The Philadelphia Eagles embarrassed themselves in front of a nationally televised audience, suffering a humiliating 41-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on “Monday Night Football” in a game where they were outmatched in all three phases. Nick Sirianni was outclassed by Mike McCarthy — who had a bad game himself — failing to make adjustments during the game and abandoning the run (even when the game was still within reach).
Not only were the Eagles knocked out by the Cowboys, they lost Isaac Seumalo to a season-ending injury and K’Von Wallace went on injured reserve. Philadelphia is down three of its starting five offensive linemen after just three weeks, not good for an offensive line that started an NFL record 14 different offensive line combinations last year.
The Eagles are beaten and bruised after just three games. Monday’s defeat at the hands of the Cowboys showcased how far this team has fallen over the past few years, and the uphill battle they have to climb to be competitive again.
There’s plenty of stock to sell on this team, which may be heading towards a freefall as October begins.
Stock up
Javon Hargrave
What else is there to say about Hargrave at this point? The Eagles defensive tackle has been phenomenal through the first three games of the season, including two sacks, two quarterback hits and a tackle for loss Monday night. Hargrave led the Eagles with three pressures and finished with five tackles, including getting pressure on Dak Prescott that led to the fumble Fletcher Cox picked up for a score.
Double teamed most of the night, Hargrave turned in an excellent performance. He’s the first Eagles’ player to register two-plus sacks in two of the first three games of the season since Trent Cole in 2006. Hargrave leads all interior defensive linemen in defensive stops (17), pressures (14) and sacks (four). He’s been outstanding for the Eagles thus far.
Fletcher Cox
Just one pressure on the stat sheet, but Cox did make an impact that wasn’t in the box score. The Cowboys double teamed Cox and Javon Hargrave throughout the night, yet Cox was able to find his way into the backfield and make an impact — recovering a fumble for a touchdown.
The Cowboys double teamed Cox and Hargrave to get to the Eagles linebackers on inside runs, and they greatly succeeded in doing so. Cox did show he can still make an impact on the Eagles defense. The sack numbers and pressures will come.
Zach Ertz
It wasn’t much on the stat sheet, but Ertz finished with four catches for 53 yards and a touchdown — his first score since Week 1 of the 2020 season. Nice to see the Eagles target Ertz and Dallas Goedert throughout the night, as the duo combined for 119 receiving yards.
Arryn Siposs
When things are bad, the punter makes this list. Siposs deserves some praise after punting six times Monday night, two of which landed inside the Dallas 20-yard line. Siposs has six such punts after three games, which is tied for sixth in the NFL.
The Eagles took a gamble on Siposs this offseason — and it’s paid off.
Stock down
Jalen Hurts
Hurts turned in the worst performance of his young career, throwing two interceptions and not accumulating significant passing yards until the game was out of hand. Both of Hurts’ interceptions were on poor throws, the first on an underthrown ball and the second a result of staring down DeVonta Smith — making it easy for Trevon Diggs to read the quarterback and take the interception the other way for a touchdown.
Hurts was 9 of 10 on play-action passes, but the concept is ineffective when the Eagles don’t run the ball. The Eagles quarterback has his deficiencies, but the coaching staff isn’t putting him in the best position to succeed either.
Miles Sanders
Sanders shouldn’t be on this list, as he averaged 13.5 yards per carry. Here’s the problem: he had just two carries for 27 yards.
Sanders was completely abandoned — as was the entire run offense — as Eagles running backs totaled just three carries in the loss. That’s just unacceptable from Sirianni. The Eagles have to get Sanders involved in the offense more.
DeVonta Smith
Just a rough night for Smith, who recorded just three catches for 28 yards while being targeted six times. Diggs got the better of Smith throughout the night, as Smith had just two catches for nine yards with Diggs covering him.
Hurts had a 23.6 passer rating when targeting Smith, who seems to have hit a rookie wall, even though the Eagles are asking him to be the No. 1 wideout.
Landon Dickerson
Another poor night for Dickerson, who earned his first-career start filling in for the injured Brandon Brooks. In 53 pass blocking snaps, Dickerson allowed four pressures, including a sack and two hurries. He’s allowed nine pressures in 73 pass blocking snaps through two games. He also had an ineligible receiver downfield penalty on this strong throw from Hurts.
The Eagles clearly missed Brooks on the offensive line, as Dickerson isn’t ready for a starting role yet. The hope for the Eagles is Dickerson improves with more reps.
Nate Herbig
Herbig filled in for Seumalo and struggled, allowing two pressures on 18 pass blocking snaps. Herbig is the projected starter at left guard as Seumalo is done for the season, and he must perform better if he wants a future with the Eagles.
Patrick Johnson
Johnson played 28 snaps at linebacker, which was too many. The Eagles were trying anything to stop the Cowboys, but Johnson isn’t the answer there. He finished with three tackles and a run stop, while his missed tackle percentage was 33.3%.
Eric Wilson
Wilson has been a huge disappointment through three games. His tackling issues continued in the loss to Dallas, missing one and struggling to bring down ball carriers who came his way. Dallas clearly wanted to get to the second level and challenge Wilson, which worked. He finished with a missed tackle percentage of 16.7%.
Alex Singleton
Singleton recorded 10 tackles, but he was bulldozed and battered by Ezekiel Elliott throughout the game. The Eagles have issues stopping the run, and none became more evident than watching Singleton Monday night.
And while he’s usually strong in pass coverage, Singleton allowed two catches on both targets that came his way, one of which went for a touchdown.
Darius Slay
Rough night for Slay in coverage, but that was also due to lack of pressure on the quarterback. Slay was targeted in coverage seven times, allowing two touchdowns as Prescott had an 136.6 passer rating when throwing in Slay’s direction.
The good news for Slay? He allowed just six catches for 51 yards on the night, allowing just 7.3 yards per target. The touchdowns allowed certainly hurt Slay’s performance.
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