Eagles at Cowboys: 16 winners, 2 losers, 2 IDKs

The Philadelphia Eagles are 7-2 after beating the Dallas Cowboys.

I don’t care that Dak Prescott (who has stunk this year anyway) wasn’t playing; Eagles wins over the Cowboys shouldn’t be taken for granted. Especially when they haven’t won at AT&T Stadium since 2017.

Time to hand out some winners, losers, and IDKs.

ZACK BAUN
The thought struck me on Sunday afternoon: is Zack Baun the best Eagles linebacker … ever?!

I’m aware it sounds hyperbolic. And, look, I was born in 1991, my memory of watching the Eagles goes back to the early 2000s.

But I feel like Baun is the best Eagles linebacker I’ve ever watched.

He’s an absolute beast.

Really, is there anything he can’t do?

Baun has looked great in coverage. So much so that I nearly mistook him for a defensive back the way he gained depth to break up a pass against the Jacksonville Jaguars last week. He’s allowed just a 72.6 passer rating when targeted. Pro Football Focus has him graded as their second-best linebacker in coverage this season … only slightly behind FRED WARNER.

Baun is dominant against against the run. He leads all NFL linebackers in defensive stops, which are tackles that constitute a failure for the offense. He has 40. Three players are tied for second with 36 … and they’ve all played one more game than Baun has.

Baun is physical. He hits hard! Baun had two forced fumbles in this game to bring him up to three this season. Only one linebacker has more: FRED WARNER. One of Baun’s forced fumbles came in a pretty key spot, too, with the Cowboys well positioned to score from 2nd-and-goal at the 3-yard line if not for him knocking the ball out.

Baun can rush the passer. This one comes as no surprise since he’s spent time as an edge rusher. He has two sacks and seven total pressures.

Baun is a stud. Forget Pro Bowl, this dude belongs on the All-Pro team at this rate.

Extend this man’s contract, Howie Roseman.

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VIC FANGIO
It took 56 plays for the Cowboys to produce 146 yards. That’s 2.6 yards per play. For context, the worst offense in the NFL this season is averaging 4.2 yards per play (Cleveland Browns).

The Eagles allowed six points on two field goals and both of those Cowboys scores came on short fields. The first was when a KaVontae Turpin kick return allowed Dallas to start at their own 40-yard line. The second was when Jalen Hurts’ fumble allowed Dallas to take over six yards away from the end zone.

Fangio’s defense has now prevented three out of the Eagles’ last five opponents from scoring a touchdown. After allowing four touchdowns to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4, the Eagles have allowed just four total touchdowns in five games since.

Playing bad quarterbacks/offenses certainly helps. But that’s still an impressive feat regardless of opponent. The level to which the Eagles’ defense has dominated is not merely a given.

After some struggles earlier this season, Fangio’s defense has really come together. It’ll be interesting to see how his unit fares against better quarterbacks. At the very least, there should confidence that the defense can handle their end of the bargain and keep games winnable for the offense to do their part.

Based on EPA per drive, that was the best defensive performance by any team in a game this season.

13 possessions: 5 takeaways, no touchdowns allowed. https://t.co/E1AWUkqguL

— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) November 11, 2024

More from ESPN Research: The 49 passing yards for the Cowboys are their fewest in a game since their 2001 season opener against the Buccaneers (28 passing yards).

— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) November 11, 2024

JALEN HURTS
It was an uneven start for Hurts, who was guilty of holding the ball too long at times en route to taking five sacks. Hurts also turned the ball over twice with an interception in the end zone and a fumble. Some have excused the pick as merely a great play by Trevon Diggs. While the Cowboys’ cornerback does indeed deserve credit, that didn’t look like it was 0% on Hurts. And the fumble was a case of him only having one hand on the ball, which he’s gotten burned by earlier this season.

Regardless of how you specifically parse blame, the big picture takeaway is that the Eagles should’ve been up more than one possession against a Cowboys defense allowing the second-most points in the league. The quarterback and, subsequently, the offense needed to be sharper than they were early on.

Hurts deserves credit for rebounding with a strong two-minute drive to give the Eagles a 14 to 6 lead entering halftime. He did a really nice job of sidestepping pressure and delivering a touchdown pass to Dallas Goedert. He also managed the pocket well on his touchdown throw to Johnny Wilson, stepping up and delivering a strike after surveying the field. Oh, and his 44-yard completion to A.J. Brown down the right sideline was a thing of beauty with the ball placed right on the receiver’s hands.

