September 5, 2025 • 23 mins
Week 1 of the Philadelphia Eagles 2025-2026 season is now in the books as they beat the Dallas Cowboys down at The Linc in the home opener by a score of 24-20. They are now 1-0 on the season.
This will forever be known as the game where Jalen Carter spit on Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and was ejected before the first snap of the game. Not having Carter in the middle of the defensive line was a huge loss throughout the game. Plus, our concerns came to fruition as the secondary and CB Adoree’ Jackson struggled against CeeDee Lamb.
Thankfully, this team and offense has a quarterback in Jalen Hurts who put the team on his back. He certainly was the MVP in this game as the leading rusher, scoring two touchdowns, his poise throughout the game was undeterred. The offensive line appeared rusty and there’s now concern with Landon Dickerson’s durability long-term as he left the game with a back injury.
As always, we gave our top themes, thoughts and opinions from the game on offense, defense, and special teams.
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This will forever be known as the game where Jalen Carter spit on Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and was ejected before the first snap of the game. Not having Carter in the middle of the defensive line was a huge loss throughout the game. Plus, our concerns came to fruition as the secondary and CB Adoree’ Jackson struggled against CeeDee Lamb.
Thankfully, this team and offense has a quarterback in Jalen Hurts who put the team on his back. He certainly was the MVP in this game as the leading rusher, scoring two touchdowns, his poise throughout the game was undeterred. The offensive line appeared rusty and there’s now concern with Landon Dickerson’s durability long-term as he left the game with a back injury.
As always, we gave our top themes, thoughts and opinions from the game on offense, defense, and special teams.
SUBSCRIBE on YouTube: youtube.com/@thephiladelphiasportstable
Head over to our website for all of our podcasts and more: philadelphiasportstable.com
Follow us on BlueSky:
Jeff: @jeffwarren.bsky.social
Erik: @brickpollitt.bsky.social
Follow us on Threads:
Jeff: @mrjeffwarren
Erik: @slen1023
The Show: @philadelphiasportstable
Follow us on Twitter/X:
Jeff: @Jeffrey_Warren
Erik: @BrickPollitt
The Show: @PhiladelphiaPST
Follow us on Instagram:
Jeff: @mrjeffwarren
Erik: @slen1023
The Show: @philadelphiasportstable.
Follow Jeff on TikTok: @mrjeffwarren
Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/PhiladelphiaSportsTable
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
You are listening to Eagles postgame analysis here at the
Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly
sports podcast show in the world, twelve years strong. And yes,
week one of this Philadelphia Eagles twenty twenty five twenty
twenty six season is now in the books. They beat
the Dallas Cowboys and the home opener by a score
(00:43):
of twenty four to twenty and we are going to
dive into the themes here of this game. We're gonna
go through some stats as well, dissecting what we saw
from this Philadelphia Eagles team on offense and defense, special
teams as well. I'm Jeff Warren. I am riding solo
here as man. This game ended a bit late, folks.
(01:05):
If you were living under a rock, you'd know that
this game was delayed for approximately an hour because of lightning,
and a lot of us are just waiting around. Philadelphia Eagles,
waiting around Dallas Cowboys waiting around. Cannot imagine being in
the middle of a game, the heightened emotions and vibes,
(01:25):
only to be told, Okay, you gotta stop playing football.
You know you're trying to get back into football shape.
First game of the year. There is a lot of
rust all over the place, both teams, in all units
on the field. Quite frankly, you're told you got to
wait an hour until the lightning passes down at the link.
And you know, we saw some slop in the second half.
(01:47):
First half, a lot of high powered offense. The defenses
did not look good on both sides of the ball
as well. But again, gonna get into the themes here.
