Jim Schwartz feels bad for Rasul Douglas after final play in Dallas

Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz really feels for his cornerback, Rasul Douglas after his unfortunate game-losing play this past Sunday.

This year hasn’t been the easiest season to watch for the Philadelphia Eagles. As the losses pile up, no thanks to a ton of injuries going down, we just can’t wait for this nightmare to be over. Are the Eagles out of the playoff race? Not quite. But with about a five-percent shot of making it to the Wild Card round, it’s tough to assume that the Eagles are going to have any additional games beyond these last three matchups ahead.

The Eagles had their hearts broken in Dallas this past Sunday. With a win, the Eagles could be right back in the running for first place in the NFC East. With a loss, well, we all know what happens. Unfortunately, the Eagles did lose, and it was in heartbreaking fashion. On the road against Dallas with a completely imploded defense, Philly gave it all they got.

While the offense started slow, they eventually picked up the pace as well. In the end, it wasn’t enough, though. Overtime came and went, as Dallas got the ball first and never gave it back. Aside from the two long touchdown passes that came late in the game, the Eagles did an excellent job with keeping the Cowboys out of the end zone.

However, moving the ball up and down the field was an easy task for the Cowboys, which allowed them to get into field goal position on the only offensive drive in overtime on Sunday.

As the Cowboys had one last hope of trying to score, Dak Prescott threw a quick pass to who else, but Amari Cooper. Eagles cornerback Rasul Douglas stuck his man well and made a play on the ball. Unfortunately, the ball took an unlucky bounce for the Eagles, which gave Cooper the opportunity to snag it for the walk-off touchdown in OT.

Blame came raining down on Rasul Douglas

Naturally, the Philadelphia fan base wanted to point fingers. The apparent target was going to be Rasul Douglas since he was the one who didn’t entirely force an incompletion. While it’s easy to blame Douglas, it’s not right and is a cop-out. Douglas played a good game in Dallas on Sunday. As a matter of fact, Douglas was the best player in the secondary.

He led the team with nine tackles and even had a critical first-half interception when Prescott was going for a touchdown pass to take a two-possession lead over the lifeless Eagles. Maybe he gave up a play or two in the passing game aside from his final mistake, but the last person that should be catching blame for the loss is Rasul Douglas.

We know this, Sul knows this, and even Jim Schwartz knows this. The Eagles defensive coordinator has been feeling terrible for his substitute starting cornerback. On Tuesday, Jim Schwartz spoke on Douglas and the final play. “My heart breaks for him on that last play, because if he makes that last play, that’s sort of a player-of-the-week type game for him.”

Schwartz is right. With an interception there, Douglas is the hero. Instead, he looks like the sole reason why the Eagles lost the game, whether that’s true or not (it’s not true.) Anyway, if there is one positive to take away from this heartbreaking play, it’s that Douglas and the other young players can grow from this situation. It’s going to take some time for Douglas to get over that play, but once he does, he will come back stronger than ever mentally. At least there’s a silver lining here.