Hoping to play the part of the Grinch in this holiday showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles, the ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵÏÂÔØÈë¿Ú instead were handing out gifts.
Four turnovers in the game, including a pick-six on their opening drive, led to 24 points for Philadelphia, a mountain much too high for the Cowboys to climb. In the end, Dallas fell to its NFC East rivals, 41-7.
With CeeDee Lamb the latest Cowboys star to be sideline for the rest of the season, perhaps the outcome should have been expected. Still, Dallas sure didn't do itself any favors with the self-inflicted mistakes.
After not throwing an interception in his last two games, and just one in his previous five, Cooper Rush had two critical picks in the first half of this one. The quarterback managed 147 passing yards and a touchdown throw, although that was an improvement on his career-low 45 yards passing in the Cowboys' first meeting with the Eagles back on Nov. 10.
On the ground, Dallas wasn't as bad, totaling 127 rushing yards and averaging 4.2 yards per carry overall. Rico Dowdle rushed for 104 yards on the day to surpass 1,000 yards rushing for the season for the first time in his career.
Of course, it was his counterpart on the Eagles, Saquon Barkley, who captured the headlines. He rushed for 167 yards in the game, averaging a whopping 5.4 yards per carry. In doing so, he reached the 2,000-yard mark, still in the hunt to break the NFL's all-time record for most rushing yards in a season.
Not that Philadelphia's aerial attack didn't do damage as well. With Jalen Hurts sidelined, Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee threw for just 197 yards but together they had three touchdowns and no interceptions for a combined 141.9 passer rating.
First Quarter
Needless to say, this was not the start they wanted. The Cowboys were actually moving the ball on their opening possession and had reached the Philadelphia 35-yard line, well within Brandon Aubrey's field-goal range. However, on third-and-3, Rush tried to thread a throw to receiver Brandin Cooks, the two having connected earlier on a 16-yard gain. But the Dallas quarterback never saw C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and the Eagles safety stole the pass before racing 69 yards untouched for the touchdown and an early lead.
As far as moving the ball, though, the Cowboys picked up right where they left off, responding with a 12-play, 70-yard drive to the goal line. Rush had connections of 12 yards to Jalen Brooks and 22 to Cooks along the way before capping the series with a 4-yard loft to Jalen Tolbert in the end zone to even the score, 7-7, after 15 minutes.
It would be their first and last hurrah.
Second Quarter
The Eagles found themselves back in front, thanks to an 81-yard drive that saw them convert three third downs. The second of those was a circus catch by tight end Grant Calcaterra for a big 34-yard gain with the last being a 22-yard touchdown grab by streaking wideout DeVonta Smith.
But the Cowboys just kept hurting themselves as a pair of turnovers led to 10 more points before the end of the quarter. First, it was tight in Jake Ferguson fumbling after a 6-yard catch that saw Philadelphia defensive tackle Jordan Davis come away from the scrum with the ball. Dallas' defense kept the damage to a minimum, although Philadelphia still added a 31-yard field goal.
Unfortunately, in a desperate attempt to add more points in the final seconds of the half, Rush threw an ill-advised deep ball to Cooks, who was surrounded by three Eagles defenders. Not surprisingly, the result was another interception for Gardner-Johnson, who returned the pick 25 yards to the Philadelphia 35-yard line.
If the first interception was a brutal body blow, this one may have been the knockout punch.
While there were only 36 seconds on the clock, Pickett completed a 50-yard pass to Smith to the 1-yard line, which was followed by the expected tush-push for the touchdown. With that, the Eagles went into the break with a 24-7 advantage.
Third Quarter
If there were any thoughts of a comeback, those hopes were quickly dashed when Philadelphia took the ball to start the third frame and promptly marched 59 yards in 12 plays to tack on three more points. A holding call on third-and-goal nullified a would-be touchdown, leaving Jake Elliott to kick a 26-yad field goal.
Pickett was injured on that drive and had to leave the game, but with Barkley in the backfield (again, chasing the NFL's record), who was behind center didn't really matter. The Eagles reached the end zone on their fifth straight possession with third-string quarterback Tanner McKee throwing his first career touchdown, a 20-yard pass to A.J. Brown to up the lead to 34-7.
Fourth Quarter
A new quarter, another turnover. This time the perpetrator was Dowdle, who ended a potential threat by fumbling at the Philadelphia 10-yard line with cornerback Cooper DeJean coming up with the recovery.
That led to another Eagles drive to the end zone. Barkley started things off by carrying the ball five straight times for 52 yards, although once he surpassed the 2,000-yard mark for the season, his day was done. That left it to Smith to get his third touchdown of the game, the speedy wideout catching another McKee offering and racing across the goal line for a 25-yard score.
Mike McCarthy gave Aubrey a chance at a 61-yard field goal with just under five minutes remaining, and he had the distance. But typical of the day, the ball doinked off the right upright, no good.
With that, Rush and some of the other starters took a seat as Trey Lance took over at quarterback. Not that the team's luck changed any. The Eagles eventually ran out the clock, bringing the game to a merciful end.
