Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles recap: Cowboys blown out 41-7, improve draft order chances

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It always made sense that the Dallas Cowboys would call off the horses of competitiveness, so to speak, once they were formally eliminated from playoff contention. That is fair.

Obviously the Cowboys were eliminated ahead of their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week, but the news of it all happened so close to kickoff that it was also fair that Dallas went about the approach they had all week long in preparation. They played hard, they won and that was that.

I’m not saying that the Cowboys folded on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles or that the 41-7 blowout the division rival handed them was intentional in any stretch. The Eagles worked the Cowboys in just about every single sense and did so with their second- and third-string quarterbacks operating things at different points in time.

But it clearly seemed like a less-than-full effort from the Cowboys, even if that was just a result of the attrition that this season has had on everyone from top to bottom.

Dallas never stood a chance on Sunday, but they never stood a chance on Sunday because of many Sundays and Mondays and Wednesdays and whatever-other-days before then. It was not a fight, just a formality that just about everyone knew the result of ahead of time.

Below you will find our quarter by quarter recap of the penultimate game of the season for the Dallas Cowboys. This season is, mercifully, almost over.

1st Quarter

The Eagles won the toss and deferred which set the Cowboys offense up to work first.

Initially Cooper Rush looked like he has in all of his starts so far. He was calm, cool, collected and taking mostly low-hanging fruit.

It was on 3rd and 3 that Rush pressed and did so in a very wrong way. He tried to force one and instead found CJ Gardner-Johnson who took it all the way back for a touchdown.

It would have been easy for the Cowboys to feel like the early mishap was a sign of things to come, but they have shown that they are not the kind of team who is going to just fold up shop and quit this season.

Across 12 total plays the Cowboys responded by traveling 65 yards with Cooper Rush finding Jalen Tolbert in the endzone to cap it off. With his touchdown earlier in the season in Pittsburgh, Tolbert officially scored in every game in Pennsylvania in 2024.

Philadelphia took over on offense for the first time in the game with about 5 minutes left in the first quarter and did basically nothing at all. Kenny Pickett’s group went 3 and out in their first attempt and in particularly unimpressive fashion.

The Cowboys followed that up with a 3 and out of their own and partly thanks to an interesting call on 3rd and 6 where Mike McCarthy chose to hand it off. I digress.

Amazingly the Eagles went 3 and out yet again, but it was a little interesting in that it got down to a 4th and 1 decision from their own 46-yard line. Ultimately they chose to punt as opposed to their classic go for it move which was strange given how much was on the line for them in the game.

The quarter ended with Dallas beginning to move a bit.

2nd Quarter

Shortly after the second quarter began Jonathan Mingo made his third reception as a member of the Dallas Cowboys. Remember where you were!

Ultimately though the drive stalled out, but not before a curious 3rd and 1 deep throw to Mingo before Mike McCarthy punted in avoidance of trying to go for it.

Philly found their footing a bit on the next drive as Kenny Pickett made a couple of throws to really make it all work. In fact, he made the critical one that resulted in a touchdown to DeVonta Smith.

Unfortunately things went from bad to worse for Dallas basically right after this the Cowboys saw Jake Ferguson fumble at the beginning of their next possession.

Philadelphia began to move a bit and even executed two of their signature 4th and 1 conversions, the kind they elected not to take earlier in the game.

Amazingly, even though the Eagles began their possession on the Dallas 39-yard line, the Cowboys held them to a field goal which made it a two-possession game overall.

While Dallas did move the ball a little bit ultimately Cooper Rush went deep again and was picked off by CJ Gardner-Johnson… again. It marked only the second game of Rush’s career where he has thrown multiple interceptions. The other instance was in 2022 at Philadelphia.

Shortly after this Kenny Pickett connected with DeVonta Smith fro a bomb that put Philadelphia right down near the goal line. Pickett tried to sneak it in during the half’s final seconds, but was ultimately ruled short which caused the Eagles to have to burn their final timeout. This made things a bit interesting.

Sirianni gambled with 2 seconds and no timeouts and was rewarded with a touchdown to make the score lean heavily in his team’s favor at halftime.

3rd Quarter

The Eagles received to start the second half and looked like they did across the second quarter. They moved down the field with relative ease, but things got tough for them in the redzone.

Ultimately Kenny Pickett threw a touchdown on 3rd and goal, but the Eagles were called for holding. What’s more is that Pickett was in some clear discomfort after the play and the Eagles settled for a field goal while he was being tended to.

In their first offensive possession in quite some time… the Dallas Cowboys went 3 and out. It was that kind of day.

Philadelphia took over and with Ian Book at quarterback as he was replacing the injured Pickett. Book managed to throw his first NFL touchdown pass as he found A.J. Brown for the score to make things all the more over.

The quarter ended with Dallas across the 50-yard line and clearly on the hunt for 1,000 yards on the season for Rico Dowdle.

4th Quarter

The final period began with the Cowboys clearly angling to try and get Rico Dowdle 1,000 rushing yards on the season. They appeared to be on the verge of that, but Dowdle fumbled in Philadelphia territory.

The Eagles took over and began work on their own quest, one to help Saquon Barkley reach 2,000 yards rushing on the season which he ultimately got. They ultimately cashed in on another Ian Book touchdown (this one to DeVonta Smith) to make things even more humiliating for Dallas.

When the Cowboys took over they did so on their own mission as noted and accomplished it. Rico Dowdle hit 1,000 rushing yards on the season.

In the final minutes there was a bit of a scrum between the Cowboys and Eagles that led to multiple ejections. On the Dallas side Jalen Brooks was asked to leave the game.

Everything from that point on was a formality. Such has been this season.

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