Why couldn’t the vaunted Eagles defense stop the Cowboys offense?

[Rockport]

The Eagles defense came into the game as the #1-#3 rated defense depending on what stat you chose. They had been playing lights out all year long. Even after Saturday the Eagles are #2 in yards allowed. They’re #1 in passing yards allowed. They came into this game at full strength defensively. Why couldn’t they stop the Cowboys offense? Please one of you doubters tell me why the best defense in the NFL couldn’t stop the Cowboys offense?

 

[BoysfanfromCanada]

They haven't played the best of the best qbs

 

[leeblair]

The Eagles defense came into the game as the #1-#3 rated defense depending on what stat you chose. They had been playing lights out all year long. Even after Saturday the Eagles are #2 in yards allowed. They’re #1 in passing yards allowed. They came into this game at full strength defensively. Why couldn’t they stop the Cowboys offense? Please one of you doubters tell me why the best defense in the NFL couldn’t stop the Cowboys offense?

They knew they were going to lose before they got there.
With Hurts out they knew the offense would struggle- and it did- giving up four turnovers.
The defense of the Eagles knew they couldn't play as aggressive because they would have to be on the field longer with their offense not being up to par.
It was a good victory, but one that anyone who knows football expected.
Dak got to play against a weaker version of the team Cooper Rush faced, and still nearly gave the game away early. The Cowboys won by six points after getting four turnovers from the Eagles, but Dak gave the Eagles seven points himself.
And the Cowboys were at home. Dak didn't have to play against a hostile crowd, one that would gave eaten him alive after the early pick six.
The Cowboys were able to maintain the momentum going against a weaker Eagles offense, so Dak played well.
You asked.

 

[lukin2006]

They knew they were going to lose before they got there.
With Hurts out they knew the offense would struggle- and it did- giving up four turnovers.
The defense of the Eagles knew they couldn't play as aggressive because they would have to be on the field longer with their offense not being up to par.
It was a good victory, but one that anyone who knows football expected.
Dak got to play against a weaker version of the team Cooper Rush faced, and still nearly gave the game away early. The Cowboys won by six points after getting four turnovers from the Eagles, but Dak gave the Eagles seven points himself.
And the Cowboys were at home. Dak didn't have to play against a hostile crowd, one that would gave eaten him alive after the early pick six.
The Cowboys were able to maintain the momentum going against a weaker Eagles offense, so Dak played well.
You asked.

Their offence only scored 27 in the first game, and 27 this game. I would say the difference is Prescott. He hung 40 on these clowns. He would have hung 40 on them in game 1. Prescott is better than hurts…

 

[exciter]

They weren’t able to dominate time of possession with their read option running game with Hurts out!

 

[lukin2006]

It simple to me…Prescott lit them. Prescott has been playing really well since his return. He just needs to be a little more consistent and cut out the turnovers…but the INT are not always on him.

 

[lukemartin79]

Their offence only scored 27 in the first game, and 27 this game. I would say the difference is Prescott. He hung 40 on these clowns. He would have hung 40 on them in game 1. Prescott is better than hurts…

I agree with you lukin, where exactly did the Iggles offense struggle? They marched it up and down the field, never even being forced to punt once. They scored 27, like you said. Their backup QB actually had more passing yards then Dak, who had an incredible game. Difference was those turnovers, but those are mistakes. Really the 2 INTS the cowboys DBs just wanted the ball more and took it. They were more aggressive than the WRS on those plays. The Iggles offense matched ours pretty well all game and were out in front by 10 twice. Wheres the struggling part?

 

[lukin2006]

Hurts was 15-25 for 155 yards passing and 9 for 27 yards rushing in the first game. Pretty dominate game…surprised he did not put 60 on us. If Prescott played we win…

Saturday Prescott was 27-35 for 347 yards and 6 for 41 rushing…

Prescott had 388 yards against the number 2 D

Hurts had 182 yards against a Dallas D that is not great at stopping the run…

When we meet again we will win. We are the better team, even with our scrubs on defence we are better...

 

[America's Cowboy]

They knew they were going to lose before they got there.
With Hurts out they knew the offense would struggle- and it did- giving up four turnovers.
The defense of the Eagles knew they couldn't play as aggressive because they would have to be on the field longer with their offense not being up to par.
It was a good victory, but one that anyone who knows football expected.
Dak got to play against a weaker version of the team Cooper Rush faced, and still nearly gave the game away early. The Cowboys won by six points after getting four turnovers from the Eagles, but Dak gave the Eagles seven points himself.
And the Cowboys were at home. Dak didn't have to play against a hostile crowd, one that would gave eaten him alive after the early pick six.
The Cowboys were able to maintain the momentum going against a weaker Eagles offense, so Dak played well.
You asked.

What a bunch of spin and baloney! You yourself admitted Dak went up against the best defense of the Eagles. So why couldn't the #1 rated defense in the league not stop Dak and his offense?

 

[Runwildboys]

They knew they were going to lose before they got there.
With Hurts out they knew the offense would struggle- and it did- giving up four turnovers.
The defense of the Eagles knew they couldn't play as aggressive because they would have to be on the field longer with their offense not being up to par.
It was a good victory, but one that anyone who knows football expected.
Dak got to play against a weaker version of the team Cooper Rush faced, and still nearly gave the game away early. The Cowboys won by six points after getting four turnovers from the Eagles, but Dak gave the Eagles seven points himself.
And the Cowboys were at home. Dak didn't have to play against a hostile crowd, one that would gave eaten him alive after the early pick six.
The Cowboys were able to maintain the momentum going against a weaker Eagles offense, so Dak played well.
You asked.

This might be the worst take possible. They gave up before the game even started? Do you actually expect people to believe that crap?

