Eagles Postgame Report: Birds Play One Quarter, Blow The Next Three Against Dallas

The Birds looked like they came to play in Dallas. The Eagles defense allowed one 13-yard pass, but then forced a turnover on downs that left the Eagles offense starting at mid-field. They kept the ball moving with three chunk plays amid some other positive plays that resulted in a 16-yard touchdown strike to AJ Brown for the early lead.

The defense forced a three-and-out, but a negative run and a false start put the Eagles behind for their own three-and-out, but they were bailed out by a roughing the kicker penalty. That kept the Eagles drive alive and they were able to keep the negative plays out of the script before an AJ Brown was overturned as an incomplete pass and Hurts followed it up with a TD run right up the gut.

The defense was gashed for a 20-yard run, but the Eagles were bailed out by a deep drop. The Cowboys got a break by having Lamb’s fumble overturned to a first-down catch, but the next play was another Dallas fumble recovered by Baun. That drive was propelled by and incredible deep catch by DeVonta Smith for 41 yards, then a 10-yard short pass to Smith to setup the tush push touchdown.

The defense found themselves on their heels, but a poor throw at the goal line allowed Reed Blankenship to come up with the INT to prevent a score. The offense committed two penalties, to put themselves behind the sticks and force a quick three-and-out to allow the Cowboys a chance to score before the half. A 48-yard pass set that up immediately before they scored with 21 seconds left in the half to make it a two-score game. The Eagles were content to head to the half.

Grant Calcaterra had his biggest contribution in two months with an 8-yard reception before a 20-yard gain was called back for illegal formation. Two ugly pass attempts with no chance forced a punt, but the Eagles defense got it right back. Two penalties on punts turned the ball at the Dallas 45 into starting at the Philly 30-yard line, losing 25 yards of field position. Smith got them one first down before Hurts turned two passes into incompletions following the five-yard run to force a punt that was downed at the Dallas 4.

The defense almost might as well have not stepped foot on the field for the next drive as it was a total embarrassment to start. The play that stopped at least six yards per play was a dropped pass deep downfield. An interception was overturned due to 12 men on the field for the defense following that before a second dropped pass brought out the field goal, which was missed from 51-yards out. 

Quinyon Mitchell took a DPI and that breathed life into the Cowboys offense as they started moving again. Baun dropped the easy interception, which hurt big time as the next play was a 50-yard reception where CeeDee Lamb choking DeJean and grabbing his facemask was somehow called DPI. The defense continued to look like they could do absolutely nothing and quickly gave up the score to make it a one-score game.

They finally got a pass to Barkley in the open field and hit Dallas Goedert for the first time in weeks in order to get the chains moving for the first time in the second half. An OPI on Smith with his back to the guy he supposedly was picking going the opposite way was followed by a false start to make it 1st and 25. A DOA play followed by 20 yards on the ensuing receptions led to a 56-yard attempt that was missed to hand the ball back over in good field position. The defense allowed Dak to stand in the backfield forever for an easy 43-yard pass. That led to another terrible defensive play where they let Dak just waltz into the endzone to tie the game up.

The QB scramble helped another drive get going before Fred Johnson took a hands to the face penalty to negate a 15-yard pass and put the Birds back behind the chains. Hurts flipped it to Barkley who promptly lunged the ball forward into a pack of Cowboys where there was no chance for recovery to pull points off the board and hand the ball back to an offense going up against the pitiful Eagles defensive effort of the second half. The defense did come up with a stop for the first time since the start of the second half, but the garbage returns of Xavier Gipson came back again as he fumbled the ball back on the punt to hand the ball to the Cowboys inside the 10.

The defense bailed out Gipson by forcing a turnover on downs to keep the game tied, but the return by Gipson also left the offense pinned at their own 1-yard line after they did nothing for an entire half of football. The Eagles were moving the ball until it was 3rd and 2 and Hurts decided to be a statue to take the 13-yard sack and hand the ball back over to the Cowboys inside the two-minute warning with the chance to win.

