Cowboys come up just short in ‘game of inches’ against Eagles, leave Philadelphia with ‘even more confidence’

The Dallas Cowboys entered their Week 9 NFC East bout on the Philadelphia Eagles with a 5-2 file and a +77 point-differential, the fourth-best in the NFL during the first 8 weeks of the 2023 season. That determine was once predominantly constructed on blowout wins against the New York Giants (40-0), the New York Jets (30-10), the New England Patriots (38-3) and the Los Angeles Rams (43-20). Sunday equipped the Cowboys an opportunity to compensate for their prime-time flop against the San Francisco 49ers, a 42-10 debacle on “Sunday Night Football” in Week 5. 

While the Cowboys did not come away with the victory Sunday afternoon, dropping 28-23 after having more than one probabilities to come out on most sensible, Dallas is heading again house with its head held excessive and the data that it could actually hold with the protecting NFC champions.

“It’s a game of inches,” Dak Prescott said postgame on Sunday. “That’s why you have to love this game. It’s tough. It’s tough to win. We battled our [butts] off. Obviously they did. A great NFC East matchup. An inch or two on one of those three plays and we would be talking about a different outcome.”

Despite Prescott being below siege for chunks of Sunday afternoon and soaking up a season-high 5 sacks, he was once one of the most important causes the Cowboys nearly stole victory from the jaws of defeat, just about finishing an 86-yard landing pressure in 46 seconds with out timeouts. Prescott threw for a season-high 374 passing yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions on 29-of-44 passing, placing on high-level show of chemistry with most sensible receiver CeeDee Lamb, who posted a career-high in receiving yards (191 on 11 catches) for the second one week in a row. Lamb put up 158 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns on 12 catches every week in the past in a 43-20 victory over the Rams. 

“I thought Dak Prescott played extremely well,” head trainer Mike McCarthy said postgame Sunday. “You know, in these circumstances it’s a tough place to play. I think, obviously, their defense and their defensive line, I think it’s clear, is the strength of their defense. And [Prescott] made plays with his feet, hung in there in the pocket, took hits. I thought he played his ass off.”

“I feel good, but at the end of the day I judge myself on wins, and as I told you all before, I am my biggest critic,” Prescott stated. “I can promise you that I can tell you about two or three plays off the top of my head I will lose sleep over. I will continue to work, and I will get better because of them.”

One of the ones performs was once his landing cross that wasn’t on fourth-and-goal from the only to second-round rookie tight finish Luke Schoonmaker. Philadelphia blitzed during the B-gap with linebacker Nicholas Morrow from the best facet of the Cowboys offensive line, forcing Prescott to temporarily fireplace the soccer towards the tight finish, who had a minuscule quantity of separation from Eagles protection Reed Blankenship. Schoonmaker made the catch and was once to begin with dominated in the tip zone for a landing. Following the replay evaluation, he was once dominated a literal inch short with one knee just in entrance of the target line. The ranking remained Eagles 28, Cowboys 17 after the play. 

“Great catch by him,” Prescott stated of the play. “That was the first thing that hit my mind. Great catch, way to compete, way to go get that ball. It’s crazy, his knee was down a little early. Tough. It’s a game of inches, honestly.”

Another one of the ones performs is the failed two-point conversion following Prescott’s ultimate landing cross of the night time, a seven-yarder to second-year wideout Jalen Tolbert. The Cowboys would have pulled inside of 3, 28-25, with 6:23 left in the sport, however on Prescott’s scramble after now not seeing any person open, his proper foot went out of bounds just prior to the pylon.

“Really just mad at myself for not just tagging the pylon earlier with two hands, diving,” Prescott stated. “Thought I kind of had it. More disappointed I didn’t trust my speed and just get vertical, honestly. Knowing who was chasing me, obviously Brandon [Graham] is a hell of a player, has speed, has been a great player on the edge his whole career. At that point, I had it. I was just going for the pylon and played it too close. If we get that, those last two possessions are completely different, so it sucks. … Game of inches, honestly. Game of inches.”

