Eagles Embarrassed In Philly, Fall To Dallas 20-10
By Pat Roach
To say the least, things didn’t go as planned for the Philadelphia Eagles, who fell in a sloppy, vomit-inducing affair. Here’s the recap:
The Cowboys take the opening kickoff. Joseph Randle is met by Mychal Kendricks in the backfield for a loss of 1 on the first play of the game. Dallas then commits a false start, and Barwin gets to Romo off of a stunt on the following play. Dallas is forced to punt. It’s a good start for the Eagles defense.
Bradford follows up a short completion to Agholor with an off target throw on 3rd and 1. Wouldve liked to see Eagles try to establish the run there and push the pile for 1. It’s another quick 3 and out for the Eagles offense to start the game.
The Eagles D stands its ground and forces a 3 and out on Dallas’ second possession. Joseph Randle takes a pair of hand-offs for a total of 8 yards before Cole Beasley is stopped short of the sticks on the final play of the drive. Dallas punts.
Eagles offense picks up around the 20 yard line about midway through the 1st. Bradford looks for Josh Huff but can’t connect after having his hand batted on the throw. The Cowboys are flagged for defensive pass interference however, and they move the sticks. That’s the only movement the Eagles will see on offense though, as a perimeter run for Darren Sproles is sniffed out by LB Sean Lee. Probably not a good idea to try to stretch the run to the outside against a rangy Cowboys’ perimeter D.
Eagles
Cowboys move the ball methodically on their third possession after stalling the previous two drives. On a 2nd and 7 Romo steps up and finds Gavin Escobar who narrowly misses breaking the plane for a touchdown. DeMeco Ryans has a tough series, getting juked badly by Joseph Randle, and then getting toasted by Escobar and nearly giving up the TD. Ryans makes up for it though, closing on a hanging lob-ball by Romo and forcing the Cowboys to settle for 3, after starting 1st and goal from the one.
More of the same for the Eagles on offense, as they go 3 and out. Murray carries two times for a net gain of 0, and Miles Austin drops a gorgeous touch pass on third and long. The Eagles ground game absolutely needs to get going. The interior line is a mess; it feels as though someone is in the backfield every other play.
Cowboys take over and are moving the call yet again, consistently bleeding the defense on short passes, however, the defense holds tight towards midfield; Malcolm Jenkins does a good job of holding Jason Witten to no gain on a short pass to the far sideline, and then Cedric Thornton blows by his man to bring down Romo for the sack. After a delay of game penalty, the Cowboys fail to convert and are forced to punt.
Again, nothing going for the Eagles on offense as they’ve been anemic to this point. Outside of a pass interference call, the Eagles haven’t converted a 1st down yet, and we’re 6 minutes into the 2nd quarter. Ugh.
The ball goes back to Dallas, and after a couple of penalties and another solid defensive stand the drive sputters, resulting in a 3 and out.
The frustration continues to mount for the Eagles on offense, as the dink and dunk attack clearly isn’t working. DeMarco Murray is stuffed in the backfield yet again, and the passes within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage just aren’t cutting it. The Cowboys are crowding the line and Bradford and company continue to play into their hands, allowing the defense to rally to the football. An offense that refuses to test the defense vertically isn’t going to be an effective one. There’s a bit of life as Darren Sproles catches a screen and appears to convert on 3rd and long, however, Zach Ertz is flagged for offensive pass interference and the drive results in another 3 and out.
To this point the defense has been stout and disciplined, however, a few Ill-advised penalties extend the Cowboys drive into the red zone. Despite everything ranging from offsides to illegal contact and unnecessary roughness penalties, the Eagles hold Dallas to a field goal.
It’s 6-0 Dallas heading into half time. The Eagles have run 16 plays for 21 yards of offense to this point.
Eagles get the ball to start the second half. Sam Bradford starts the drive off with a nice throw to Nelson Agholor for a gain of 11. That’s the Eagles first real conversion of they day. Two runs for a net loss of 11 put the offense in an impossible 3rd and 21. The Eagles take a short gain on a screen and line up to punt. When it rains it pours; Donnie Jones‘ punt is blocked and the Cowboys pick the ball up and take it in for 6. Jones is absolutely blasted on the return, but jogs it off and appears to be ok.
The Eagles get the ball back and, surprise, another 3 and out. Bradford’s second down pass that goes straight into the turf ala a lightly thrown torpedo is a microcosm of the Eagles day. Cooper drops a tough albeit catchable ball on third down.
