Cooper Rush's Dallas Cowboys Fall Short of Goals at Undefeated Eagles
The Dallas Cowboys, heading into Sunday night's matchup in Philadelphia, game-planned their way to three basic "how-to-win'' realities.
One, recognize the handful of "splash-play'' chances that might be available against the undefeated Eagles and take advantage.
Two, treat dual-threat Philly QB Jalen Hurts like a full-fledged running back and tackle well.
Three, win the turnover battle - and transform a takeaway into a momentum-spinning success.
Eagles 26-17 over Cowboys resulted in ... Not enough of those three things.
Last year, the Cowboys outscored the arch-rival Eagles 92-47 and won by at least 20 in both meetings on the way to winning the NFC East. This time around, the sledding was more difficult, in part because temp QB Cooper Rush and the 'Boys got exposed in some ways.
But ...
Ezekiel Elliott's TD run in the third quarter closed the gap to 20-10. And then rookie Jake Ferguson's first career TD catch make it 20-17.
But Dallas' impactful "splash'' play at Lincoln Financial Field were too few, with a controversial no-TD call from the refs on a spectacular Noah Brown effort being an "almost.''
Otherwise, it was Hurts and the Eagles, moving to 6-0 and dropping Dallas to 4-2, making many of the big plays, Miles Sanders powering his way in for a five-yard score to make it a 7-0 lead for Philadelphia, then a Rush interception setting up Philly receiver AJ Brown's 15-yard catch-and-run touchdown to make it 14-0, then a bad call - CeeDee Lamb being ruled short of a conversion (with nobody thinking to ask for a review) leading to an Eagles field goal and a 20-0 deficit. ...
And leaving the Cowboys spending the night trying to climb uphill.
To the credit of coach Mike McCarthy and company, they never quit trying to scale it. But midway into the final quarter, with Dallas down 27-16, Rush was jolted as he threw, leaving the ball short of a wide-open CeeDee Lamb, resulting in a third interception.
How much of this can be fixed by Cowboys defensive leader Micah Parsons? The Eagles found a way to negate the Pennsylvania native as he had his least effective game of the year. And fellow threat DeMarcus Lawrence - who had openly questioned whether Hurts was even any good at all - was also limited in corralling Philly.
How much of this can be fixed by the return of Cowboys offensive leader Dak Prescott? After watching Rush against Philly, Prescott critics will have to come to grips with the true talent gap between the two, with the valiant Rush getting exposed as he did here. ... and yes, when Dak (with a healthy thumb) returns - the Cowboys hope this week - their basic "how-to-win'' realities will undoubtedly become more achievable.
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