The Philadelphia Eagles blew a 21-0 lead today and lost 24-21 to their archrival, the Dallas Cowboys. I'm writing this article as a recap, but mostly as a vent. The Eagles started this game pretty much flawlessly, scoring touchdowns on their first two drives. Jalen Hurts was on fire, throwing a touchdown and running for one as well. The Cowboys offense looked flat, doing absolutely nothing through most of the first 2 quarters. They scored at the end of the half, but that was it. The second half, the Eagles started off with 2 punts, but the defense didn't allow anything. The Cowboys did score on the final drive of the 3rd quarter, making it 21-14 Philly at the end of 3 quarters. On the Eagles first drive of the 4th quarter they got down to the Cowboys 38-yard line. They sent out Jake Elliot to try a 56-yard field goal, and that turned out to be a bad decision as he missed. It was at this moment that I began to lose hope. The Cowboys immediately marched down the field and tied up the game. The Eagles next possession ended in a Saquon Barkley fumble. Thankfully, the defense forced a punt. Unfortunately, Xavier Gibson muffed the punt and it was recovered by Dallas at the Philly 7-yard line. At this point, I thought it was all over. For a moment, I was wrong. The Cowboys turned it over on downs and the Eagles took over on their own 2-yard line. They got it down to the 37 at the 2-minute warning. On the first play after the warning, Hurts got sacked and the Eagles had to punt. The punt "hit the scoreboard", as FOX announcer Kevin Burkhardt said. But evidence showed it didn't even come close to the scoreboard. Nonetheless, the Eagles had to re-punt. Kavonte Turpin was flagged for an illegal fair catch. The Cowboys drive started at their own 27. They fumbled, but the ball went out of bounds. After they got the ball down to the 22, I knew it was over. It was. Brandon Aubrey hit a 42-yard field goal as time expired to win it for Dallas.
I'm feeling a lot of ways right now. One, I'm pissed, because that was a very winnable game, and the offense absolutely crapped the bed. Two, the Eagles are still 8-3 and on top of the NFC East, so I'm still content. And three, kind of relieved, because the Eagles have been playing like trash the past few weeks, and maybe this is the wake-up call they needed. The thing that annoys me is that people are going to play the blame game and blame the offense, Nick Sirianni, or other things, when it was everyone. EVERYONE contributed to this loss. Everyone. The offense didn't show up in the second half. Kevin Patullo and Nick Sirianni made some dumb mistakes. Xavier Gipson's muffed punt put the Cowboys in a position to put the dagger into our hearts. The defense wasn't great in the second half. THIS WAS A TEAM EFFORT. NO ONE PLAYER WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS LOSS. And every single damn issue needs to be fixed before Friday. The Eagles next game is on Black Friday, at 3pm against the Chicago Bears. The Bears are a hell of a team, and if this Eagles team shows up on Friday, there's no chance of them winning.
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