Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Flipped coin toss strategy no help to Pederson, Birds
The Eagles won the coin flip Sunday night and for just the second time with Doug Pederson on the job, elected to receive the opening kickoff.
Anything to shake up a sputtering team. Not that it worked...
The Eagles fumbled the ball away on their first two possessions, fell 20 points behind the Dallas Cowboys at the intermission and wound up on the wrong side of a 37-10 decision at AT&T Stadium.
The Cowboys (4-3) are in first place in the NFC East while the Eagles (3-4) are searching for a sign. The only good news for them is the New York Giants (2-4) were beaten as well.
For those keeping score, Pederson has lost three straight games to the Cowboys and five of seven overall. None of the defeats was remotely like this.
It was the second straight week the Eagles have been blown out, outscored by 75-30 the past two weeks, complete with seven turnovers. Carson Wentz threw an interception Sunday and fumbled the ball away twice. Dallas Goedert lost a fumble on the opening possession.
It was 14-0 before the Eagles got on the board, Goedert atoning for his mistake with a 28-yard scoring reception.
But the Cowboys added a Dak Prescott touchdown pass to Blake Jarwin and two Brett Maher field goals, the latter a club-record 63-yarder at the buzzer for a 27-7 lead at the intermission. And it wasn’t that close. The Eagles did almost nothing after their first TD. Wentz was sacked by Demarcus Lawrence (strip-sack), Robert Quinn and Jourdan Lewis in just the first half. He was lucky he wasn’t intercepted on a couple of tipped throws. The Eagles got 120 yards of offense in the first half.
Derek Barnett sacked Prescott but that basically was it on the defensive side in the first half for the Eagles as the Cowboys gained 295 yards.
There are better ways to march into the locker room than watching Maher match the distance for the secondlongest field goal ever as time expired in the second quarter.
Though the Eagles jumped all over Prescott to start the second half, Hassan Ridgeway bouncing back from a knee injury and Fletcher Cox notching his first sack of the year, that basically was it for the poignant moments.
Wentz marched the Eagles down the field early in the third quarter but Pederson settled for a 38-yard field goal by Jake Elliott, cutting the Cowboys’ lead to 17 points.
In the fourth quarter, Prescott rushed for his 21st TD, breaking the club record set by Roger Staubach, who was at the game.
As for the coin flip, the Eagles last won and elected to receive in early December 2016 against the Cincinnati Bengals. They fell behind, 29-0, and were beaten 32-14.
It’s back to the drawing board for the Eagles. Their next opponent, the Buffalo Bills, are 5-1 after a 31-21 win over the Miami Dolphins Sunday. After that, the Eagles host Chicago (3-3), New England (60) and Seattle (5-2).
• • • The Cowboys had been outscored, 21-3, in the first quarters of their losses, and 44-9 in the first halves of those games.
With three key starters returning, including offensive tackles Tyron Smith and La’el Collins, they outscored the Eagles, 14-7, in the first quarter and 27-7 in the first half.
• • • Pederson lit a fire in Lawrence, who strip-sacked Wentz on the Eagles’ second possession to set up a one-yard touchdown run by Zeke Elliott.
Pederson told WIP Radio the Eagles would go to Dallas, win a game and leave in first place in the NFC East. He then tried to walk back what he said but it didn’t help.
• • • Rookie left tackle Andre Dillard gave up a sack to Robert Quinn but wasn’t the liability he could have been making his first professional start due to the knee injury to Jason Peters. It was Quinn’s sixth sack.
• • • The Eagles welcomed cornerback Jalen Mills (foot) back to the starting lineup. He was nothing short of spectacular in his first action in a year, playing sound coverage and picking off Prescott in the fourth quarter.
The liability was nickel back Orlando Scandrick, who played for the Cowboys. He gave up a touchdown as he bit on a fake and then was deked out of position on a pitch to end Tavon Austin, who opened the scoring with a 20-yard run.
• • • On the injury front, Ridgeway returned to action in the second half after suffering a knee injury.
Though Cox notched his first sack of the season, he began the fourth quarter in the medical tent.
• • • Linebacker Zach Brown, cut Monday by the Eagles after mouthing off about Kirk Cousins being the weak link on the Vikings, had to be laughing about the short-term ramifications of that decision.
After all, the Eagles knew they’d also be without linebacker Nigel Bradham (ankle), who was scratched Sunday.
The Cowboys rushed for 146 yards, including two touchdowns, in the first three quarters. Elliott rushed for 111 yards and a TD.