The Cowboys have been additionally not able to transform a fourth-and-eight from the Eagles’ 29-yard line with 1:22 left to play after Prescott overthrew Tolbert towards the best sideline. On its ultimate ownership, Dallas reached a primary down on the Eagles’ 6-yard line with 27 seconds final, after which the entirety become undone in chaotic style: a false get started penalty on left guard Tyler Smith driven them again to the 11, after which Prescott took a shocking 11-yard sack. After that, Prescott threw an incomplete cross, a prolong of sport penalty driven them again to the 26, and in any case a of completion to Lamb served as the sport’s ultimate play. Lamb ended up 4 yards short of the tip zone.

Despite the end-of-game short-circuiting, Dallas leaves this sport with the data that Prescott can get it inside of hanging distance of knocking off the NFC’s splendid, a sense it holds pricey.

“That’s Dak motherf—ing Prescott, bro,” Micah Parsons said postgame on Sunday. “He’s a dog. He’s a warrior. I have an unbelievable amount of confidence in him. I felt he had a great game. People need to put more respect on him. He outplayed everyone today. … We know we played good enough to win that game. But we didn’t. That’s just how the dice rolls sometimes. Sometimes you play good enough and good enough isn’t good enough. That’s just the reality of the game.”

Defensively, the Cowboys did a robust process of irritating 2022 NFL MVP runner-up Jalen Hurts and Pro Bowl extensive receiver A.J. Brown, who entered Week 9 with six consecutive video games with more than 125 receiving yards (the longest such streak in NFL historical past). They saved Philadelphia off the scoreboard completely in the fourth quarter and restricted them to 292 overall yards of offense, just about 85 yards fewer than its 376.8 overall yards in keeping with sport moderate in 2023 — the third-best in all the NFL. Brown did not get just about his standard 125 yards, completing with seven catches for 66 receiving yards and a four-yard receiving landing. 

“I think you would chalk that up as a very good day when we hold that Eagles power offense that has been throwing for 300 [yards] with Jalen Hurts to 180 [passing] yards and less than 300 total yards,” Parsons stated. “You can say whatever you want, I feel like we did a great job. But there were times in the game where it didn’t turn our way.”

Those instances come with the Eagles fumbling the soccer thrice, two by means of operating again D’Andre Swift and one by means of Hurts, however Philadelphia recovered the unfastened soccer in all 3 of the ones crucial moments. The ultimate fumble came about when Swift bumped into Brown in the back of the road of scrimmage, which dislodged the pigskin. The soccer hit the Lincoln Financial Field grass just in entrance of Parsons, however in some way Eagles offensive lineman Tyler Steen recovered. Had Parsons recovered, the Cowboys would have had just over a minute at the clock wanting more or less 35 yards to get the game-winning landing. Instead, the Cowboys wanted to make use of their ultimate timeout, the Eagles punted the ball away, and the Cowboys’ pressure began on their very own 14-yard line.

“It’s another point of inches,” Parsons stated. “The ball rolled their way every which way tonight. It’s not too many [times] where you get two touchdowns [the Schoonmaker play and a Tony Pollard two-yard rush that was taken away become of an illegal formation penalty] called back in the fourth quarter. I just felt like it rolled their way tonight. Got to live with it.”

The Cowboys gets their shot at redemption in a few month — Dec. 10 in Week 14 to be actual — at AT&T Stadium, a spot the place Dallas has the NFL’s longest lively house successful streak. They have gained 11 in a row at house and outscored visiting combatants, 111-33, in their 3 house video games in 2023. 

Now, they know they’re proper there in terms of having the ability to beat the NFL-best 8-1 Eagles; they just wish to do a fairly higher process at developing their very own success. 

“I feel like we have even more confidence now,” Parsons stated. “I feel like everyone had us out and everyone was praising this Eagles team. Obviously we gave them their best fight. I’m not even going to spit fuel in the fire. We’ll see them in four weeks.”