Week 14 Eagles grades after an ugly loss to Cowboys in Dallas

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Eagles went down to Dallas and got their butts kicked by their biggest rival.

Not only did the Cowboys win 33-13 but this loss comes after an embarrassing 42-19 loss at home to the 49ers. Two of the NFC’s best teams have taken it to the Eagles in back-to-back weeks, which is a major concern with the playoffs nearing.

The Eagles got behind early in this one. The defense got shredded, the offense never scored a touchdown and the Eagles dropped to 10-3 on the season.

The grades aren’t pretty:

Quarterback

Jalen Hurts: 18/27, 197 yards; 5 attempts, 30 yards, 1 lost fumble

The Eagles’ quarterback had a chance to show the NFL why he’s the MVP and for the second week in a row, he was simply outplayed by the MVP candidate on the other sideline. The Eagles had an opportunity to score an early touchdown to keep pace with the Cowboys and Hurts fumbled the football away again. It was his 15th turnover of the season and it was a killer. It’s not like Hurts got a ton of help in this game, his top two receivers dropped passes and they both fumbled. And coaching continues to be an issue. But after the game, Hurts admitted the turnaround needs to start with him and he’s right. He needs to play better.

Grade: D+

Running back

D’Andre Swift: 11 carries, 39 yards

After a week of discussing the Eagles’ run game, the Eagles’ run game wasn’t great in this one either. They ended up getting over 100 yards but 30 of them came from Hurts. The problem in this game was that they got down and needed to pass to try to come back. Still, there wasn’t much room for the running backs. In addition to Swift’s 39 yards, Kenny Gainwell had 4 for 28 and Boston Scott had 3 for 9.

Grade: C-

Receiver

A.J. Brown: 9 catches on 13 targets, 94 yards, 1 fumble lost

That final stat line from Brown looks pretty good but he lost that fumble and he dropped a big pass that would have gone for a big gain. The same goes for DeVonta Smith, who had 5 catches for 73 yards in this one. Yes, those numbers are good but Smith had a couple drops and fumbled too. The only other receiver who had a catch was Olamide Zaccheaus, who had a 28-yarder from the punter on a trick play. No targets for Quez Watkins or Julio Jones and just three players ended up with a target from Hurts.

Grade: D

Tight end

Dallas Goedert: 4 catches on 4 targets, 30 yards

After missing three games, Goedert returned on Sunday against the Cowboys and wasn’t much of a factor. His longest catch was for 15 yards but he wasn’t a huge part of the passing offense. And while his return was expected to give a boost to the running game, the Eagles were stifled there and were forced to get away from it after getting down early.

Grade: C

Offensive line

The Eagles continued to struggle in the run game even before things got out of hand in this one. Hurts ended up in a little bit of duress during this game and Lane Johnson actually gave up a sack to Micah Parsons, who simply beat him with a bull rush. The entire offense looks disjointed right now and the O-line is certainly a part of that. Cam Jurgens suffered a chest injury, but was able to return; that’s something to monitor this week.

Grade: C-

Defensive line

Fletcher Cox: 3 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 1 PD

The biggest play of the game for the Eagles came when Cox stripped Dak Prescott and Jalen Carter scooped it up and ran a 42-yard touchdown. But that was a highlight in an otherwise disappointing defensive performance. Haason Reddick finished with two sacks but one came in garbage time. The Eagles were not able to consistently get pressure and Prescott was able to carve them up a bit through the air because of it. The entire defense is predicated on the front getting after quarterbacks and when that doesn’t happen consistently during a game, it’s a major problem.

Grade: C-

Linebacker

Zach Cunningham: 6 tackles, 2 PD

Shaq Leonard made his Eagles debut and played a bit more (12 snaps) than the Eagles probably wanted as both Cunningham and Nicholas Morrow made trips to the medical tent. The linebackers weren’t nearly as bad in this game as they were against the 49ers last week but they were a part of an Eagles defense that allowed the Cowboys to score on three 75-yard touchdown drives in the first half.

Grade: C

Secondary

Darius Slay: 4 tackles, 3 PD

The Eagles continued to struggle on third downs in this game. They just can’t seem to get off the field and the secondary was responsible for many of those conversions, including a few big ones that came on penalties from Slay, James Bradberry and Kelee Ringo. Prescott ended up throwing for 271 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jake Ferguson had 72 receiving yards, while CeeDee Lamb had 71. While Hurts targeted just three players, six different Cowboys had a catch in this game.

Grade: D

Special teams

Braden Mann: 1 punt, 39 yards; 1 passing attempt, 28 yards

The biggest bright spot of this game was special teams. Mann was able to hit Zaccheaus on a fake punt that definitely looked desperate but worked. Britain Covey had an 18-yard punt return. Jake Elliott nailed his two field goals and his extra point. The only bad play on special teams was an overzealous Josh Jobe getting called for fair-catch interference in the second half. Overall, though, special teams was good again.

Grade: A-

Coaching

Record: 10-3

The Eagles still have a really good record and still control their own destiny in the NFC East. But this was an absolute stinker and the coaching staff deserves a lot of the blame. Sure, execution was a problem. Nick Sirianni and Brian Johnson weren’t out there fumbling the football. But they have to do more to allow their talented offensive players to shine. That simply didn’t happen in this game. And on defense, sure, the players have to make plays on third down. But for the second week in a row, Sean Desai was out-coached by the offensive play-caller on the other sideline. The Eagles are facing adversity so it’s time to see if Sirianni can help pull them out.

Grade: F

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