Cowboys Recap: Starter might've been benched in dramatic loss to Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts looked seriously banged up from his injured knee at the end of the first half. It seemed like a turning point in a close game between them and the Dallas Cowboys. It wasn't. Instead, it seemed to do nothing but fire up Hurts as he came back from halftime by […]
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts looked seriously banged up from his injured knee at the end of the first half. It seemed like a turning point in a close game between them and the Dallas Cowboys.
It wasn't.
Instead, it seemed to do nothing but fire up Hurts as he came back from halftime by leading his offense to a 60-yard touchdown drive in which he scrambled for a first down and delivered a perfect touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith in a go route. That was the turning point.
The Cowboys punted on the following drive, following an unnecessary (and quite picky) holding call on rookie tight end Luke Schoonmaker that erased an 18-yard gain from Rico Dowdle. That would've put the Cowboys at the Eagles' 27-yard line. Instead, Bryan Anger punted shortly after.
The Eagles took the football 87 yards downfield for another touchdown in a 6:18 drive to extend their lead 28-17. From there, the Cowboys went from being in a shootout to playing catch-up. They were close to pulling off a miracle, holding the football last and with CeeDee Lamb being tackled yards away from the goal line with the clock at zero.
Big moments like that one, Dak Prescott diving for the end zone and falling short and Schoonmaker being inches away from a heroic touchdown will get most of the attention, but it was the Eagles' back-to-back touchdowns that ended this one. This was always a game where a two-possession lead would make the difference. It did.
Other observations from Cowboys' Week 9 loss
Another game, another negative Michael Gallup moment. His third-down drop at the end of the first half forced the Cowboys to settle for three, with Brandon Aubrey delivering a 51-yard no-doubter.
Gallup did not take a snap in the first drive out of halftime. It's a trend to monitor as this could've been the official passing of the third starting WR role to Jalen Tolbert. Later, Gallup was back in the lineup and even made a couple of big-time catches.
But Tolbert wasn't about to give up the job he seemed to be competing for that easily. In a gotta-have-it drive, Tolbert delivered two highly meaningful catches. One moved the chains in a 32-yard gain. The other was for a touchdown that cut down the deficit to 23-28. He probably staked his claim to be WR3 moving forward.
- Cowboys CB Stephon Gilmore was called for defensive pass interference in what was a blatant mistake from the refs. Jalen Hurts' pass down the right sideline was uncatchable and contact was far from egregious from the former Defensive Player of the Year. The Eagles went on to score a touchdown in the same drive to go up 28-17.
- Jake Ferguson had some big moments in this game, with 81 yards to his name. However, his route running probably cost Dallas six on the Schoonmaker non-touchdown.
- Dak played an elite game but inches made the difference on this one, the Cowboys could've gone for a field goal to tie it in their last significant possession but Prescott was just short of the goal-line in a two-point conversion that would've made it a three-point deficit instead of a five-point one.
Cowboys: NFC team discussed trading for QB Trey Lance
Would’ve been an intriguing move.
