(AP) — ARLINGTON, Texas Even after suffering rare straight losses and enabling the Dallas Cowboys to tie them atop the NFC East, Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles remain in charge.
Despite their 10-3 record after a 33-13 loss against Dallas on Sunday night, the Eagles are far from a dominant club.
“I think the most important thing for this team right now is to figure out who the dudes are,” veteran defensive tackle Fletcher Cox said. “I’ve been on teams where the guys in the locker room do something about it, and I’ve been on teams where it kind of falls apart.” But now is the time to see true leadership… leaders on this team, including myself, must rise up and take action.”
Their defense has struggled in the red zone, with close scores even in games they have won, and with turnovers. Hurts fumbled in their first drive of the game, receiver A.J. Brown fumbled in the second half, and DeVonta Smith fumbled in the fourth quarter.
For the first time this season, Philadelphia has lost consecutive games, this one coming a week after a 42-19 home loss to NFC West-leading San Francisco, which is also 10-3 and beat Dallas 42-10 on Oct. 8.
“We’ve got to internalize that and we’ve got to make sure that the adversity that we’re facing right now, we’re able to to get through and make sure we get better from it,” Nick Sirianni, the team’s coach, told reporters.
The Eagles, who have won seven one-score games, will not face a winning club in any of their last four games, which begin next week at Seattle (6-7).
Hurts had not lost consecutive games as Philadelphia’s starter since October 20, 2021.
Hurts fumbled at the conclusion of a run on the Cowboys 20 and promptly headed to the sideline, despite the fact that he was already trailing. Brown reacted the same way after being stripped near midfield on the fourth play of the second half after making a catch and taking a few steps.
“We’ve got to hold on to the ball, but we’re trying to makes plays,” added Brown.
The Cowboys scored all three times inside the 20-yard line, giving rival teams points 70.4% of the time (31 of 44) when they reach the red zone versus Philadelphia. In that area, the Eagles began the game ranked 30th in the NFL.
After defeating the Cowboys 28-23 at home on Nov. 5, Philadelphia became the NFL’s only 8-1 club and held a two-game division lead. But Dallas came close, moving 81 yards in 46 seconds on the game’s last drive — aided by 56 yards in penalties — before CeeDee Lamb was caught at the 5 with time running out after a 22-yard gain.
Dallas (10-3) has won five straight games since, but its next two are on the road against the top teams in the AFC East, Buffalo (7-6) and Miami (9-3). The Cowboys then host the NFC North-leading Detroit Lions (9-4) in their home finale before concluding their season at Washington.
Following the Seahawks, the Eagles have two games remaining against the Giants (4-8) — at home and then at New York in the regular-season finale — with the Eagles’ home finale against Arizona (3-10) sandwiched in between.
“You can’t even look that far ahead,” Brown pointed out. “We play Seattle the following week.” That’s all we have to be concerned about.”