Following his second giveaway, Hurts posted the following numbers: 8/13 (61.5%), 110 yards (8.5 average), 2 TD, 0 INT, 128.2 passer rating … two runs, 32 yards, TD. His success allowed the Eagles to pull their starters early in the fourth quarter to rest ahead of Thursday’s game against the Washington Commanders.

Jalen Hurts has 1+ rushing TD in 4 straight games, which is tied for the 2nd-longest streak ever by an Eagles QB, trailing only Michael Vick in 2010 (5, including playoffs).

— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) November 11, 2024

Jalen Hurts is the second Eagles QB since the 1970 NFL merger to record a 100+ passer rating in 5 consecutive games. (First: Carson Wentz in 2018)

— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) November 11, 2024

Jalen Hurts is the first NFL QB since the 1970 merger to produce a 100+ passer rating and 1+ rushing TD in 4 consecutive games.#Eagles

— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) November 11, 2024

SAQUON BARKLEY
His longest play was only 12 yards. What a bum!

Of course, that play involved him making multiple defenders miss to turn a third down catch way short of the sticks into a first down:

He’s simply too good.

The Eagles did well to manage Barkley’s workload as much as possible. He only had fewer touches in one game this season (the blowout loss to the Bucs).

And yet he still pitched in with 78 yards from scrimmage.

A.J. BROWN
Boringly excellent: seven targets, five receptions, 109 yards (21.8).

Serious question: what can A.J. do that’ll actually be interesting/surprising at this point?

He’s never had more than 181 yards in a game. So, would be nice to see him top that and get in the 200s. Also maybe his first-ever four-plus touchdown game. He’s never completed a pass (two attempts) so that could be fun for him to do.

QUINYON MITCHELL
I thought this clip that friend of BGN Pat Gallen posted prior to Sunday’s game was interesting:

Baun got the most votes but Q got a lot of love as well. And veteran players aren’t always so quick to show serious respect to rookies.

That much further speaks to how advanced Mitchell is as a rookie. The Cowboys tried to test him multiple times and it didn’t prove to be fruitful. Mitchell logged two passes defensed. The way he limited Jalen Brooks to getting just one foot in while pushing him out of bounds was pretty impressive. So was when he deflected a ball at the catch point.

Q’s a legitimate lockdown corner.

He won’t win Defensive Rookie of the Year because it’s a counting stats award, but the best rookie defender in football is Quinyon Mitchell

— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) November 10, 2024

Quinyon Mitchell consistently in great position and battles every week!

— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) November 10, 2024

COOPER DEJEAN
Much like Mitchell, DeJean impresses on a weekly basis with how advanced he is for a rookie.

DeJean tied with Baun for a team-high three “stops” in this game, according to PFF’s charting. One of those came when he made an open field tackle on CeeDee Lamb, which just isn’t an easy thing to do. And he’s doing that just a couple weeks after making a big open field tackle on Ja’Marr Chase for a fourth down stop. DeJean is for real.

And that’s just mentioning his effort on defense. He also had a 31-yard punt return that set the offense up at the plus 37-yard line for a touchdown drive that allowed Philly to take a 15-point lead.

PS: Also thought DeJean’s fumble recovery in the end zone was an underrated play. Good awareness and a controlled effort to get on top of the bouncing ball.

JALEN CARTER
Carter led the Eagles in pressures with four. He was visibly disruptive out there, ultimately logging four total tackles, two solo tackles, two quarterback hits, one TFL, and half a sack.

JOHNNY WILSON
When the Eagles drafted Wilson, there was thought that the 6’6”, 230 pound receiver might be able to contribute as a red zone threat. Ater having a touchdown called back due to offensive pass interference last week, Wilson found his first score in Dallas. His size worked to his advantage with the Cowboys unable to prevent his long reach from grabbing Hurts’ throw into the end zone.

The bad news for Wilson is that it’ll cost him his hair.

The Eagles were very excited for Johnny Wilson to get his first TD. But now he has to pay up on a deal he made with Jalen Hurts in the summer.

Wilson now has to cut his long, bouncy hair.

“Make sure you tell him the cost,” Hurts said to Wilson in the locker room.

— Dave Zangaro (@DZangaroNBCS) November 11, 2024

C.J. GARDNER-JOHNSON
CJGJ remained in the game after a number of defensive starters were pulled since the Eagles only had three active safeties. He took advantage of third-string quarterback Trey Lance entering the game by picking off a downfield throw. That’s two interceptions for CJGJ in the Eagles’ past three games.