 

[b0xZZ]

They haven't played the best of the best qbs

HAHAHAHHAHAHAA

 

[doomsday9084]

I'll say it again: Both teams knew the game was meaningless and that a round 3 was likely. Siriano outright said it to McCarthy in front of the camera. Both sides were just playing base, vanilla schemes on offense and defense. That favors offense.

The next game isn't going to look like that. You will see far more blitz packages, disguised coverages, etc. This goes for both teams.

When the score of the next game isn't 40-34, don't ask "what happened to the offense?!?!?"

 

[Legendz82]

The Eagles defense came into the game as the #1-#3 rated defense depending on what stat you chose. They had been playing lights out all year long. Even after Saturday the Eagles are #2 in yards allowed. They’re #1 in passing yards allowed. They came into this game at full strength defensively. Why couldn’t they stop the Cowboys offense? Please one of you doubters tell me why the best defense in the NFL couldn’t stop the Cowboys offense?

They had that kind of game for a couple reasons.
#1 Cowboys offense is good and Dak is a good Qb
#2 Maddox going out can not be understated. Scott had a terrible game and was a liability on the field especially on big plays. For example he was the over the top help on the 3rd and 30 that gave you guys the go ahead TD with 8mins left in the game. His reasoning…. “I was looking down when they snapped the ball. That’s why I was late.” That play alone was a big part of you guys winning the game. He has been terrible when he gets in the game and you guys abused him.
#3 I can’t believe that this is not been stated more. This was the eagles 3rd road game in a row. NFL schedulers usually try to avoid this because teams almost always play like a turd.
#4 We played on Turf. In the playoffs it will be way different being on grass and cold conditions. I think I did read somewhere Dak is not nearly as good on grass but I could be wrong. Either way it definitely is different.

I think you guys are right to be confident and I think these teams are evenly matched but I wouldn’t be overly confident. Hopefully we will have Maddox back but even more important we will have CJGJ back and that guy can play. We definitely will have Hurts back and you guys were not even playing Min to pull on any of his RPO’s. It was there all game long.

 

[Typhus]

I'll say it again: Both teams knew the game was meaningless and that a round 3 was likely. Siriano outright said it to McCarthy in front of the camera. Both sides were just playing base, vanilla schemes on offense and defense. That favors offense.

The next game isn't going to look like that. You will see far more blitz packages, disguised coverages, etc. This goes for both teams.

When the score of the next game isn't 40-34, don't ask "what happened to the offense?!?!?"

Good to see and hear from fans that actually watch and understand the game.
When matching Dallas vs Philly the game can go either way on any matchup, neither is that much better or that much worse but actually both being about as equal in opposing strengths/weaknesses as you can get.
There will be no easy matchup for either team when we see each other again.

 

[lukin2006]

I agree with you lukin, where exactly did the Iggles offense struggle? They marched it up and down the field, never even being forced to punt once. They scored 27, like you said. Their backup QB actually had more passing yards then Dak, who had an incredible game. Difference was those turnovers, but those are mistakes. Really the 2 INTS the cowboys DBs just wanted the ball more and took it. They were more aggressive than the WRS on those plays. The Iggles offense matched ours pretty well all game and were out in front by 10 twice. Wheres the struggling part?

When you cough up the ball 4 times then you struggled on offence...its that simple. I’ll take our D taking away the ball 4 times over getting 6 sacks all day long. I love how Cowboy fans look for excuses for why the eagles lost...

And our D is hardly at full strength...

 

[LatinMind]

The Eagles defense came into the game as the #1-#3 rated defense depending on what stat you chose. They had been playing lights out all year long. Even after Saturday the Eagles are #2 in yards allowed. They’re #1 in passing yards allowed. They came into this game at full strength defensively. Why couldn’t they stop the Cowboys offense? Please one of you doubters tell me why the best defense in the NFL couldn’t stop the Cowboys offense?

Because hurts didn't play

 

[Blackrain]

I think Dak flat out has the skill set we need to beat the Eagles.
I begged for him to play them the first time and posted that the game would be beyond Cooper Rush's scope and I was correct

I believe if Dak had played in the first game against the Eagles we would have swept them this year been in first place and probably be hosting a home game in the playoffs.

 

[DogFace]

They knew they were going to lose before they got there.
With Hurts out they knew the offense would struggle- and it did- giving up four turnovers.
The defense of the Eagles knew they couldn't play as aggressive because they would have to be on the field longer with their offense not being up to par.
It was a good victory, but one that anyone who knows football expected.
Dak got to play against a weaker version of the team Cooper Rush faced, and still nearly gave the game away early. The Cowboys won by six points after getting four turnovers from the Eagles, but Dak gave the Eagles seven points himself.
And the Cowboys were at home. Dak didn't have to play against a hostile crowd, one that would gave eaten him alive after the early pick six.
The Cowboys were able to maintain the momentum going against a weaker Eagles offense, so Dak played well.
You asked.

Come on man.

 

[MRV52]

The Eagles defense came into the game as the #1-#3 rated defense depending on what stat you chose. They had been playing lights out all year long. Even after Saturday the Eagles are #2 in yards allowed. They’re #1 in passing yards allowed. They came into this game at full strength defensively. Why couldn’t they stop the Cowboys offense? Please one of you doubters tell me why the best defense in the NFL couldn’t stop the Cowboys offense?

The Eagles are not the best defense in the NFL the 49ers are. Eagles stats are skewed because of their cupcake schedule. You can see flaws in this defense and they aren’t going anywhere in the playoffs. I still believe the 49ers will shred both of these teams in the playoffs.

 

[Legendz82]

The Eagles are not the best defense in the NFL the 49ers are. Eagles stats are skewed because of their cupcake schedule.

49ers are the best D in the league and it’s not even close.