After four-quarters of primetime Sunday Night Football between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles, the Eagles defeated the Cowboys 26-17. With the loss, the Cowboys fall to (4-2, 2-1 in the NFC East), and the Eagles improve to (6-0, 3-0)
In the first half, the Cowboys were out of sync and looked like a completely different team, as they trailed 20-3 heading into halftime. From failing to put together offense drives to QB Cooper Rush throwing interceptions to set up the Eagles with great field position, and the defense committing careless penalties– it felt like the second half was going to be worse.
However, out of the gate, the Cowboys’ offense looked like a new personnel group as they finally found the endzone after a 14-yard touchdown run from Ezekiel Elliott capped a nine-play, 79-yard drive on their first drive in the second half.
RB Ezekiel Elliott takes it in for the first #Cowboys TD of the game ✭ pic.twitter.com/ieWeosq5hV
— The Cowboys Network (@TheCowboysNet) October 17, 2022
They would follow up their big score with a defensive stop and put together a 93-yard touchdown drive, as Rush found TE Jake Ferguson for a seven-yard touchdown. With momentum on their side and the Eagles now leading 20-17, the team not only showed the life for a comeback– but also gave hope to their fans.
But, when the defense got called on, they failed to stop the Eagles’ running attack as they ran the ball down the Cowboys’ throat and capped it off with a seven-yard touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith.
It gave the Eagles a nine-point lead after a failed two-point conversation.
With plenty of time left in the game, there was still hope in Cowboy Nation that a comeback was possible. But Rush threw his third interception late– and it killed any hope for the team becoming the Comeback Kids.
While the offense did get the ball back one more time with under two minutes left, they failed to get in the endzone, and K Brett Maher missed an FG wide-right.
There can be many fingers to point on who’s responsible for their loss, but their inconsistencies on both sides showed under the lights. The team has a lot to clean up.
With QB Dak Prescott returning soon, you could argue that’s one problem the Cowboys’ can shore up, but if they want to make a deep run, this loss should serve as a lesson for them.
The offense had its moments, and the run game was working. Defensive-wise, the group had a bad game, no doubt. But they weren’t given the best hand. From playing more snaps and having to stop the high-powered Eagles’ offense from unfavorable field positioning– the loss wasn’t entirely on them.
The Cowboys return to action at noon next Sunday against the Detroit Lions (1-4).
The defense couldn’t do anything cause Cooper Rush kept throwing interceptions as soon as he got on the field!! Which means the defense didn’t have time to catch their breath!! Cooper Rush was the main reason for this loss!! Now hopefully these Rush fans can finally see that he’s not good enough to be the franchise QB they thought he could be!! We lost by 9 points, and Cooper Rush threw 3 interceptions…. If those interceptions were instead at least field goals, then the game would have been tied!! If he could’ve turned those interceptions into 1 touchdown and 2 field goals, we would have won!! But he messed up and kept making bad decisions the whole game, and that cost us the game in the end!!
Sport MSM were saying the defense was the driving force for the 4 straight wins, CR was just a “game manager” along for the ride. NOW when the defense couldn’t hold up when CR brought them back to 20-17 in the 3rd quarter, its CR’s fault. Sure the 3 INTs obviously didn’t help things, but one was a tipped ball, one was a little fluttered as LT Tyler Smith got beat bad and CR couldn’t follow through AND CeeDee didn’t even try to break up the pass. The third was just a bad decision. BTW, Cowboy defense got 0 takeaways. But give the Eagles credit.
One REALLY bad coaching NON decision was when they didn’t challenge that FIRST down by CeeDee when he stretched out over the line to gain. Replay clearly showed it was a first down.
Did anyone HONESTLY think they would be 4-2 after that pathetic 3-point offensive output loss to the Bucs and DP getting hurt again??? So, I give CR a LOT of credit for winning four games in a row, beating both Super Bowl teams from last year AND the Giants who are NOW 5-1, after just beating the Packers.
And BTW, DP isn’t “good enough to be a franchise QB” either. Just look at his post season record. So, he MAY BE? a little better than CR, but he is now injury prone and obviously can’t move as well as he used to. So, IMO, as soon as the Front Office gets that through their thick skulls, that it’s time to draft a real promising big school QB EARLY to groom to take over in a year or two, the faster they have a better chance to go deep in the PS.