After a surprising commerce on the eve of the NFL common season, all eyes had been on the Dallas Cowboys protection and the way they’d carry out with out defensive finish Micah Parsons towards the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday.
After a shoddy begin, the Cowboys’ protection truly held their very own in a 24-20 loss to the defending champion Eagles. Dallas’ offense, alternatively, was arguably far more answerable for the workforce falling to 0-1 to begin the yr.
Within the first half of Thursday’s recreation, the Cowboys gave the impression to be following the script most anticipated for them after Parsons — one of many recreation’s elite cross rushers — was traded to the Inexperienced Bay Packers on Aug. 28: The offense was buzzing whereas the protection was getting sliced up. Dallas scored on every of its first 4 possessions towards Philadelphia, however the protection surrendered three touchdowns on three drives, placing the Cowboys at a 21-20 drawback at halftime.
The second half was a special story.
Dallas surrendered solely three factors within the last half-hour, and made up for an absence of cross rush by sending extra frequent blitzes to strain Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. With a stout secondary, the technique in the end paid dividends.
For the sport, the Cowboys held Hurts to solely 152 yards passing, held star operating again Saquon Barkley to solely 60 yards dashing (a complete that would have been his second lowest final season), and held wideouts DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown to solely 24 yards receiving mixed.
The robust defensive effort gave Dallas’ offense 4 alternatives to take the lead within the second half, however Dak Prescott and Co. faltered every time.
On the Cowboys’ first drive of the third quarter, they managed to get contained in the Eagles’ 15-yard line earlier than a Miles Sanders fumble gave the ball again to Philadelphia.
On Dallas’s subsequent possession, the workforce punted following a drop by star receiver CeeDee Lamb on third down — a possible conversion that as a substitute went proper by way of Lamb’s palms.
Then, after each side traded punts, the Cowboys had the ball trailing 24-20 with 3:02 to go, however turned the ball over on downs after solely seven performs. Lamb as soon as once more dropped an ideal cross from Prescott throughout the drive, and on Dallas’ last offensive snap, Lamb couldn’t make a tough diving play on a 4th-and-3 deep shot down the left sideline.
Prescott began the sport on fireplace, finishing 12 of his first 17 passes for 127 yards. However within the second half — partly because of the vital drops — he accomplished solely 9 of 17 makes an attempt for 61 yards.
The protection held up its finish of the discount in crunch time, permitting Philadelphia solely 86 yards of offense within the second half.
In fact, if the Cowboys may have stopped the Eagles within the first half, maybe their margin of error would have been bigger within the third and fourth quarters. However contemplating how extensively Dallas was criticized for delivery away Parsons, its protection truly gave the workforce loads of alternatives to win Thursday night time.
For one recreation, at the very least, it was the offense that was missing within the recreation’s largest moments.
