Hamstrung in Secondary, Eagles Give Up Staggering Numbers to Cowboys

ARLINGTON, Texas - By the fourth quarter of Sunday's 29-23 overtime loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the Eagles were down to a hamstrung Sidney Jones and De'Vante Bausby, who wasn't on the team a month ago. 

It showed. 

And Dallas attacked with its newest weapon (see observations)

Even though the Eagles' defense played fairly well for most of Sunday, by the end of the game, the stats were staggering.

• Dak Prescott threw for 455 yards, the most the Eagles have ever given up in a regular-season game, surpassing Jon Kitna's 446-yard game in 2007. Prescott's previous career high was 332. 

• Amari Cooper had 10 catches for 217 yards and three touchdowns. He's just the ninth player in the modern era to put up that stat line. It's the second-biggest game a receiver has ever had against the Eagles (Kenny Britt in 2010). 

Philadelphia Eagles

Complete coverage of the Philadelphia Eagles and their NFL rivals from NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Why Jeff Lurie has no problem with Jalen Hurts' stoic demeanor 

A look at the 11 Eagles free agents who haven't found jobs yet

• The Cowboys piled up 576 total yards - the fourth-most ever against the Eagles in a regular-season game. 

Staggering. 

"We did a pretty good job earlier in the game," Malcolm Jenkins said. "We knew they wanted to throw quick game and control passes. But with some injuries we had on the outside, they felt like that was the matchup they could take deep obviously. Two big plays that kind of broke open the game on defense. I mean, Amari Cooper is a good player. We knew they would make plays. He made those plays."

The two big plays Jenkins was talking about came in the fourth quarter. Cooper caught a 28-yard touchdown against Sidney Jones and then he caught a 75-yard touchdown against Bausby just a few minutes later. 

Jones played just one more series after giving up his touchdown before his hamstring really pulled on him and trainers took him out. He said he just couldn't open up when running. He was in and out on Sunday. 

It was pretty clear Jones' hamstring was hurting during that game.  

"It's nowhere near 100 [percent]," Jones said. "I can tell you that for sure. This hammy's been frustrating. It lingers. Just gotta get healthy at the end of the day. 

"It hurt but I was like, ‘I gotta go back in, it's do or die.' I fought. I went back in and gave my best effort."

It seemed like the Cowboys were happy to target Jones, who clearly wasn't healthy. They were similarly eager to go after Bausby when he replaced him at left cornerback. 

Bausby, who was promoted from the practice squad on Nov. 17, gave up the 75-yarder as Corey Graham was slow to get over as help. 

The Eagles on Sunday afternoon had just one regular defensive back left starting in Jenkins. Rodney McLeod, Ronald Darby and Jalen Mills are all on IR. The Eagles have been at the bottom of the barrel in the secondary and that definitely showed on Sunday. 

"It's tough," said nickel corner Cre'Von LeBlanc, who arrived to town on Nov. 5. "We gave it all we got and we didn't fold." 

They didn't really hold up either.

Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games easily on your device.

More on the Eagles

Copyright CSNPhily
Contact Us