Sydney Brown missed a tackle to give up six yards then blew his coverage on a 19-yard pass to set the Cowboys up in field goal position. Quinyon Mitchell was not anywhere near his guy after slamming Michael Carter, allowing a 24-yard reception over the middle and injuring another safety in the process. That setup an easy field goal kick to win the game.

It was a VERY winnable game. All it took was not fumbling, catching an interception thrown right at your face, not committing a penalty on every other offensive snap, or a myriad of other things that should be expected of a “professional” athlete.

The Eagles lose the top seed because they decided to play a totally inept brand of football following the first quarter.

The Rams now control the top seed and play Tampa Bay tonight. The Eagles will play Black Friday against the Bears, who are also 8-3 and far better than the pathetic Cowboys team the Eagles let trample them for three quarters.

Offensive MVP: AJ Brown

It’s a default to Brown or Smith, who were the only people who didn’t suck for three straight quarters. Brown had the lead in catches with eight and 110 yards to lead the team, though. He also had a touchdown.

Defensive MVP: Reed Blankenship

The only Eagle to actually come up with an interception in this game and to actually make a play on the ball to do it, Blankenship’s interception prevented a score. He also had eight tackles, second-best on the defense despite not playing almost half the game. Moreso, his inclusion here is due to the fact that, once he left the field, the secondary was abused deep repeatedly and there was no one making plays to stop that – it certainly seemed to point to his value as the leader of the defensive backs and the loss that comes with not having him on the field.

Game Notes

• Too many explosive plays in the first half – those are the only reason the Cowboys could get any momentum going and a lot of it seemed like poor tackling on what should have been shorter plays even if they moved the chains.
• As much as I’d love to credit the defense, so much of the first half seemed like the Cowboys shooting themselves in the foot rather than being explicitly caused by the defense.
• A poor first half by Dean as he wasn’t as effective in coverage this week and took some penalties.
• As poorly prepared as the Cowboys appeared with their penalties, the Eagles seemed almost as bad with 8 already early in the third quarter, almost exclusively on offense and special teams.
• That only got worse as poor calls combined with absolute trash discipline to make it impossible for the team to play offense without a 30-yard gain on nearly every positive play.
• Cooper DeJean appeared list in this one. I don’t recall seeing a single play he actually made. He was around other people making deep catches to move the chains repeatedly, but never actually in position to make a play on the ball or break up a pass. The OPI they called DPI against his was probably his best play and he was otherwise spending the night standing there to tackle someone after giving up 15+ yards downfield.
• Brandon Graham not getting off the field quick enough cost the Eagles a turnover and let the Cowboys score one of their touchdowns to get back into the game.
• Cannot be understated how important Zack Baun just straight dropping an interception thrown right into his facemask was in this one.
• Xavier Gipson should never see the field again. The team shouldn’t even fly him home. Cut his game check and tell him you hope to see him playing against us because that’s something to easily take advantage of.
• Saquon Barkley had one catch and run in this game and otherwise he frankly looked worse than Tank Bigsby did in this one. Lots of stops and jukes to gain almost no yardage and not head upfield. The only times he actually went upfield, he tripped not to even mention his fumbling away one of the most promising drives of the second half.
• Despite all of the above, no one played worse than the Eagles OL, who couldn’t run block for their lives and took what seemed like 10 penalties to make sure the Eagles offense stopped scoring early.

Injury Notes

• Adoree’ Jackson exited about halfway through the third quarter with an apparent injury and was replaced by Michael Carter.
• Moro Ojomo went down halfway through the third quarter with an apparent injury to his right arm somewhere. He did return later in the quarter.
• Reed Blankenship went down later in the third quarter with an apparent leg/ankle injury.
• Xavier Gipson was carted off the field after he tried to throw the game with another awful return from the guy brought in only to be a returner.
• Andrew Mukuba went down at the end of the game.

Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys – November 23, 2025