
Despite a deep cornerback group, the Cowboys luck finally ran out against the Eagles
The string of good football games from the Dallas Cowboys is over. After putting together a nice stretch of five good performances, the Cowboys looked terrible against their divisional rivals losing to the Philadelphia Eagles by 34 points. The offense couldn’t do much and kept turning the ball over. The defense had no answer for Saquon Barkley and was burned by the Eagles’ second- and third-string quarterbacks. Even the special teams featured a doink off the uprights field goal attempt and a couple of ejections when a scuffle broke out on a punt return. It was unpleasant on all fronts.
While this game didn’t go as we hoped, there are explanations. We knew Cooper Rush was eventually going to turn into a pumpkin. The Eagles have a great pass defense allowing the fewest yards in the NFL. It’s a tough ask to expect Rush to keep playing at his upper-mediocre tier against a good team. Could he have performed better? Yes, but he never would light up the scoreboard on the road against this Eagles’ defense.
A more disappointing sequence of events was how easily Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee beat the Cowboys’ defense. Sixth-round rookie McKee made his NFL debut in this game. He threw the ball four times, completed three, and two went for touchdowns. That’s not good.
It’s disappointing that a defense that did so well against some of the best offensive teams in the league struggled on Sunday. Remember, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cincinnati Bengals, and Washington Commanders are all in the top six in points scored this year. Joe Burrow leads the NFL in touchdown passes and Baker Mayfield and Jayden Daniels are coming off five-touchdown games recently. Keeping those offenses in check and creating winnable games (they won two and another was muffed up at the end) is something to hang your hat on. Getting worked over by the Eagles’ backups is not.
But again, there is a good explanation for this. The Cowboys’ luck finally ran out at the cornerback position. It has been a tumultuous year for the Cowboys’ corners as they have endured injury after injury. The group was supposed to feature Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland on the outside with Jourdan Lewis in the slot, but it hasn’t gone down that way.
Instead, the group has looked like this…
- Trevon Diggs, Caelen Carson, and Jourdan Lewis (Bland on IR with a foot injury)
- Trevon Diggs, Amani Oruwariye, and Jourdan Lewis (Carson with a shoulder injury)
- Trevon Diggs, Amani Oruwariye, and Israel Mukuamu (Lewis with a neck injury)
- Trevon Diggs, Josh Butler, and Jourdan Lewis (Oruwariye with a back injury)
- DaRon Bland, Josh Butler, and Jourdan Lewis (Diggs with a groin injury)
- Trevon Diggs, DaRon Bland, and Jourdan Lewis (Butler with a knee injury)
- DaRon Bland, Amani Oruwariye, and Jourdan Lewis (Diggs with a knee injury)
- DaRon Bland, Andrew Booth, and Jourdan Lewis (Oruwariye with a foot injury)
As you can see, the injuries to the cornerback position group have been extensive. Their most recent injury has forced them to promote Andrew Booth from the practice squad and add him to the active roster. And as we learned, that was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
The Cowboys have done a tremendous job getting reliable play from their depth corners this season, but unfortunately relying on CB#7 was asking a bit too much. DeVonta Smith vs. Andrew Booth is not a fair fight. pic.twitter.com/AYVQhndJ25
— Dan Rogers (@DannyPhantom24) December 30, 2024
Containing A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith while trying to keep Saquon Barkley and the Eagles’ league-leading rushing attack in order is a tough challenge. Trying to do it while relying on cornerback #7 was impossible.
The Cowboys deserve a lot of credit for what they’ve done in the secondary despite all the injuries. Players like Oruwariye and Butler, who started the season on the practice squad, have done a great job filling in on the outside. But when the commendable backups require backups it eventually becomes too much and the Cowboys felt that on Sunday.