EAGLES- COWBOYS REVIEW

My thoughts on the devastating Eagles loss in Dallas on Sunday..

-Disgraceful call on the opening kick-off. The fumble that really was a fumble, but a football that no one claimed? Grugier-Hill had the ball, one of many Birds around the fumble. No Cowboys were around the loose  football. If the Eagles didn't recover the fumble who did?

That was a key call as it set the tone for the rest of the game. If the call is made correctly Philly gets the ball on the Dallas 18-yard line. We won't know if the offense would've taken the ball in for a shocking touchdown to start the game, but even a field goal puts the Birds in the lead and sets Dallas on its heels.

What's worse, the New York replay guys didn't get it right either. So were they in on the fix as well or are they equally inept?

Needless to say the refs had an awful afternoon, on both sides, but it seemed like the really key calls, the game-scoring plays, went the Cowboys' way. Did Jerry Jones pay off the officials and fix the game? Even if he didn't, were the refs intimidated by Jerry's World? Or was it the NFL wanting America's Team back in the playoffs?

- Listening to Cowboy fans now until next year will be brutal. Even if Dallas chokes in the upcoming playoffs, they will be NFC East champs and will have swept the Eagles. The old America's Team chants will resurface. Obnoxious Dallas fans, crawling out of the woodwork after being silent for so long, are boosting, even though Philadelphia won the Super Bowl last year.

Unless the Eagles somehow sneak into the post-season and face Dallas in a wild card game, there will be no redemption until next season. September seems so far away.

- Carson Wentz came up small. He played better in the 2nd half but in a game when he needed to come up big he didn't. He missed easy throws all afternoon. He looked indecisive at times. Is the knee still bothering him, physically or psychologically?

Bottom line is..this was Wentz' Super bowl a huge game which would've vaulted the Eagles into 1st place in the division and given them a real shot to defend their title in the playoffs. Instead, Wentz looked frustrated and flustered. engineering a comeback late.but clearly frustrated when he never got on the field in overtime.

- The Eagles' tackling continued to be brutal. What happens in practice? In training camp?

- The secondary was brutal again. Dallas picked on Sidney Jones  mercilessly. Hopefully he is still injured. I would hate to think he is that bad, considering his highly thought of status when the Eagles picked him in the second round a few years ago. Amari Cooper went by him like Jones was standing still. The secondary is clearly an issue and needs to be addressed by GM  Rossman  in the draft, in free agency and via trades.

- Speaking of Cooper, the Dallas organization was criticized for giving up a first round pick for the fleet wide receiver. But Cooper changed their season, giving Dallas the deep threat it lacked. The first round pick may have been too expensive but it looks like the pick will be in the high 20s. Cooper, still young at age 24, is worth the investment, especially since he immediately paid dividends.

Meanwhile the Eagles get WR Golden Tate for a third round selection and they are still trying to figure out how to use him. While former assistant coaches Frank Reich and John DiFillipo flourish e;elsewhere, Mike Groh and the other assistants stumble along with Doug Pederson in the Birds' offense.

- Is it any surprise that Philly's defense continues to get gashed by the Dallas running game? I've always hated the "wide-nine" scheme. They don't get the intense pass rush it is intended to get. Plus it allows teams to exploit the middle of the defense.

- Despite the refs' ineptitude, Dallas dominated in all ways. They had 13 possessions, far too much. They doubled the time of possession. The Eagles stunk on third down, both on offense and defense. In the biggest game of the season the Birds blew it. They played hard, as compared to looking non-chalont for parts of the season. The dreadful looses to Carolina, Tennessee and Tampa Bay came back to haunt them in the end.

- Why not try the hurry-up offense when Wentz & co. looked so lethargic in the first half? Too many 3-and-outs. Defense was on the field too long and ran out of gas at the end. Aside form the late deep pass to Agholor ( who made a great catch- the Eagles need to make him the speedy, outside deep threat next season)there was little down the field action. Everything was underneath to the tight ends or running backs, marginal 5-15 yard throws. Safe tosses for Wentz and even with those Wentz missed some easy tosses.

Using Agholor better or finding a fast burner to take the top off opposing defenses should be a priority in 2019.

- Hindsight is 20/20. When Pederson elected to kick the extra point at the end of regulation instead of trying for a two-point conversion to go ahead, I agreed. If you miss the conversion, Dallas runs the clock out, since the birds only had one timeout left.