So I think it's safe to say probably the most
undisciplined Eagles game to start a season that we probably
have ever seen. Of course, have to mention right off
(02:08):
the bat here Jalen Carter getting tossed right after the
kickoff for spitting on Dak Prescott. Now, I have to
say it was circulating throughout the game on the socials
out there that Dak actually spat at Jalen Carter first,
or at least within the vicinity of Jalen Carter. Of course,
(02:29):
Dak Prescott not being flagged for that. Jalen Carter making
an absolutely stupid stupid move in spitting right on Dak
right as a referee is next to him. It's just
one of the dumbest moves. It's gonna be interesting to
see how he handles this moving forward, how Nick Sirianni
(02:50):
and the Eagles organization handle this moving forward. You can't
do that. You can't be that dumb. You can't be
that stupid. Again, yes, heightened emotions during this first game,
but it can't happen. Jason Kelcey with the tweet, though, saying,
this is the most wild start to an NFL season
of all time. First play of the game, one player
is carted off. We'll get to that in a second.
The other rejected. I mean, everybody knows you don't spit,
(03:12):
you swallow obviously. Oh thanks a lot, Jason. We did
have a Jeff Kerr tweet. Our good friend the Show
from CBS Sports said Jalen Carter has the fastest ejection
in an NFL game since Jeremiah Trotter back in thousand
two thousand and five. Trotter was ejected in a pregame
(03:33):
fight with Kevin Mathis in Week one on Monday Night
Football against the Falcons. A lot of us do remember that.
It took Jeff's tweet for me to recall that, but
absolutely remember that for sure. So that being said, Jalen
Carter is kicked out of the game, disqualified, and it
really hurt this Eagles defense right off the bat and
(03:55):
essentially affected the whole team as well. Defense just looking
soft right out of the gate, absolutely just letting the
Cowboys drive down the field and score on the very
first possession of the game. And in fact, by the way, folks,
we didn't see any punts in the first half by
either team. I mean, that's how much of an offensive
(04:17):
juggernaut we ended up seeing. But really the defense not
having Jalen Carter, it meant a lot, it did. It
affected then the secondary too. It affected guys like a
Dori Jackson who's just playing atrocious football. Look, there are
a lot of us folks that during the course of
the summer leading up to this game, we're saying to ourselves,
(04:41):
you know, I think Dori Jackson is cooked at this point?
Is he really gonna make the team? I've been talking
about it on this podcast platform, And yes, he really did.
Looked cooked. Gave up a ton of yards in the
first half, especially to Ceedee Lamb got called for just
a passing or appearance calling the end zone as we know,
(05:02):
in the first half, first quarter that was it looked horrible.
Just the holding I just couldn't believe what I was
seeing with the Dori Jackson. He appeared maybe he was injured,
appeared to be benched at the end of the second quarter,
right before the half Ja Cory and Bennett came in.
He had a pass interference call on him. Then a
(05:23):
Dori Jackson was back out on the field in the
second half, giving up a lot of big yards for sure,
But really, I mean, this Eagles defense again looking soft.
The Cowboys were consistently running the ball on third and
short right up the middle. Why you don't have Jalen
Carter there? And they continued to do it throughout the game.
(05:46):
There is you know, some I guess silver lining to
an extent with the defense. There was a play in
the third quarter that I want to briefly mention. Jihad
Campbell had a pass breakup that was deep down the
middle of the field that you just don't expect from
a typical linebacker, you know, an off ball linebacker to
(06:09):
be doing that. The guy is going to be special.
The speed that we saw from him fantastic. And look,
the Eagles defense again from a silver lining perspective, did
show up towards the end of the game in the
fourth quarter as the secondary was just battling it out
in coverage was really solid on CD Lamb and yeah,
ceedee Lamb was dropping some balls in this game. He
(06:31):
probably should have caught and that's on him for sure.
But the secondary really was battling throughout the course of
the second half. Because look, you didn't have the Dallas
Cowboys scoring any points in the fourth quarter. You didn't
have the Philadelphia Eagle scoring any either. But there's definitely
concern with this defense. Next week against Kansas City gonna
(06:54):
be interesting to see if Jalen Carter being out there.
