Cowboys vs. Eagles: Full Report Card Grades for Philadelphia
Talk about a back-and-forth game. With the NFC East division title—and possibly even a first-round bye in the playoffs—on the line, the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys battled for 60 hard-fought minutes. Dallas’ 21-0 lead was wiped out when Philadelphia scored 24 unanswered points; the Cowboys then pulled away and handed the Eagles a 38-27 loss on Sunday Night Football.
It was an absolutely devastating loss for an Eagles club that has to have serious doubts about its playoff spot in the NFC; should the season end now, this team would not be playing in January. The year can still be salvaged by winning the final two contests—an away matchup at Washington and then away at the New York Giants—and if the Cowboys lose either hosting Indianapolis or at Washington, Philadelphia will still win the division by virtue of better division record.
"Eagles not in playoffs right now. Cowboys lead division. Even if Eagles win last 2 games, need Cowboys to lose to Colts or Lions lose last 2
— John Clark CSN (@JClarkCSN) December 15, 2014 "
The problem is that this epitomizes serious flaws in this Eagles team; Chip Kelly has his team at 9-5, but he’s 1-5 against playoff-caliber teams in the NFC, losing to San Francisco, Arizona, Green Bay, Seattle and Dallas. It’s difficult to envision Philadelphia going on the road in January—with Mark Sanchez at quarterback—and getting past the mighty Packers or Seahawks.
The Eagles will have to shake this loss off and move on, with a short week coming before a game against the Redskins. For now, here are game grades for the disappointing loss against the Cowboys.
Quarterback
1 of 8
Any honeymoon period involving Philadelphia Eagles fans and Mark Sanchez is long gone. The sixth-year quarterback just isn’t good enough, and when Nick Foles is cleared to return from his collarbone injury, there’s a good chance the coaching staff will turn the offense back over to him.
Sanchez threw two more interceptions, now giving him more games this season with multiple turnovers (four) than without (three). He didn’t throw a touchdown, and he missed open receivers all throughout the game.
"Mark Sanchez: "I'm better than that. We've got to take ownership of this, and it starts with the quarterback. I've got to be a lot better."
— Reuben Frank (@RoobCSN) December 15, 2014 "
He threw poorly to Zach Ertz at the end of the third quarter, resulting in a diving interception by Dallas safety J.J. Wilcox. He completely missed a wide-open Brent Celek early in the fourth quarter. And his final interception was just gift-wrapped to linebacker Bruce Carter.
Sanchez’s final passing yardage total is heavily inflated by one play.
"Nearly half (45 percent) of Sanchez's 161 passing yards came on the one short pass that Maclin turned into a 72-yarder.
— Reuben Frank (@RoobCSN) December 15, 2014"
His 60.4 passer rating is a big reason why the Eagles lost, and he was sacked four times as well. It wasn’t a good day for Sanchez, who could have just started his last game with the team.
Grade: D-
Running Backs
2 of 8
This unit scored a trifecta of touchdowns tonight, although the way in which they were scored was unusual.
Third-year back Chris Polk seems to have cemented himself as the new goal-line back, carrying the ball twice and scoring on both touches. He became the first running back since Brandon Jacobs in 2006 to carry the ball just twice and score multiple touchdowns.
Darren Sproles added another rushing touchdown, giving him six touchdowns on the ground this season, double his previous season best. Sproles finished with just five touches in all.
Meanwhile, last year’s rushing champion, LeSean McCoy, has seen his workload decrease significantly in each of the past two contests.
"Over the last 5 years, the fewest snaps LeSean McCoy has had in a game he's played in is 35. He did that twice. Last week and tonight.
— Nathan Jahnke (@PFF_NateJahnke) December 15, 2014 "
Could this be a sign of a change in Philadelphia? After all, McCoy is slated to earn $11.95 million next season, per Spotrac, and that’s a lot of money to pay for any one player.
McCoy’s statistics Sunday night were mundane, as he carried 16 times for 64 yards. In all, the backfield accumulated just 75 yards on 21 carries, although there were three touchdowns scored.
Grade: B
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
3 of 8
The passing game never really got going, but that’s much more to do with Mark Sanchez’s struggles in passing than it was the wide receivers and tight ends failing to get open.
Jeremy Maclin had four catches for 98 yards, picking up most of those yards on a 72-yard catch-and-carry down the right sideline. Riley Cooper had his usual unspectacular output, putting up 17 yards on two grabs. Jordan Matthews was injured early and missed some time. He failed to hold onto an errant Sanchez pass in the red zone; it would have been a tough catch, as the pass was overthrown, but it probably needed to be made.
Josh Huff showed flashes when he picked up 44 yards on a simple slant that resulted in three broken tackles. He also had a drop.
