Eagles Fall to the Cowboys

Sunday Night we witness the debuted of the possibly the next great dual between young quarterbacks in the division. Just so happens the one of those quarterbacks plays to the Philadelphia Eagles. Prescott won the first of the many anticipated matchups that will happen for the years to come. In a game where had a lot of chances to put away the game while winning 20-10 and then 23-13 for most of the second half.

The Eagles just could not put away the game and it did not help that on Wendell Smallwood’s first and only carry of the night he fumble and the Cowboys recovered inside of the Eagles 40 yard line. Smallwood’s fumble lead to the Cowboys scoring on a Dan Bailey field after the defense force a three and out.

The following drive for the Cowboys Dak found Dez Bryant for a 22 yard score that ultimately tied up the affair. With just over 2 minutes remaining and all three of their timeouts the Eagles where forced to punt. The Eagles defense held the Cowboys and forced overtime. The Eagles lost the coin toss and the Cowboys, of course, elected to receive. On a drive the Cowboys went for it on fourth and inches in field goal range and got it on a quarterback sneak by Prescott. Then, Prescott and Elliott lead the team down to the five yard line where Dak found Jason Witten for a wideopen touchdown after safety, Malcom Jenkins was knocked to the ground. The Eagles lost with the final of, 29-23.

This ended the Eagles three game winning streak in Dallas dating back to 2013 while the team was under Chip Kelly. Over the last four years while playing in Dallas the Eagles have started the game with four different quarterback (2013-Foles, 2014-Sanchez, 2015-Bradford, 2016-Wentz). On the bright side it looks as if the Eagles won’t have to worry about this for at least the next decade plus with Wentz.

What the Eagles still need to find?

1. A true number 1 cornerback. It feels like this has been the case for the Birds since they lost Sheldon Brown and Assante Samuel. The Eagles have a great defense and you could even consider it elite if they were to have a “Pro Bowl” type corner on the team. The Eagles top priority should be to find the next shut down corner and if that means drafting two in the first few rounds in the draft then by no means do it. This team still has to face Julio Jones, Odell Beckham JR (2*), Dez Bryant, Desean Jackson, AJ Green, Randall Cobb, and Jordy Nelson this season.
2. Weapons to Wentz. The most impressive fact about what Wentz accomplishing is what he is working with. Wentz has at best a solid slot receiver in Jordan Matthews and a average tight end , Zach Ertz. If you put a guy like Torrey Smith on the Eagles he would become without a doubt Wentz’s number one target and the fact that Smith is being involved in trades talks with the Eagles leads me to believe Howie Roseman feels the same way and I’m sure he would like to get Wentz a reliable target to throw too.
3. Lead Running Back. Darren Sproles did a great job Sunday and without him the Eagles would have been blowout, but you can not rely on a 33 year old running back to be the focal point in your offense. I think everyone understands what Sproles is on the team and that is a punt returner whose is a change up back and also sees time on passing downs. This year’s running back class is stacked compared to the ones in the years in the past and Howie Roseman and Joe Douglas need to consider taking a running back or two on this years draft and I would not rule out a back in the first to any extent.