Who knows, maybe he won't be out there, Maybe there'll
be a suspension for this or something. If Jalen Carter
is out there, how much this changes and alters the
course of the defense because this defense again just looked soft.
We obviously saw what not having veteran presence in the
(07:15):
secondary with Darius Slay, with CJ. Gardner Johnson, what that
meant to this Eagle secondary. Let's get into some other
themes here. I mean, aside from you know, the Eagles
team at general just being undisciplined. During the first half
of this game. The Cowboys were penalized twice for twenty
two yards. Eagles were penalized seven times for ninety three yards.
(07:39):
The Eagles offense did not lay a stinker in the
first quarter like we have been so used to and
accustomed to over these past couple of years. I mean,
that's been an ongoing theme. Can the Eagles score in
the first quarter. We saw good stuff from this team
in the first quarter, Kevin Patulo and Nick Sirianni putting
together a really good game. I like the fact that
(08:02):
the Eagles went right down the field right during their
first possession. I mean, Jalen Hurts was precise. There was
precision with his passes, Saquon Barkley, Will Shipley getting involved,
and the wide receivers blocking. Folks, if you go back
and look at some of the tape in the video,
you are going to see in that first quarter our
(08:24):
wide receivers I'm talking Devonte Smith, John Dotson blocking. It
was absolutely great to see that out there, allowing Saquon
Barkley to get tons of yards in that first half,
specifically the first quarter as well. We saw a lot
more passes over the middle from Jalen Hurts I think
than we have probably ever seen, and I have to say,
(08:47):
always looking poisoned in the pocket, and that's what you
want from your quarterback. That's what you want from your
Super Bowl MVP quarterback. Very very mature play on the
field from Jalen Hurts, really not making any stinkers of
any type of plays. We're seeing the growth of Jalen Hurts,
folks continuing to see that, and it's really great to
(09:09):
really great to witness, especially week one. With regard to
Saquon Barkley. Look, I mean, it wasn't the most fantastic
game in the world for him. Eighteen carries for only
sixty yards three point three yards per carry. Not too
great in terms of the stat sheet. Yes, he did
have a touchdown, but look the inside runs by Saquon Barkley,
especially in the second half, We're getting shut down by
(09:31):
the Cowboys defensive line. And I gotta be honest, I
have to be honest about how this Eagles offensive line
looked throughout many points in this game. Extremely rusty a
lot of the time, and in the fourth quarter they
looked pretty gassed. And who knows, maybe it's just the
first game of the season, Maybe it's getting that rusted off,
(09:53):
maybe it's getting back into in game shape, as it's called,
but really the offensive line and it looked a bit
rough at times throughout this game. And let's not forget
an important gentleman on this offensive line who ended up
missing the last part of this game, and that's Landon
(10:14):
Dickerson going out in the fourth quarter with a back injury,
Brett Toath replacing him. What have we been saying on
this podcast platform over these past couple weeks. What was
a huge concern Lennon and I talked about it during
the course of our Eagle season preview, and it was
Landon Dickerson, his health, the maintenance of his health, how
important and critical he is to the way this offense
(10:37):
is run. This medical staff is going to have to
do wonders in the future for Landon Dickerson if he's
going to be on the field and contributing to this team.
I'm very skeptical at this point. Wishing him all the best,
of course, but extremely extremely skeptical. Also, folks, how about
the fact and we have to recognize this fact and
(10:58):
it's really bizarre and criticism of the Eagles offense, of
the play calling of Kevin Patulo and possibly Nick Sirianni
here recognizing the fact that AJ Brown did not have
a target in this game until about a minute and
forty six seconds left in the game. You can't tell
me AJ Brown has not been open and had not
(11:20):
been open all game long, especially with Dallas playing man
coverage as often as they did, and him having no
targets was absolutely wild. If you had told me that
Johan Dotson was going to have more targets than AJ Brown,
I would have said, you are absolutely crazy. If you
(11:40):
had told me that Kylin Granson was going to have
the same amount of targets as AJ Brown in this game,
I would have said, you were absolutely crazy. We're recording
this rate after the game. Gonna be interesting to hear
the narrative this week about why AJ Brown was not
targeted at all during this game. One catch on the
(12:02):
game again, minute and forty six seconds left in the game,
one catch for eight yards just absolutely unacceptable in my opinion.
