It was a difficult loss for the Birds this week. Blowouts always hurt, especially against division rivals, and ESPECIALLY against the one other NFC East team that hasn’t sucked the past six years.
Almost Plays
Singleton Forced Fumble
Singleton admittedly didn’t do a ton to force this fumble, but he was the first Eagle on top of the ball and would have been the one to recover if the Cowboys didn’t. This play was more due to Cowboys’ timing issues than our linebackers hustling off the snap, but it resulted in a negative play for Dallas nonetheless, so I’ll count it as a positive for the Birds
Group Plays
Sanders+Goedert Chunk Play
Though Sanders and Goedert had two of their own chunk plays, they were emblematic of a problem with Sirianni’s playcalling all night: two of the stars of the offense get nary a carry/reception for the rest of the game. In fact, one could almost call the end result a tease. I recall Sirianni gave a specific reason for why they didn’t target the 49ers’ linebackers more, but us not using our best weapons last year didn’t make sense this year, and it doesn’t make sense now. Though, I admit this is a lot of negativity for the “top plays” of the day.
Goal Line Stand
This series was controversial among fans, both Cowboys and Eagles, as it could’ve broken the tie and shifted the momentum towards the Cowboys instead of giving the Eagles the ball at the 1. Though it ended up not mattering in the end, the entire defense stood tall in this moment and held the Cowboys to zero points.
Two-Pronged Attack
If the Eagles were going to get back in this game, they had to do everything right. Scoring helps, but even better was the combined sack by Avonte Maddox and Josh Sweat. On 3rd and 11, Dak got taken to the turf by the combined efforts of a corner and defensive end blitzing. While risky, the two teammates ended up hitting home and let the defense get off the field.
Individual Plays
T.J. For Loss
This is here not just because Edwards absolutely blows up Dak Prescott, but because Dak likely scores a touchdown if he doesn’t. Edwards also inadvertently paved the way for another highlight, the goal line stand, by forcing 3rd and goal. With that out of the way, my God did Dak get absolutely blasted on this play! Not sure why Prescott pulled the ball down on this play, but I’m not complaining.
Quez Watkins Catches (Through) A Body
Freezing cold take: the best way to get out of garbage time is to have field-flipping plays. This Watkins catch was… not quite that. However, it was a nice 28-yard gain through extensive contact. Catching a pass over a defender’s body is always a wonder to see, and Watkins was no exception.
Pass Break Epps
Dak thought that he could abuse Marcus Epps. Little did Dak know that we had an elite safety waiting in the wings (I kid, but Epps did have a nice play). With the injury to Kvon Wallace, Dallas was naturally going to target the second-string players. In this instance, Epps stood tall, got his hand in at the perfect moment, and forced an incompletion. If Epps had waited a second longer, it could have been a forced fumble, but I’ll definitely take the incompletion any day of the week (especially Thursdays, Sundays, and Mondays)
Greg Ward TD
Touchdowns will always be towards the top when making lists of top plays. That said, a lot of points scored this game came down 20 or more points. It appears concerns about Hurts’s arm strength sadly may have been correct, as he underthrew a couple of receivers on deep balls, which resulted in picks. He’s had nice deep passes in games prior, including a 40+ yard pass to Quez Watkins last week, so I won’t castigate him too harshly. However, there were some plays that showcased Hurts’s positive playmaking ability, such as a 25-yard strike to Greg Ward that resulted in a touchdown. It initially appeared that Hurts was throwing the ball out of bounds, but Hurts demonstrated his ball placement by putting the ball where only his guy could get it.
Ertz So Good
Though my fantasy team needed a big game from Goedert, I’ll just as happily take a touchdown from Eagles legend Zach Ertz. The score sadly came down 20 points, but the play was clearly well designed, as Ertz had a free release off of the line. Even if the score was out of hand, this was a goal-to-go opportunity that the Eagles HAD to capitalize on if they were going to get back into this game. That, coupled with the 40-yard reception from Quez Watkins, was the first step to getting the Eagles back in a game they were by all means out of. This TD ranks above the Ward score because the game was still within reach, though it’d take some luck and a lot of skill to pull back into it.
Cox Gets Deep
After an underthrown Hurts ball that resulted in an interception, Cox wasn’t letting the game get any more out of hand. So what does he do? He blows up the lineman, gets deep penetration in the pocket, forces an errant throw, and comes away with a big takeaway that resulted in seven points for the Eagles. Of all the players to step up in Brandon Graham’s absence, I wasn’t expecting an interior lineman to force turnovers like a defensive end (even this particular tackle is an Eagles great and potential future Hall of Famer).
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Dylan Patrowicz is a featured writer at The Birds Blitz. For more from Dylan, check out his archive and read through our Eagles articles for the latest news about the Birds.
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