Brent Celek made the most costly mistake of the day, losing a fumble midway through the fourth quarter that ultimately sealed the Eagles’ fate. It overshadowed Celek’s solid receiving day (four catches for 52 yards). Zach Ertz had three catches for 32 yards and an impressive play in which he hurtled a defender.
Grade: C+
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Offensive Line
4 of 8
It wasn’t the finest day for the offensive line, as Mark Sanchez was sacked four times, the running game picked up just 75 yards, and two different starters each committed penalties.
Two of Sanchez’s sacks may have been his fault, and there were some strong blocking plays, most notably Evan Mathis bulldozing two players on Chris Polk’s first touchdown run.
Still, the penalties were unacceptable—Jason Peters was called for a false start and Jason Kelce had a holding penalty that wiped out a first down. In all, this unit didn’t make or break the game, and probably did more good than bad.
Grade: C+
Defensive Line
5 of 8
Early on, the Philadelphia Eagles weren’t getting a lot of pressure on Tony Romo, but that changed as the game went on.
Fletcher Cox continued to stake his claim as the NFL’s best 3-4 defensive end not named J.J. Watt; he officially finished with three tackles (two solo) and a tackle for loss, but he also had a sack wiped out due to a penalty, and he recovered a fumble.
Cox did all of this against an incredibly tough combination of left tackle Tyron Smith and left guard Zack Martin, and he led all Eagles defensive players in Win Probability Added (0.16) for the game, according to Advanced NFL Stats.
Pass-rushing specialist Vinny Curry registered another sack, forcing a fumble (which Cox recovered).
"Vinny Curry now has five sacks in his last six games and nine in his last 11.
— Brett Strohsacker (@BStrohEagles) December 15, 2014"
Cedric Thornton picked up his first sack of the 2014 campaign, also getting seven tackles and a quarterback hit. Nose tackle Bennie Logan left briefly due to a shoulder injury, but he later returned and helped outside linebacker Connor Barwin pick up a huge stuff of DeMarco Murray on a key 3rd-and-1 with nine minutes left in the game. Logan had two tackles for a loss in all.
Grade: B
Linebackers
6 of 8
Connor Barwin led this crew once again, picking up a team-high nine tackles (five solo), a sack, a quarterback hit and that huge stuff of DeMarco Murray midway through the fourth quarter. He’s now at a ridiculous 14.5 sacks for the season.
Casey Matthews was second on the team with eight tackles. Brandon Graham came in when Trent Cole got hurt and was a one-man wrecking crew, twice dragging down Murray behind the line of scrimmage for losses. Cole had two tackles of his own and a stuff.
As a unit, the defense allowed Murray to run for 81 yards on 31 carries; the 2.6-yards-per-carry average would indicate a clear victory for the Eagles, but Murray did score twice, and any time a running back gets 30-plus carries, his team likely won the game.
Not surprisingly, first-round pick Marcus Smith’s name was nowhere to be found on the official stat sheet.
Grade: B
Secondary
7 of 8
It’s easy to blame Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher for this one, and the pair deserve a lot of credit. Williams was flagged for a ridiculous three penalties, while Fletcher pulled off the dubious achievement of getting beat by Dez Bryant for not one, not two, but three touchdowns.
That was the difference in the game; Fletcher simply couldn’t match up with Bryant, to the point that the Philadelphia Eagles eventually started shadowing Williams on Bryant (and it’s not as if Williams is Darrelle Revis).
To be fair, it seemed a questionable decision by Eagles defensive coordinator Billy Davis to leave Fletcher on an island one-on-one with Bryant; Fletcher’s physical limitations against an All-Pro talent like Bryant are enough to swing the game directly in the Cowboys’ favor, and that’s exactly what happened.
"Fletcher is not good, but at the same time, it is Billy Davis who insists on putting him out on an island. #eagles
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) December 15, 2014"
Outside of Bryant, the wide receivers and tight ends were held pretty much in check, but the damage Bryant did to this secondary was enough. He was simply uncoverable, finishing with six catches for 114 yards and three touchdowns, and he would have had at least 25 more yards if Tony Romo hadn’t missed him on an easy throw.
Malcolm Jenkins had a fine game, finishing with eight tackles, including a big four-yard stuff of DeMarco Murray.
Grade: F
Special Teams
8 of 8
Special teams cost the Philadelphia Eagles right from the beginning, as miscommunication between kick returners Josh Huff and Brad Smith led to Dallas recovering its own kickoff inside the Philadelphia 20; that’s an absolutely unfathomable scenario that should never happen under any circumstance.
"Josh Huff took complete blame for what happened on the opening kickoff. #Eagles
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) December 15, 2014"
It appeared to be Huff’s fault, and he was officially charged with the lost fumble.
Kicker Cody Parkey was perfect on field-goal attempts, as expected. Punter Donnie Jones boomed a 68-yarder and finished with three for 156 yards (a 52.0-yard average).
Grade: C-
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