But really, I think we have to credit Jalen Hurts
for the win in this game. I think we have
to credit him. Not that we're gonna be giving out
MVPs all the time per game, and maybe we should
(12:22):
do that. Maybe it would make our Eagles postgame podcast
shows a little bit more interesting. But you know, maybe
Jalen Hurts was the MVP in this game. I mean,
I think it was an entire offensive performance quite frankly,
but Jalen Hurts made some huge plays in this game
when it mattered, specifically with his legs. We look at
(12:43):
the box score and you see the rushing Jalen Hurts
led this team in rushing fourteen carries for sixty two yards.
He averaged four point four yards per carry, two touchdowns.
I gave you a Saquon Barkley's stats a little while ago,
And yeah, while the passing tack wasn't necessarily the most prolific,
(13:04):
him getting the ball down the field. You know, there
wasn't a lot of stretch in the field and not
a lot of long passes down the field. We'll get
to Jalen Hurts's passing numbers in a bit, but Jalen
Hurts probably, I would say, and unequivocally the MVP of
this game. But again, him making huge plays when it mattered.
He is a top three quarterback in this league and
(13:26):
it's not even close. So tired of the narrative that
we've had to hear all summer. You know, is he
even top ten? Is he you know, a top eight quarterback?
People are ridiculous. He is a top three quarterback in
this league. Real quick, before we go to break special teams.
There were no punts in the first half, folks, none
(13:46):
at all. It's like there was so much action in
the first half and then there was a whole lot
of nothing in the second half from both teams. But
like like we mentioned earlier, Ben van van Sumerin going
down on the first kickoff of the season. Wishing him well,
but there's something else, a concern that I had. And
(14:09):
if you have listened to this podcast over the past
couple weeks, we've talked about Jake Elliott. Jake Elliott today
nail the fifty eight yard field goal. Safe to say, folks,
Jake Elliott is back. Seems like he's okay. As we know,
last year he was one of seven on fifty plus
yard field goal attempts. That fifty eight yard or today
(14:30):
should make us feel a lot better about where he
is with his leg, where he is in terms of
field goal kicking. Again, he only had one field goal
on the day for fifty eight yards. He had three
extra points made all of those. I'm feeling good about
Jake Elliott. We're going to take a break here, but
(14:50):
when we come back, I want to get into some
stats from the box score. Since I don't have a
co host here this week, not going to actually get
into any grades here, but I did want to go
through the score here just to highlight some of these areas.
We're gonna get to it in just a bit. All right,
we are back, and I'm gonna go through some of
the Eagles and Cowboys box score notes here just to
(15:13):
give some perspective about how this game really went. Look,
Jalen Hurts through the ball twenty three times in this game.
The Eagles rushed thirty eight times in this game, but
Jalen Hurts completed nineteen passes on those twenty three attempts
one hundred and fifty two yards, only six point six
yards per attempt. He was sacked only one time, lost
(15:35):
eight yards on that sack, but he ended with a
rating of ninety four point two. Not a terrible day
in terms of passing, but we know with Jalen Hurts,
he doesn't have to put up four hundred yards and
four touchdowns in order to have a great game. Why because,
as I mentioned before the break, he carried the ball
fourteen times for sixty two yards. He led this team
(15:57):
in rushing. He scored twice. Saquon Barkley eighteen carries for
sixty yards and a touchdown. Will Shipley carried the ball
three times for twenty six yards. I mean he averaged
eight point seven yards per carry on those three carries.
