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The Philadelphia Eagles took the NFL's center stage against the Dallas Cowboys and got routed in a 41-21 loss to their divisional rival. Nothing seemed to be working, as the Cowboys had their way throughout the entire game. It's time to continue our NFL takeaways series with an Eagles Week 3 takeaway.
Their defense struggled throughout as Dak Prescott almost did whatever he wanted. Ezekiel Elliott gashed Philadelphia for big gains throughout the evening, giving the Cowboys a well-balanced attack. From there, the Eagles couldn't get anything going on offense and weren't able to keep up with their opponent on Monday night.
The Eagles somehow looked even worse on offense. Their top players saw a minimal amount of looks in this game. The coaching staff has to find a way to get the ball to DeVonta Smith more often. Additionally, Miles Sanders was hardly even utilized in this matchup, which is a huge problem going forward.
Lastly, this was a moment for Jalen Hurts to shut up the critics. Instead, the noise is even louder after he struggled against Dallas. With that said, here are three Eagles Week 3 takeaways in their game against the Cowboys.
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Eagles Week 3 Takeaways
3. Eagles must find a way to get DeVonta Smith more involved
You would think the coaching staff would draw up more plays to get their first-round pick more involved. He had six targets and could only haul in three of them for receptions. This isn't going to cut it if the Eagles hope to be a potential playoff contender. In a game against their divisional rival, you'd think Nick Sirianni would scheme up some plays to get his top wideout some open looks.
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On top of that, this game was a blowout by the third quarter and the Eagles had to air it out just to have a chance to stay within reach. The game script was perfectly set up for DeVonta Smith to have a monster game and Philadelphia just couldn't get him going. Look for Smith to potentially have a bounce-back performance in Week 4.
2. Miles Sanders just wasn't utilized
The game script didn't help at all, but Miles Sanders wasn't even utilized when the game was close. He had just two carries and somehow managed 27 yards. Jalen Hurts led the team in rush attempts with nine carries (some of those being scrambles). Outside from that, the Eagles ran the ball just three times in this game, as Kenneth Gainwell received the only other carry on the night.
That's just unacceptable and the coaching staff is to blame. The run game wasn't even a factor in this one, which made it easy for the Cowboys' defense to shut down Philadelphia. The Eagles essentially played just one part of their offense in this matchup. It's no wonder they lost by 20 points.
1. Jalen Hurts struggled until garbage time
When a quarterback is having a rough day, typically the coaching staff will look to the run game to generate some consistency and balance. Philadelphia was only down 20-7 at halftime, so it's not like they were out of the game from the beginning. Rather than calling plays to get Hurts more comfortable, Nick Sirianni seemed to force the pass throughout the entire evening.
Hurts couldn't get anything going and the coaching staff put all of the pressure on their starting quarterback. The Cowboys proved their defense is no joke this year, but the Eagles also showed a lack of creativity in offensive playcalling. We'll see if Hurts can bounce back in Week 4, but for now, expectations should be tempered.
