Philadelphia, We Have a Problem — Eagles Blown Out In Dallas
Dec 10, 2023; Arlington, Texas, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) warmups before the game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
For the second straight week, the Eagles have been blown out. The Eagles have now fallen to the NFC’s 5th seed with a 33-13 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
In the two biggest games of the regular season the Philadelphia Eagles did not even show up. They just got run over by two of the NFC’s best, and the hope that the city had just two weeks ago, may now be close to lost.
Where Did The Offense Go?
At halftime, I ran a poll on Twitter asking Eagles fans what aspect of the team are they more concerned about, the offense or the defense. Out of 32 votes, 84% voted for the defense.
While the defense has been horrible, the offense might be playing worse. The Eagles offense scored just 6 points in the biggest game of the season tonight. That is unacceptable. It’s almost hard to believe this offense with this much talent did not score a single touchdown in the biggest game of the season. The Eagles’ offense also had three turnovers tonight. This has been a problem for the Eagles offense all season, including for the Quarterback. Hurts is now up to 15 turnovers this season. He has put the ball in harm’s way too many times this season, and it is going to continue to hurt them if he does not get it cleaned up. In the two biggest games of the season, the offense has scored just 25 points. No matter who you want to blame, it falls on all of them.
While Jalen was not terrible tonight, the offense struggles ultimately fall on him. A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith did not help Hurts with multiple drops and multiple fumbles. It seemed as if Stephon Gilmore was able to get in Brown’s head and rattle him a bit. Hurts, on the other hand, still did not do a good job against pressure. It seems that defensive coordinators know that Hurts is not great against pressure, and on big downs have started sending it just about every time. There was one play in particular where Hurts bailed and threw the ball falling away, causing the ball to sail wide. Hurts needs to step into his throws, even in the face of pressure.
While the struggle continued throughout the whole game, yet again the offense was bad in the first half. It’s hard to put an exact finger on why the offense is struggling so badly in the first half. They need to get it figured out quickly, or else they could be a quick exit in the playoffs.
The Biggest Worry
The biggest problem with the Eagles right now is the defense. This defense is playing badly and it goes back a few weeks now. I don’t want to hear the excuses of they are tired, because if that’s the truth then just end the season now. The Eagles potentially will not get a bye week the rest of the year, so the tired excuse doesn’t work. We once thought of the Eagles’ defensive line as the best unit on the team, but the reality is they are not very good. Week in and week out the Eagles defensive line has not shown up, and I am done just assuming that they are a great unit. They do not get great pressure and have the fewest 3rd down sacks in the NFL. For a unit with names as big as they have they have to be better.
Another problem for the Eagles defense is their secondary. After an All-Pro season last year, James Bradberry has regressed this season. He continuously gets beaten deep, and he also gets penalized a ton. He is not the player he was last year, and it’s hurting the defense.
While I don’t think the middle of the defense was as bad tonight, they still were not great. The Eagles signed Shaq Leonard on Monday to help sure up the middle of the defense, but he barely played. We have to hope that Leonard will play a bigger role next week in Seattle, but I would have liked to see him get more snaps.
At one point in this game, the Eagles’ defense had given up points on 10 straight possessions going back to the 49ers game. The Eagles’ defense is giving up 37.3 points per game over their last 3 games, and they need to get it fixed quickly.
Where We Stand
After tonight’s loss, the Eagles have fallen to the 5th seed in the NFC. Luckily, the Eagles control their own destiny in terms of the NFC East title. If the Eagles win out, they will win the NFC East.
To get the number one seed they will need some help. Because of last week’s loss to the 49ers, the Eagles need San Francisco to lose at least one of their final games, and the Eagles need to win out. If both teams finish with the same record the 49ers would get the final seed.
The Eagles had a chance over these last two games to take hold of home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and they blew it.
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