Aj Dillon got the ball three times as well, for
a total of ten yards. So it really was the
rushing attack that really got the job done today at
(16:20):
the end of the day, especially when it came to
touchdowns as well. This Eagles team put up one hundred
and fifty eight total rushing yards, four point two yards
per rush, and three total touchdowns. But then you look
at the receiving and again as I mentioned before the break,
Johan Dotson was the leading receiver on this team fifty
nine yards on three catches. He averaged nineteen point seven
(16:42):
yards per reception as long as fifty one yards. And
then you have Dallas Goddard being targeted seven times. He
came down with all seven balls for forty four yards.
Very very short passes six point three yards per reception.
Saquon Barkley caught the ball four times for twenty four yards.
Devonte Smith only targeted three times for sixteen yards in
(17:06):
this game five point three yards per reception. Aj Brown,
as we mentioned, only one target for eight yards, and
Kylon Granson one target for one yard. The receiving corps
have to wonder, and there's gonna be questions this week.
Of course, there should be that narrative of why weren't
some of these wide receivers targeted more. It's not like
(17:26):
the Dallas defense and secondary is somehow the next greatest thing.
Absolutely not. Why weren't these Philadelphia Eagles wide receivers more
prevalent within this game. Let's now move over to the defense,
where you know what you have Zach Bond at the
top of the box score again with nine total tackles,
(17:48):
six solos, one tackle for a loss, one pass defended.
I will say this though, folks, there was not one
sack in this game by the Philadelphia Eagles. Dak Prescott
stayed on his feet all game long, unacceptable in my opinion.
They just weren't able to get to him. Dorri Jackson
actually was credited for seven total tackles. In this game,
(18:10):
Jordan Davis was credited for six total tackles, Cooper Dejen
with five, Andrew mccouba with four, Quinjon Mitchell with four.
I don't like having the secondary being the top six
in terms of total tackles in this game. Don't like
it at all. Tackles for a loss there were three.
Jylex Hunt had one, Jordan Davis had one as well,
(18:33):
and as I mentioned, Zach Bond too passes defended. I
like seeing the secondary stepping up, but Zach Bond again
stepped up in that regard. Dory Jackson did have one.
Jordan Davis, Cooper Dejen also had a pass defended. Quinjon Mitchell.
Jihad Campbell as well. I mentioned him and his athletic
ability and quickness being that offline or I'm sorry, being
(18:58):
that linebacker that's able to get down the field. My gosh,
what an athletic guy. There was only one quarterback hit
in this game by Moro Ojomo, only one, folks. This
defense has got to get to work. This defense needs
to rebound from this game. Yes, Philadelphia Eagles won this game.
(19:18):
Dallas Cowboys put up twenty points on them. But man,
this defense this very soft defense needs the rebound before
they head out to Kansas City next week. For Week two.
In terms of kick returns, there was only one for
John Metchi for twenty yards, one for Will Shipley for
twelve yards. There were absolutely no punt returns in this
game at all with either team, and Braden Mann on
(19:43):
three punts he averaged forty eight point seven yards per punt.
If we look at the Dallas Cowboys, look Dak Prescott.
He threw the ball thirty four times, only completed twenty
one of those for one hundred and eighty eight yards.
