Cowboys vs. Eagles: Lack of Poise
​
Poise! A lack thereof, that was once again, the downfall of this talented team. 1st and 5 at the Philly six-yard line with 27 seconds remaining, 23-28. False start, sack, incompletion, hail mary. A golden opportunity to steal this game, flashed past the Cowboys in the blink of an eye, as they once again, lacked composure when it really mattered.
​
A lot of people came out of this game feeling better about the Cowboys than they did going into it, but, the bottom line is that they now sit at 5&3, two and half games back in their division, having lost to two of the teams that they will have to meet if they make the playoffs and have any desire to make a run. I do believe the Cowboys can beat the Eagles in the return fixture at AT&T Stadium and the 49ers, who have lost their last three games may look more and more beatable for this Cowboys team. But, in big games, when it comes down to crunch time, when you must be composed and clean, this Dallas team, like many before, faulter.
​
Dak Prescott was, once again, magnificent on Sunday evening – 29/44 for 374 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. This stat line gets even better after watching the performance of the offensive line. The Eagles front is one of, if not, the best front in football but Haason Reddick’s domination of Terence Steele was much worse than we could have imagined and the interior front caused Tyler Biadasz problems all day, causing Dak to have to scramble which tends to work out in the Cowboys favour more often than not, if he does manage to escape. However good Dak was on Sunday night and he may want a few throws back, I struggle to believe that he will play much better when the Cowboys face the Eagles again. The Eagles rushed for 109 yards from 33 attempts at an average of 3.3 yards per carry. Jalen Hurts’ stat line reads 17/23 for 207 yards with 2 touchdowns. AJ Brown only had 66 yards from 7 catches after six straight games of 125+ yards. The Eagles still managed to get the W.
​
Now, the Cowboys did manage to cause three fumbles, all which bounced straight back to the Philadelphia Eagles which is extremely hard luck, and your star receiver, is being just that right now, having a career high 11 catches for 191 yards. But I struggle to see a world in which the Eagles are so stunted in numbers, Jalen Hurts is less mobile, and the Cowboys offense is as effective as it was. So, unfortunately, for me, I don’t see how this Cowboys team can make a deep run in the playoffs, until they sort out these mental errors in clutch moments.
​
Fortunately, however, the next three fixtures are very kind to Dallas which should see them pick up three victories to leave them at 8&3 heading into what will be the toughest six week stretch they have faced in sometime. A chance in the next few weeks to figure out your offensive line issues, get the run game going and decide that Prescott should be targeting three targets right now, in Ceedee Lamb, Jake Ferguson and Brandin Cooks. More so than just finding out a way to get the run game started, Mike McCarthy has to figure out how to best use Tony Pollard. Because of the lack of run game, number 20 has almost been forgotten about as a playmaker on this team, which is concerning, considering the lack of production from the rest of the team after his exit from the playoff game, against San Fransisco last season.
Frustratingly, this Cowboys team has so much talent on both sides of the ball, but that poise in key moments of the game is very much missing right now. Football is a strange game, however, and should the Cowboys start rolling over Christmas, into the new year, I am very willing to be wrong about their chance in the post-season.