Playing mistake-free football had been a hallmark of the 2022 Philadelphia Eagles. Not on Christmas Eve. The team with the best turnover margin per game suddenly got sloppy. The Eagles turned it over four times in a 40-34 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, highlighted by a big-time fumble by Miles Sanders with 2:19 showing in the fourth quarter.
Sanders’ fumble set the Cowboys up at the 21-yard line, inside Eagles’ territory. Six plays later, Brett Maher kicked a 26-yard field goal which turned out to be the game-winner. The Eagles will have to wait at least one more week to clinch the NFC’s No.1 overall seed and homefield throughout the postseason.
Miles Sanders took ownership for his costly fumble in the 4th quarter.
“Fumbled. Gotta hold the ball. Bad situation. Fumbled at the wrong time. I take full responsibility. Nobody’s fault but mine.”
Don’t blame Sanders, though. Quarterback Gardner Minshew – filling in for an injured Jalen Hurts – threw two interceptions and the Eagles’ defense surrendered 419 yards of total offense. They fought the good fight, just not good enough to walk away with the victory and complete a season sweep of the hated Cowboys.
“We gotta take these lumps that they gave us and that we created ourselves, and sit in them for a little bit,” Sirianni told reporters. “We’ll sit in them for a little bit. We’ll identify what went wrong and that’s how you get better. We’ll think about the Saints after we fix the issues from this game because I know the Saints are the next game.”
Final: Cowboys 40, Eagles 34
In each of its two losses, Philly has committed a season-high four turnovers. Eagles will close out the regular season with two home games against the Saints and Giants. They need to win just one more to lock up the No. 1 seed.
The record is 13-2.
Sirianni continued: “But, we gotta fix the problems from this game. It’s a process, there are steps after you win a game and after you lose game – the steps are to get in there, watch some tape, figure it out, see what went wrong, coaching and playing, fix it and then move on.”
The Eagles host the Saints at Lincoln Financial Field next Sunday (January 1) at 1 p.m. in what is sure to be a sold-out and raucous environment in South Philly.
Teammates console Miles Sanders after a fumble with 2 minutes left in the game. 🙏
Nick Sirianni Defends Gardner Minshew
Minshew finished 24-of-40 for 355 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus those 2 costly interceptions. The first pick was sniped by Cowboys safety Jayron Kearse after he sat on a route by Quez Watkins and draped him like a Batman cape. It was picture-perfect coverage as he ripped the ball right out of Watkins’ hands to start the second quarter.
“[Gardner] Minshew throws it over the middle. It’s intercepted by [Jayron] Kearse at the 50!” — @Boys_Vox
Minshew’s second interception was just a bad throw sent into a tight window, which was stolen away from Watkins (again) by Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland with 4:24 left in the fourth quarter. Both plays were tough breaks for a quarterback who otherwise had a solid outing.
“We’ll correct all the mistakes that we made in this game because we made plenty of them, playing and coaching. We made plenty of mistakes that we’ll learn from,” Sirianni said. “That’s what I love about this team. We learn from our mistakes and we crave to get better, so we’ll learn from that and we’ll get better.”
Remember those five words: we crave to get better.
“As far as everything, I felt like Gardner played a good game,” Sirianni said. “The first interception I thought was a really good play by 27 [Kearse]. He’s a really good player. And the second one, the ball was kind of in both of their hands and the guy came away with it. Gardner played a really good game.”
DaRon Bland with interception off Gardner Minshew. Rips it away from Quez Watkins
Jalen Hurts Still the Starting QB When Healthy
Jalen Hurts’ status for Week 17 against New Orleans remains up in the air, according to Sirianni. The Eagles head coach liked what he saw from Minshew and has no problem putting his backup quarterback out there for a second straight week. Unless Hurts is cleared to play. Sirianni reiterated that the depth chart doesn’t change once Hurts is ready to go.
“We’ll see what happens. With Jalen, I never put anything past him,” Sirianni said. “We thought he might have a chance to play this week and we’ll see next week. But we’ll take that one day at a time and we’ll get better from this game.
“If Jalen’s ready to go, Jalen will play. He’s our starting quarterback. If he’s ready, then he’ll go. Again, that’s nothing against Gardner because I thought he played a good game but if Jalen’s ready, he’ll go.”
Eagles’ quarterback Jalen Hurts, who will miss Saturday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys because of a sprained shoulder, also is uncertain to play against the New Orleans Saints in Week 17, per sources.
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Eagles Coach Nick Sirianni Has 5-Word Response to Sloppy Cowboys Loss