Eagles Fumble Away a Victory in Dallas

Wendell Smallwood 4th Quarter Fumble. Image Courtesy: NBC10.com

• The Philadelphia Eagles would be sitting pretty at 5-2 and tied for 1st place in the NFC East if last nights game was 56 minutes and 47 seconds long, but that is not real life and just like last week this fan-base can not have nice things!  There are a couple of resorts to place the blame on for the L, but without a doubt the biggest reason far and away the Eagles lost to the Dallas Cowboys last night was that quote, unquote "very special guy"!  I'm not calling for his job but Head Coach Doug Pederson let a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter slip away as the Cowboys were able to drive down the field on the first possession in overtime and score a touchdown to a wide open Jason Witten, Tight End of the Cowboys.   Final score of the game was Dallas 29 Eagles 23 in Overtime, but if this game were coached properly the Eagles would've won by double digits and I will explain.

• Doug Pederson's Coaching Follies 

• Not Stretching The Field - In the NFL there is a theory that if you throw the ball down the field you can keep the defense honest and make them vulnerable by opening up the field and giving yourself more space.  Well, Eagles Rookie QB Carson Wentz never threw the ball for more than 20 yards down the field the entire game.  Yet WR Josh Huff threw a deep pass to WR Jordan Matthews on a trick play that was almost completed for a Touchdown, but that play should've never happened and I will get to that in my next point on Pederson's play calling.  Wentz was 32/43 passing yet he threw for 202 yards, an average of 6.3 yards per completion, making him captain check-down.  Doug must have read Les Bonehead's...I mean Les Bowen's piece on not throwing the ball down the field which is the opposite of what he should be doing.  I have been saying for weeks that Eagles should take shots down the field with WR Dorial Green-Beckham, who at 6'5 runs a 4.5 40, and the aforementioned Josh Huff, who has track star speed similar to former Eagle Desean Jackson, just to keep defenses on their toes.  Green-Beckham and Huff don't have the best hands, but it does not matter if it is an incomplete pass, they just need to let the Cowboys defense knows that they could go over the top of them and that will open more of the field for the offense to work with.

• Play Calling/Game Strategy Late in Game - As I have made abundantly clear above not stretching the field falls in this category, but I have 3 specific examples of decisions that cost the game.  
• 1.) With 13:05 remaining in the 4th Quarter as the Eagles offense started on their own 41 yard line with a 23-13 lead.  Rookie RB Wendell Small saw his first action of the game and he fumbled the ball in the backfield of the first play and Dallas recovered the ball and would go on to kick a Field Goal to cut the Eagles lead from 10 to 7.  I have been a big component of getting Smallwood carries but you can't leave a rookie cold and throw him in, in late in a big game to run down the clock.  RB Darren Sproles had been surprisingly effective as the lead back all game, at that point you have to stick to what you know.  This is now the 3rd time in 4 weeks an Eagles Running back has fumbled the ball in situations where they were trying to seal a game and twice it has cost them W's.
• 2.) Dallas resorted to trick plays twice in this game because their backs were against the wall and they were pressing.  One was a fake punt run in which they were successful and the other was a screen pass to Cowboys WR Cole Beasley, who overthrew an open Terrance Williams.  The Eagles were driving down the field, converting a couple first downs with 8 minutes left in the game with the lead and they ruined their rhythm by pulling out the same trick play the Cowboys did.  Here I am referring to the play I mentioned above, the Huff to Matthews TD attempt.  Even though the play almost worked it showed a sign of weakness in Pederson's play calling as he wanted to do what the Cowboys did instead of being conventional and moving the ball the way they had been successful most of the game.
• 3.) The Eagles defense played well most of the night, holding one of the best offenses in check and towards the end of regulation the Eagles got a big momentum swing when they could've used it most and didn't capitalize.  On the Cowboys last possession of the game that began with 38 seconds left the Eagles forced and incomplete pass followed by a huge 10 yard sack of Cowboys Rookie QB Dak Prescott with 33 seconds left.  The issues here is the Eagles still had all of their timeouts and could've have forced to cowboys to run a couple more plays deep in their own side of the field maybe forcing them to make a mistake or have to punt to one of the best punt returners in the game Darren Sproles who was on fire most of the game.  Instead the Cowboys did not attempt another play as they just let the time expire and head into overtime giving the Cowboys a potential momentum swing by receiving the ball to start OT, eventually winning the game on that possession.

• To end on a positive note and give a little bit of hope past the glaring negatives of last nights Eagles loss there were a couple of positives that should be noted that could benefit this team in the future. 
• Defense/Jim Schwartz play calling - The Eagles defense was able to contain the best running back in the league, Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliot, and the Cowboys offense as a whole in general.  When it mattered most Eagles Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz dialed up blitzes with his defensive backs and trust the corners in 1-on-1 coverage against a decent set of Cowboys wide receivers, including Dez Bryant.
• Darren Sproles - Even though I am not a huge believer in giving Eagles RB Darren Sproles lead back carries he took advantage of the opportunity running for 86 yards on 15 carries averaging 5.7 YPC.
• Carson Wentz - As I will mention again, Wentz was 32/43 passing for 202 yards with 1 Touchdown and 0 interceptions.  It is not a beautiful stat line but there is a slight silver lining to more than the box score.  6 of the 11 incompletions for Wentz were dropped by his receivers, who as a whole unit have been sub-par at best and Wentz could only throw the ball as much as the play calling of his coaches offered so he made the most of what little freedom he was given and was mistake free.
• Lack of Penalties - The Eagles have been one of the worst teams in football with penalties but they were mostly a non-factor in the loss as they only had 5 penalties for 40 yards as to where the Cowboys had 11 penalties for 84 yards.
• Offensive Line Play - The Eagles O-Line virtually committed no penalties, which they had been accustom to doing in the previous weeks and gave Carson time in the pocket....to throw the ball 5 yards (Womp-Womp.)  Thanks Doug!

• The Eagles now fall to 4-3 and travel north to the Meadowlands in New Jersey to play a MUST-WIN game against the New York Giants on Sunday afternoon.  Do the Eagles make a move to acquire a Wide Receiver by Tuesday's trade deadline?  More to come...