He averaged five point five yards per tempt and he
ended with a rating of seventy six point six. So
(20:04):
you're looking at the two quarterbacks here and you say, yes,
Jalen Hurts obviously outplayed Dak Prescott, and he did in
a lot of different ways. Javonte Williams was their leading
rusher fifteen carries for fifty four yards three point six
yards per carry. Miles Sanders he had that huge rush
for forty nine yards as we saw, and then ended
(20:25):
up coughing up the ball and fumbling for Quinnon Mitchell. Boy,
if it wasn't for Dak Prescott would have actually returned
that for a touchdown. But Miles Sanders had four carries
for fifty three yards. Ceedee Lamb thirteen targets in this game,
coming down with seven of them for one hundred and
ten yards fifteen point seven yards per reception. George Pickens
(20:47):
came down with three balls on four targets for thirty
yards as well. Jake Ferguson caught the ball five times
for twenty three yards. Cavante Turpin caught the ball twice
for eighteen A lot of Dinson dunks, a lot of
short passes from Dak Prescott as well. The only time
he was throwing down the field strategically, he was getting
(21:09):
calls for pass interference. I mean that was part of
the Dallas Cowboy scoring process in this game. Dak throwing
all the way down the field, there's a pass interference call,
and you know the chains move from there. I'm not
going to get into the Dallas defense. You know, we
know what the Eagles offense did to them. But again,
(21:29):
you know, as we're closing down things here and getting
ready to get out of your ear drums, however you're
listening to us. Look, it was a sloppy game at
times by the Philadelphia Eagles. In general, the defense ended
up stepping up to the plate when it mattered at
the end. You know, teams grow. This is one of
the youngest defenses in the entire NFL. It is the
(21:52):
youngest defense in the NFL. There's gonna be some growing pains, folks.
I think we need to get used to it. Got
sixteen more games to go. I think this defense is
gonna grow. Vic Fangio is a fantastic coach in this league.
He's a great leader, and I think you're gonna have
leaders like Zach Bond stepping up to the plate. I
think you're gonna have leaders on the defensive line stepping
(22:16):
up as well. I think that we need to be
patient at times, and I know it's difficult as Philly
sports fans to do that. I certainly know, but patience
is going to need to happen with this Philadelphia Eagles
defense for sure. Offense really clicking on all cylinders basically
until the second half, and basically clicking until the lightning
(22:39):
delay happened. But I'm very confident about where this offense is.
So with that being said, that's gonna end our Eagles
postgame analysis here at the PST Podcast Show again. The
Philadelphia Eagles winning down at the Link in the season
opener by a score of twenty four to twenty against
the Dallas Cowboys. Good division win right out of the gate.
(23:03):
Happy about that, all right, folks, that's gonna do it
for us. Take care and will catch you next time.
You are listening to Eagles postgame analysis here at the
Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly
sports podcast show in the world, twelve years strong. And yes,
week one of this Philadelphia Eagles twenty twenty five twenty
twenty six season is now in the books. They beat
the Dallas Cowboys and the home opener by a score
(00:43):
of twenty four to twenty and we are going to
dive into the themes here of this game. We're gonna
go through some stats as well, dissecting what we saw
from this Philadelphia Eagles team on offense and defense, special
teams as well. I'm Jeff Warren. I am riding solo
here as man. This game ended a bit late, folks.
(01:05):
If you were living under a rock, you'd know that
this game was delayed for approximately an hour because of lightning,
and a lot of us are just waiting around. Philadelphia Eagles,
waiting around Dallas Cowboys waiting around. Cannot imagine being in
the middle of a game, the heightened emotions and vibes,
(01:25):
only to be told, Okay, you gotta stop playing football.
You know you're trying to get back into football shape.
First game of the year. There is a lot of
rust all over the place, both teams, in all units
on the field. Quite frankly, you're told you got to
wait an hour until the lightning passes down at the link.
And you know, we saw some slop in the second half.
(01:47):
First half, a lot of high powered offense. The defenses
did not look good on both sides of the ball
as well. But again, gonna get into the themes here.
So I think it's safe to say probably the most
undisciplined Eagles game to start a season that we probably
have ever seen. Of course, have to mention right off
(02:08):
the bat here Jalen Carter getting tossed right after the
kickoff for spitting on Dak Prescott. Now, I have to
say it was circulating throughout the game on the socials
out there that Dak actually spat at Jalen Carter first,
or at least within the vicinity of Jalen Carter. Of course,
(02:29):
Dak Prescott not being flagged for that. Jalen Carter making
an absolutely stupid stupid move in spitting right on Dak
right as a referee is next to him. It's just
one of the dumbest moves. It's gonna be interesting to
see how he handles this moving forward, how Nick Sirianni
(02:50):
and the Eagles organization handle this moving forward. You can't
do that. You can't be that dumb. You can't be
that stupid. Again, yes, heightened emotions during this first game,
but it can't happen. Jason Kelcey with the tweet, though, saying,
this is the most wild start to an NFL season
of all time. First play of the game, one player
is carted off. We'll get to that in a second.
