More Bears Than Bulls on Eagles' Stock Market in Lopsided Loss to Dallas
ARLINGTON, Texas - The Dallas Cowboys figured to score some points and the Eagles were going to have to keep up but Nick Sirianni's offense was stuck in neutral for most of Monday night, losing a lopsided 41-21 affair to their division rival.
There wasn't much good and far too much bad on the weekly stock-market report.
THE BULLS
Javon Hargrave - There wasn't much to cheer about but Hargrave was dominant again from the get-go, generating the first Eagles touchdown with a brilliant rush up the middle that resulted in a Fletcher Cox fumble recovery in the end zone. Hargrave also finished with two of Philadelphia's four sacks in the game and has 4.0 in three games from the interior.
Arryn Siposs - We're back to the punter. Siposs has been phenomenal with his backspin on punts inside the 20 and has become a bit of a weapon that could mean something in close games moving forward.
Andre Dillard - Many were expecting the sky to fall with Dillard but the former first-round pick more than held his own, He did get called on a bubble screen for being downfield but it seemed like a late-developing play that was the fault of others. A potential holding call late was during a jailbreak situation.
Garbage-time numbers - Some will look at the Eagles' offensive numbers and try the glass-is-half-full approach but nearly all of Philadelphia's positive numbers occurred in an extended garbage time putting a Barry Bonds-sized asterisk on them.
THE BEARS
The Eagles Run Defense - The Eagles linebackers set the tone in the game by really struggling against a good Dallas offensive line. The Cowboys had their way in the running game with Ezekiel Elliott finding the fountain of youth and Tony Pollard showing off his juice.
Elliott finished with 96 yards on 17 carries with two touchdowns while Pollard was 11 for 60.
There were no explosive runs either with the long being only 13 yards but it was a painful five or six yards at a time.
Jonathan Gannon's exotic fronts - Gannon may need to take a play out of Nick Sirianni's book and realize it's about players, players, players. JG went with a lot of 3-4 fronts and too much Patrick Johnson early instead of Josh Sweat on the field. Sweat made his imprint in the second during an Eagles mini-run.
Nick Sirianni's failure to recognize the personality of the game - It was evident early on that the Cowboys were going to score some points. Former Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz would often note that games have personalities and a coach needs to recognize them quickly and adjust. Sirianni was able to slow to figure out the personality in this one.
Jalen Hurts' accuracy: For those who wonder why critics question Hurts' accuracy watch this film. The second-year QB's ball placement was off for the majority of the night.
Eagles' third-down offense - Sirianni might spend seven hours on third downs but it didn't help Monday night, The Eagles went 0-for-5 before a bit of a desperation heave to Quez Watkins with 9:49 in the third quarter. Extended garbage time improved the numbers but the Eagles' offense was terrible when it mattered.
Discipline - The Eagles had 13 more penalties on Monday night and now have committed 34 total penalties through three games, the most to start a season over three games in nearly 70 years.
GAME BALL: It doesn't feel right to give one to an Eagles player and there are too many to choose from with Dallas so let's give it to Jerry Jones.
The Cowboys owner runs a class outfit. AT&T Stadium is truly a Palace just outside Dallas, Jones is always accountable for his mistakes on the field with weekly press briefings, and has the best pre-game food spread in the league. He even gives his employees tailored jackets.
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
