Eagles Defense Has No Answers in Embarrassing Loss to Cowboys: ‘That’s a Game We Should Win’

The Eagles defense has been the only real strength of the team all season and kept them in games during this losing streak. With a quarterback making his fourth start in the NFL, they were going to need to make a huge effort to have any chance to take a win at home on Monday night.

The Dallas Cowboys made it obvious early on that they were going to commit to the run, especially in early downs, and they didn’t deviate from that all game. The Eagles defense just failed to adjust from the first possession on. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s defense lacked any answer all game, and they were absolutely outmatched on third downs, with only two punts all game from Dallas.

“When our offense scores 21 points, that’s a game we should win,” Cooper DeJean said after the Eagles 38-21 loss Monday night. “We got to be able to win on first down to set ourselves to do the things we do best on second and third down. And we didn’t do that tonight. I feel like we gave them a lot of second-and-shorts, third-and-shorts. Didn’t allow us to play the game we play best. Winning first down is key.”

Dallas was, they ran for 204 yards, and passed for 212 in the game, highlighted by Javonte Williams‘ 155 yards on the ground with a touchdown, in addition to Dak Prescott throwing three touchdowns. The last Cowboys’ running back with 150 on the ground was Ezekiel Elliott back in 2018. Jordan Davis recorded four tackles, and none for a loss, felt that the Eagles front had issues with the Cowboys offensive line controlling the gaps and making holes for Williams all game.

“From what I seen was just filling in the gaps, being in the right place at the right time, being patient on the blocks,” Davis said. “[Williams] did a great job cutting back and playing that mid-zone.”

The Eagles offense is not good enough, even when healthy, to let up 400 yards and have a chance to get a win. But with a second-string quarterback, a patchwork offensive line, Saquan Barkley not completely healthy, and the top two wide receivers out, that is an impossible mountain to climb.

The defense had the eighth-worst performance so far this season by any defense by EPA/Drive. In addition to giving up 400 yards, they surrendered four touchdowns and three field goals on nine possessions. They forced zero turnovers, had no quarterback hits and no sacks. The Dallas offensive line dominated the trenches and completely neutralized the front four for the Eagles.

Since there was no pressure at all, the Eagles’ secondary was absolutely picked apart by Prescott. Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams and head coach Brian Schottenheimer were able to do anything they wanted in this game, with no resistance from the Eagles’ defense all night.

The poor play starts with the inability to tackle, and that was on full display, particularly up front, where Williams punished anyone who tried to tackle him. While this is an area that needs improvement, head coach Nick Sirianni made it clear that this was not the only reason the Eagles lost this game.

“I think we always want to pin it on something, but there’s multiple things that contribute to it,” Sirianni said. “We’ll look at that, look at some of the common themes and see what we need to do to get better.”

The lack of tackling is the tip of the iceberg with the lackluster manner that the Eagles have played all season. It’s not a scheme issue, because the Eagles were in multiple third-down situations in the game where they had a chance to make a stop, and Williams or Tyler Goodson pushed on for extra yards to get the first down to keep momentum on Dallas’ side all game while they were on offense.

Because of how well the Cowboys ran the ball, the Eagles had to cheat their linebackers up to help and that opened the passing game and Prescott and CeeDee Lamb carved up the Eagles secondary. While none of the Cowboys receivers broke the century mark in yards, they didn’t have to do so to win this game.

The Eagles defense needs to find a way to string together stops, which has eluded them over this five-game losing streak. With every game, they appear to get more porous every week, and it will be up to Fangio and Sirianni to come up with a plan to stop the haemorrhaging before the season completely slips away.

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