The other rejected. I mean, everybody knows you don't spit,
(03:12):
you swallow obviously. Oh thanks a lot, Jason. We did
have a Jeff Kerr tweet. Our good friend the Show
from CBS Sports said Jalen Carter has the fastest ejection
in an NFL game since Jeremiah Trotter back in thousand
two thousand and five. Trotter was ejected in a pregame
(03:33):
fight with Kevin Mathis in Week one on Monday Night
Football against the Falcons. A lot of us do remember that.
It took Jeff's tweet for me to recall that, but
absolutely remember that for sure. So that being said, Jalen
Carter is kicked out of the game, disqualified, and it
really hurt this Eagles defense right off the bat and
(03:55):
essentially affected the whole team as well. Defense just looking
soft right out of the gate, absolutely just letting the
Cowboys drive down the field and score on the very
first possession of the game. And in fact, by the way, folks,
we didn't see any punts in the first half by
either team. I mean, that's how much of an offensive
(04:17):
juggernaut we ended up seeing. But really the defense not
having Jalen Carter, it meant a lot, it did. It
affected then the secondary too. It affected guys like a
Dori Jackson who's just playing atrocious football. Look, there are
a lot of us folks that during the course of
the summer leading up to this game, we're saying to ourselves,
(04:41):
you know, I think Dori Jackson is cooked at this point?
Is he really gonna make the team? I've been talking
about it on this podcast platform, And yes, he really did.
Looked cooked. Gave up a ton of yards in the
first half, especially to Ceedee Lamb got called for just
a passing or appearance calling the end zone as we know,
(05:02):
in the first half, first quarter that was it looked horrible.
Just the holding I just couldn't believe what I was
seeing with the Dori Jackson. He appeared maybe he was injured,
appeared to be benched at the end of the second quarter,
right before the half Ja Cory and Bennett came in.
He had a pass interference call on him. Then a
(05:23):
Dori Jackson was back out on the field in the
second half, giving up a lot of big yards for sure,
But really, I mean, this Eagles defense again looking soft.
The Cowboys were consistently running the ball on third and
short right up the middle. Why you don't have Jalen
Carter there? And they continued to do it throughout the game.
(05:46):
There is you know, some I guess silver lining to
an extent with the defense. There was a play in
the third quarter that I want to briefly mention. Jihad
Campbell had a pass breakup that was deep down the
middle of the field that you just don't expect from
a typical linebacker, you know, an off ball linebacker to
(06:09):
be doing that. The guy is going to be special.
The speed that we saw from him fantastic. And look,
the Eagles defense again from a silver lining perspective, did
show up towards the end of the game in the
fourth quarter as the secondary was just battling it out
in coverage was really solid on CD Lamb and yeah,
ceedee Lamb was dropping some balls in this game. He
(06:31):
probably should have caught and that's on him for sure.
But the secondary really was battling throughout the course of
the second half. Because look, you didn't have the Dallas
Cowboys scoring any points in the fourth quarter. You didn't
have the Philadelphia Eagle scoring any either. But there's definitely
concern with this defense. Next week against Kansas City gonna
(06:54):
be interesting to see if Jalen Carter being out there.
Who knows, maybe he won't be out there, Maybe there'll
be a suspension for this or something. If Jalen Carter
is out there, how much this changes and alters the
course of the defense because this defense again just looked soft.
