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Eagles put up a big dud in Big D

Adrian Fedkiw|

Doug Pederson guaranteed a win on Monday.

Thirty minutes in against Dallas, Pederson faced his largest first half deficit as Philadelphia Eagles head coach.

It was a big dud in Big D.

The Eagles’ slow starts continued as two early turnovers helped spot the Cowboys a quick 14-0 lead as Dallas ripped Philadelphia apart 37-10 on Sunday night at AT&T Stadium.

“It starts with me,” Pederson said. “This is one of those games that I take personal from that standpoint. I’ve got to get that fixed.”

Yes you do.

Pederson shook up trends in an attempt to jumpstart the team in the first quarter. He took the opening kickoff and didn’t defer to the second half. Instead, Dallas Goedert fumbled five plays in after a promising early wave of snaps. This led to a Tavon Austin 20-yard touchdown run in which he took a option pitch from Dak Prescott along the right boundary.

DeMarcus Lawrence beat Lane Johnson around the edge for his first ever sack against Philadelphia two plays later, stripping Wentz and aiding Dallas en route to Ezekiel Elliott’s 1-yard TD scamper.

Just like that it was 14-0.

Just like that the Eagles had to scrap from behind.

AGAIN.

Except this time they went down with a whimper. Dallas Goedert hauled in a 28-yard score down the seam to trim the margin in half and a Derek Barnett sack took Dallas out of field-goal range on its ensuing possession. The Eagles, though, ran the ball three straight times and never came within sneaking distance of the Cowboys again. Miles Sanders was unable to obtain a 3rd-and-4.

Dallas proceeded to go on a 12-play, 75-yard march and capped it with Blake Jarwin’s 1-yard TD catching, vaulting the advantage to 21-7 Dallas at the midway point of the second. The Cowboys added two more field goals, including Brett Maher’s 63-yard bomb to close the half.

27-7 Dallas.

The Boys ran all over the Eagles, averaging 5.3 yards per carry and totaling 189 yards on 36 carries. Elliott carried the ball 22 times for 111 yards, a healthy five yards per clip. Amari Cooper, who torched the Eagles for 217 yards and three touchdowns last year, caught 5 balls for 105 yards.

The Cowboys finished 8-of-14 on third down and not only were they moving the sticks, they were demoralizing conversions for the Eagles’ defense as they had them behind the chains on a few of them. Philly can’t figure out a way to get off the field on 3rd-and-long, that’s not only the cornerbacks but the lass of pass rush from the defensive line.

The slow starts have been on repeat from seven weeks. Last year the Eagles had the fourth quarter blown leads on a loop until figuring that out near the end of the year. The defense allowed an opening drive touchdown for a fifth time in seven games and the offense put up a doughnut in the first quarter for the fifth time in seven contests.

It’s ugly and Pederson is shouldering the blame.

We’ll see if he can dig the Eagles out of this mess.

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