Dallas takes over with good field position. Romo throws a dime on a wheel route to RB Lance Dunbar with the rookie Jordan Hicks trailing in coverage. Fumble! The Eagles get the ball on a Tony Romo bobble. Romo is down on the field and appears to be in pain, he soon after heads off the field and into the locker room. Huge blow for an already reeling Dallas team.
[EDIT] Tony Romo reportedly suffered a broken left clavicle. The severity of the injury and extent of Romo’s looming absence are to be determined.
The Eagles get the ball back and after Bradford absorbs a sack on a scramble, Murray takes a screen 16 yards to convert the Eagles second 1st down of the game. A defensive holding sets up a 1st down at the Dallas 41. More of the same from the running game as Murray is dropped deep behind the line of scrimmage. I’ve never seen a running game be so ungodly awful. Murray has -15 yards rushing. Penalty on the ensuing play as Tyler Patmon is guilty of interfering with Jordan Matthews who had a step. That’s the 13th penalty of the day for Dallas. After stringing together a few successful plays, Sam Bradford throws an interception right into the lap of Sean Lee. There was no way to fit that ball in, unbelievable.
Brandon Weeden is now on in relief of Romo who is in street clothes on the sideline. It’s a quick 3 and out for Dallas, however, as they’re forced to punt. It’s a terrific punt, as the Cowboys’ gunner is able to down the ball on the 1. Another Dallas special teamer makes an egregious error, attempting to down the ball and putting his foot in the end zone in the process. The Eagles now start their drive at the 20 as opposed to the inches line.
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Betsided
The Eagles begin their next drive with a Sam Bradford scramble that nets 9. On the following play Jordan Matthews drops a pretty pass on a would be solid-gainer. DeMarco Murray bails out Matthews on the next play though, as he takes a swing pass upfield, hurdling Brandon Carr in the process. The Eagles are now in the red zone, but yet again fail to convert. Murray carries the ball for a short gain, Bradford trips on Riley Cooper on the next play, and then misses a wide open Agholor by a mile. Cody Parkey comes on an hits a 46 yard field goal to put the Eagles in the board. 13-3, Dallas.
Dallas gets the ball back and moves the ball into Eagles territory with a series of runs. Then Byron Maxwell knocks the ball out of the hands of Escobar, and Malcolm Jenkins picks it up and takes the ball straight downfield and into Dallas territory. The Eagles have life!
First play of the Eagles possession, Sam Bradford and Jason Kelce have a miscommunication, as the ball is snapped before Bradford is ready, and the snap clangs off his shoulder. Dallas recovers the ball, likely sealing the game. To add insult to injury, former head of officiating Mike Pereira remarks that the play should have been called dead as a result of the Illegal motion, with the Eagles retaining possession.
[EDIT] Pereira later clarified that the penalty would have been an illegal shift, not illegal motion. As such, Dallas rightfully retained possession.
The Eagles get the ball back and the third play of the drive is a pass that is intercepted after bouncing off the hands of Zach Ertz.
Dallas takes the ball and promptly marches into the end zone, as Maxwell shows an embarrassing effort in coverage. #culture. 20-3, Dallas.
Bradford and the offense comes back out onto the field in an attempt to put something positive out there. Bradford finds Agholor, Ertz, and Matthews before eventually tossing a garbage-time touchdown to Matthews on 4th down. 20-10.
A failed onside kick attempt puts an end to the Eagles misery, as the score goes final.
Well, that went swimmingly. Saying that he Eagles have a lot of work to do heading into week 3 is a gross understatement. The offensive performance is the worst that I have ever seen from an Eagles team, and was reminiscent of Kelly’s week 3 2013 game against the Giants. Except, in the Giants game the Eagles were down to their 3rd string quarterback, coming off a 4-12 season that resulted in the firing of the organization’s longest tenured head coach.
There’s not a lot of positives to take away here, though the defense played reasonably well against a shorthanded Dallas offense. Sam Bradford looked utterly clueless as he struggled to read the field and threw the ball incredibly erratically. DeMarco Murray had no room whatsoever to run the ball, as he was routinely met in the backfield 4-5 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Receivers dropped passes, players committed an obscene amount of penalties. The play-call was abhorrent, and the coaching staff will see a relentless amount of criticism (as they should). The Eagles take on the Jets in week 3. Stay tuned as we try to make heads or tails of this debacle.
Next: Eagles Vs. Cowboys Inactives: Smith Still OUT
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