The concerning thing is that the conversion turned out to be only a one-yard try instead of two yards, due to a Dallas penalty. Pederson of last year would've gone for the victory. Did he turtle-up in the clutch?

- Special teams made a difference. Eagles kicker Elliot missed a crucial extra point in the first half, which haunted the team form then on. Meanwhile Dallas made a hectic, end of the half 63-yard field goal, a franchise record.  The bend but don't break philosophy of defensive coordinator Schwartz , playing too soft in the secondary, allows teams to move the ball. Sometimes field goals can be just as big as touchdowns, depending on the situation.

The miss was Elliot's first of the season, and although Elliot has converted clutch kicks since last year, he has botched easier tries. The missed extra point was a killer.

- Ex-Governor Ed Randell went off on Post -Game Live, using profanity that was not bleeped. He cares and he has passion, so I don't fault him. It's a shame how they have put Rendell off to the side in the studio. I agree, he thinks he knows more football than he does, but to have the panel in one location, and lonely Rendell by himself, is a shame.

I still enjoy Ray Didinger and Seth Joyner on the post-game show, and look forward to their commentary and assessments.

- -It's stupid but I would've call heads on the overtime coin toss. Lane Johnson called tails for the Eagles. The Cowboys won the toss, took the ball, scored a touchdown and the Eagles never saw the ball. The game was lost in many other ways but losing the coin toss didn't help. The defense was dog-tired and was forced to go back on field at the end, after Dallas ran an incredible 93 plays all day.

- I can't blame Rasul Douglas for going for the ball at the end. It was bad luck that he tipped it and the ball bounced right to Cooper,who strolled into the end zone. Overtime was strange because it is only 10 minutes long now and the Cowboys  had the ball for the first eight minutes. Even if they kicked a field goal, the birds would've gotten the ball back to either tie or go ahead with one last drive, but if the clock ran out they would not have gotten that shot. If Dallas got a first down near the goal line at the end, the Cowboys could've bled the clock and booted a game-winning field goal . So Douglas' effort was smart, even if he did allow Cooper behind him for the touchdown.

- Why did the Eagles defer to begin the game? Last week they got the ball first and scored a touchdown against the Redskins. But, after winning the toss in Dallas, why not take the ball and ram it down Dallas' throats?

Luckily, there weren't too many shot of evil Jerry Jones celebrating in his box. The Dallas owner has his yes-men around him, all smiles, and I felt like throwing-up. Whether he fixed the game or not, whether he intimidated the refs or the league or not, I don't need to see Jones and his cronies yukking it up.

Also, when push comes to shove, no matter how good he is at analyzing the game. former Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman  is still a Cowboy at heart, disagreeing on several calls which went against Dallas, and not vocal enough when Philadelphia was screwed. I like Aikman as a color guy, far more than fellow ex-Cowboy broadcasters Romo and Witten, but hate him when he is doing a Dallas game.

Unfortunately, with the Cowboy resurrection we will see even more of America's Team next season in prime-time as the networks milk their resurgence.

- Finally, it was an embarrassment for the Eagles to celebrate after their first touchdown. Humiliating. A disgrace. The Eagles were still losing at the point. It showed how the team and organization celebrated too much all year, were fat and sassy and full of themselves. Dallas players went over and tried to break up the celebration in the back of the end zone, rightfully so.  All of it was planned and it seemed contrived and phony. I was ashamed to be an Eagle fan when it happened. Wentz should've taken control, Pederson should've screamed at the players coming off the field. and owner Jeff Lurie should be pissed and embarrassed.

- So what does it all mean? Dallas goes to 8-5 and will win the East. No team has won the East in consecutive years since the 2004 Eagles. If form holds true, Dallas won't win it next year. The Eagles dropped to 6-7, two games behind Dallas and lose the tie-breaker by getting swept by the Cowboys. Philly has faint hope of getting a wild card berth. They would need to run the table by winning their final three games and going 9-7.  That won't happen as the Eagles play the Rams next week in LA, face a  9-4 Houston team at the Linc before Christmas, then finish at Washington.

I hate the fact that the Eagles may not get a chance to defend their title in the post-season but it's their own fault. A month ago they had the chance to beat Dallas at home on Sunday Night Football and they choked.  They played hard in Dallas but too many times this season they looked unmotivated, fat and sassy and didn't play hard enough.

So in 2019 they get a higher draft pick, easier schedule and maybe come back more motivated. They have a a boatload of picks next spring.Not as much fun as winning a Super Bowl, having a parade and basking in the glow for ten months, but it is what it is.