran tight end again, wide open in the end zone for a touchdown. EAGLES 14, COWBOYS 27
• The Cowboys offense had a couple 15-yard completions, but Josh Sweat and Avonte Maddox made a sack on Dak Prescott on 3rd-and-11, and Dallas had to punt.
• Hurts connected with DeVonta Smith to open the drive, but his 10 yards turned into six thanks to an illegal downfield flag on Andre Dillard. A couple short passes and incompletions later, the Eagles once again punted the ball away.
• Cowboys offense stayed alive with six plays for 41 yards and ended the quarter in the red zone.

FOURTH QUARTER

• Dallas had a couple short plays and managed to score on 4th-and-goal with a clean pass to a wide-open Cedrick Wilson in the back of the endzone. Eagles LB T.J. Edwards had a nice sack somewhere in there and rookie Milton Williams drew a flag for being offsides, but none of it seemed to matter. EAGLES 14, COWBOYS 34
• The Eagles next drive was a head-scratching seven plays for SIX yards. The offense was making short progress down the field, but then a Landon Dickerson penalty negated a 24-yard pass to Quez Watkins, there were a few incompletions, and the drive ended with Jalen Hurts being sacked for a loss of 12 yards. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• It took Dak Prescott and the Cowboys offense just three plays to get back in the endzone with over seven minutes left to play. EAGLES 14, COWBOYS 41
• Jalen Reagor was making some big plays to keep the Eagles offense alive late throughout the fourth quarter, including a 24-yard catch for a first down. Unfortunately, Lane Johnson drew a holding penalty on the play after that, and Nate Herbig was flagged for holding the play after that. Still, at 1st-and-30, Hurts found Gainwell for 19 yards and Ertz for 16 yards to keep the drive alive. Two plays later, as Hurts was being chased out of bounds, the QB found Greg Ward in the endzone for a touchdown. EAGLES 21, COWBOYS 41
• As if running out the clock couldn’t be any more demoralizing, the Cowboys let former Eagles RB Corey Clement take most of the carries on their final drive of the night.

• The Eagles got the ball back with just over a minute left and continued to look like they had all night: Bad. Yet, another three-and-out gives the ball back to Dallas, who finally puts the Eagles out of their misery.

LINEUP NOTES

• With Landon Dickerson starting for Brandon Brooks (IR - pec), and Andre Dillard starting for Jordan Mailata (knee), the Eagles elevated Sua Opeta from the practice squad to give the OL a little more depth in Monday’s game.

• Rookie LDE Milton Williams got the start on Monday over Josh Sweat.

INJURIES

• Safety K’Von Wallace was sidelined with a shoulder injury after an attempted tackle on Ezekiel Elliott in the first quarter. At first the second-year player was deemed questionable to return, but ended up being ruled out just after halftime.
• Late in the third quarter Fletcher Cox stayed down after a play and trainers were seen rubbing his leg. He ended up leaving the field under his own power and went into the locker room. It seemed more like a cramping situation than an injury issue.
• Isaac Seumalo was ruled out in the fourth quarter after being carted off the field with a foot injury.