ISAIAH RODGERS
Rodgers has done well when he’s had to fill in for Darius Slay; he’s allowed just a 42.1 passer rating allowed when targeted. He also has 14 total tackles with zero misses, which is good.

DALLAS GOEDERT
Goedert’s first game back after missing three weeks went reasonably well with two grabs for 25 yards and a touchdown.

DEVONTA SMITH
The box score only shows two catches for 14 yards on three targets but he would’ve had a bigger day had 1) Hurts not missed some throws to him and 2) the Cowboys not kept holding him. DeVonta drew multiple penalties that gave the Eagles first downs.

JAHAN DOTSON
He’s heating up?! After making an acrobatic 36-yard grab last week, Dotson had a nice back-shoulder reception for 27 yards in this one. Perhaps Hurts is finally starting to trust him? Even if just a little bit?

MILTON WILLIAMS
Williams’ fumble recovery was a bit of a gift with Cooper Rush bobbling the snap but kudos to him for managing to rip the ball away. That’s the first takeaway of his career and he deserves some attention for that.

JALYX HUNT
Hunt saw the most playing time of his career and it didn’t just come in garbage time; he’s a legitimate part of the pass rush rotation now. While the rookie didn’t manage to log any pressures, he did manage to get a finger on a Rush pass that made the ball wobble and nearly get picked off by Nakobe Dean. Considering his lack of experience, Hunt stands to benefit from seeing more playing time.

LOSERS
THE COWBOYS
If there was any hope remaining for the Cowboys doing something meaningful this season (there wasn’t), well, it’s definitely gone now.

Dallas has lost four straight to drop to 3-6.

Prescott’s reportedly out for the season.

Jerry Jones is out here talking about the moon.

A frustrated Jerry Jones had some comments about the sun impacting play at AT&T Stadium: “By the way, we know where the sun is going to be when we decide to flip the coin or not. We do know where the damn sun is going to be in our own stadium.”

Why not put up curtains over the… pic.twitter.com/28skNrZYBq

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) November 11, 2024

Mike McCarthy is a lame duck finishing out the last year of his contract and the Cowboys’ best player doesn’t exactly seem sad to see him go out this way.

Micah Parsons when asked if he’s motivated to win because of Mike McCarthy status:
“Mike can leave and go wherever he wants. Guys I kind of feel bad for (are) guys like Zack Martin & guys who might be on their last year or on their way out. Because that’s who I wanted to hold the…

— Ed Werder (@WerderEdNFL) November 11, 2024

Here’s a sampling of headlines over at Blogging The Boys:

It’s been a long time since the Cowboys have had a season this bad
Dallas Cowboys set worst kind of NFL history in embarrassing loss to Philadelphia Eagles
Dallas Cowboys lose to Philadelphia Eagles recap: Historical low for 3-6 Cowboys team

The Cowboys are a mess. And it’s great.

For now, at least.

It will not be so enjoyable if they nail their next coaching hire. I’m also worried that they’re going to get a high enough draft pick to select Ashton Jeanty, who seems awesome enough to actually justify taking a running back with an early pick.

But that’s a potential future problem, not a current problem.

KENNY PICKETT
Tough for Pickett to be catching a stray here but, I mean, two of his three pass attempts in garbage time this season have been pretty bad misses. With these miscues following training/camp preseason struggles, QB2 isn’t inspiring much confidence.

I DON’T KNOWS
BRYCE HUFF
The positive: Huff had a strip-sack and a TFL!

The negative: Huff didn’t play his first snap until 13:37 remaining in the second quarter. And he only played 12 total snaps after seeing just six last weekend.

I don’t know how much we should buy into Huff’s injury limiting his playing time. But apparently that’s a thing:

Bryce Huff says he’s still managing the wrist injury he sustained during warmups last week. That played into why he wasn’t first out with nickel packages.

“Somewhat. I think they just want me to protect it and not take on as many straight-forward blocks.”

— Brooks Kubena (@BKubena) November 11, 2024

DARIUS SLAY
Slay had two pass breakups in just 24 snaps played. That’s pretty good. He entered this game with five passes defensed in seven starts.

I don’t know where Slay is currently at availability-wise, though. After missing Week 9 due to a knee injury, the veteran cornerback was in and out of the lineup against the Cowboys with an ankle issue. Is he going to be able to start in Week 11? Should the Eagles rest him for a bit to try to get him to 100%? Can Slay, who turns 34 in January, manage to stay healthy?