The Philadelphia Eagles bottled a 21-0 lead over the Dallas Cowboys yesterday and ended up losing 24-21. It was a stunning turn of events, piloted by Dak Prescott and Brian Schottenheimer. But Tony Dungy believes that the drama surrounding Eagles receiver A.J. Brown may have played into the comeback as well.
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The Eagles’ running game was almost completely absent yesterday. They ran the ball only 11 times with their running backs, and just 10 times with Saquon Barkley. It’s a stunning stat given how great Barkley is and how poor the Cowboys’ rushing defense has been all season.
After the game, Dungy was naturally livid with the Eagles’ performance, questioning their game plan of largely passing the ball while they had a huge lead.
“I’m so disappointed in Philadelphia right now,” Dungy said via NFL on NBC. “You’ve got a three-score lead, and you only call 11 running plays in the whole game? What are you thinking?”
It was not just about how great Barkley is; it was also about the circumstances of the game. The Eagles were up by three scores. In those situations, most teams would opt to run the ball more and try to drain the clock. But Philly decided to throw the ball almost 40 times.
That’s why Dungy’s co-host, Rodney Harrison, joined in on the criticism of the Eagles.
“You gotta go to Nick Sirianni. He’s the head coach. Say, ‘Hey, man, run the football. We’ve got Saquon Barkley.’ That’s what you go and tell your offensive coordinator. And if he doesn’t listen, guess what? He’s gonna end up like Chip Kelly,” Harrison said.
For those out of context, Kelly was dismissed as the Las Vegas Raiders’ offensive coordinator last night. So, it was a harsh assessment coming from Harrison, but it rang true following a crushing defeat. Sometimes, a coach needs to put his foot down and overstep the OC.
Later on, Dungy suggested that the loss could have stemmed from the drama that has surrounded A.J. Brown this season.
“I almost think it’s the whole reaction to the week. We’ve been winning, but our receivers haven’t caught the ball. We haven’t gotten it enough to A.J. Brown, let’s make sure we get him going. And they came out throwing to him, and it worked in the first half. But now when you get the lead, you’ve gotta say you’re the bullies now, and pound it, and run,” Dungy professed.
In the first half, Brown indeed hit the ground running. He took advantage of a poor Cowboys defense and scored a TD on the opening drive of the game. He continued to put together a strong half, and by the end of the game, he finished with 8 receptions for 110 yards.
However, the strategy proved to be a bad one, as the Eagles kept too much time on the clock. With it, Prescott took advantage and diced up the Philly defense throughout the second half. It ended up being a gutsy win for him and the Cowboys.
“You have to give credit to Brian Schottenheimer,” Dungy praised. “You get down 21-0, the crowd is booing, things aren’t going right. In the past, we’ve seen Dallas get blown out in those situations. Today, they fought back, played hard. And once they got it going, you kind of felt, ‘Uh oh, here they come!’”
The momentum certainly played in favor of Dallas on Sunday. Now, they’ve elevated to 5-5-1, and their playoff aspirations continue to grow stronger. Next on the tab is the Kansas City Chiefs on Thanksgiving. If the Cowboys can win that game, too, it would send the fan base into a frenzy.
All in all, it’s hard to deny what Dungy said. The Eagles tried to get Brown more involved on Sunday, and while they accomplished that, they failed to carry that momentum into winning the game. As a result, they suffered an embarrassing loss that will undoubtedly leave a stain on their season.