We obviously saw what not having veteran presence in the
(07:15):
secondary with Darius Slay, with CJ. Gardner Johnson, what that
meant to this Eagle secondary. Let's get into some other
themes here. I mean, aside from you know, the Eagles
team at general just being undisciplined. During the first half
of this game. The Cowboys were penalized twice for twenty
two yards. Eagles were penalized seven times for ninety three yards.
(07:39):
The Eagles offense did not lay a stinker in the
first quarter like we have been so used to and
accustomed to over these past couple of years. I mean,
that's been an ongoing theme. Can the Eagles score in
the first quarter. We saw good stuff from this team
in the first quarter, Kevin Patulo and Nick Sirianni putting
together a really good game. I like the fact that
(08:02):
the Eagles went right down the field right during their
first possession. I mean, Jalen Hurts was precise. There was
precision with his passes, Saquon Barkley, Will Shipley getting involved,
and the wide receivers blocking. Folks, if you go back
and look at some of the tape in the video,
you are going to see in that first quarter our
(08:24):
wide receivers I'm talking Devonte Smith, John Dotson blocking. It
was absolutely great to see that out there, allowing Saquon
Barkley to get tons of yards in that first half,
specifically the first quarter as well. We saw a lot
more passes over the middle from Jalen Hurts I think
than we have probably ever seen, and I have to say,
(08:47):
always looking poisoned in the pocket, and that's what you
want from your quarterback. That's what you want from your
Super Bowl MVP quarterback. Very very mature play on the
field from Jalen Hurts, really not making any stinkers of
any type of plays. We're seeing the growth of Jalen Hurts,
folks continuing to see that, and it's really great to
(09:09):
really great to witness, especially week one. With regard to
Saquon Barkley. Look, I mean, it wasn't the most fantastic
game in the world for him. Eighteen carries for only
sixty yards three point three yards per carry. Not too
great in terms of the stat sheet. Yes, he did
have a touchdown, but look the inside runs by Saquon Barkley,
especially in the second half, We're getting shut down by
(09:31):
the Cowboys defensive line. And I gotta be honest, I
have to be honest about how this Eagles offensive line
looked throughout many points in this game. Extremely rusty a
lot of the time, and in the fourth quarter they
looked pretty gassed. And who knows, maybe it's just the
first game of the season, Maybe it's getting that rusted off,
(09:53):
maybe it's getting back into in game shape, as it's called,
but really the offensive line and it looked a bit
rough at times throughout this game. And let's not forget
an important gentleman on this offensive line who ended up
missing the last part of this game, and that's Landon
(10:14):
Dickerson going out in the fourth quarter with a back injury,
Brett Toath replacing him. What have we been saying on
this podcast platform over these past couple weeks. What was
a huge concern Lennon and I talked about it during
the course of our Eagle season preview, and it was
Landon Dickerson, his health, the maintenance of his health, how
important and critical he is to the way this offense
(10:37):
is run. This medical staff is going to have to
do wonders in the future for Landon Dickerson if he's
going to be on the field and contributing to this team.
I'm very skeptical at this point. Wishing him all the best,
of course, but extremely extremely skeptical. Also, folks, how about
the fact and we have to recognize this fact and
(10:58):
it's really bizarre and criticism of the Eagles offense, of
the play calling of Kevin Patulo and possibly Nick Sirianni
here recognizing the fact that AJ Brown did not have
a target in this game until about a minute and
forty six seconds left in the game. You can't tell
me AJ Brown has not been open and had not
(11:20):
been open all game long, especially with Dallas playing man
coverage as often as they did, and him having no
targets was absolutely wild. If you had told me that
Johan Dotson was going to have more targets than AJ Brown,
I would have said, you are absolutely crazy. If you
(11:40):
had told me that Kylin Granson was going to have
the same amount of targets as AJ Brown in this game,
I would have said, you were absolutely crazy. We're recording
this rate after the game. Gonna be interesting to hear
the narrative this week about why AJ Brown was not
targeted at all during this game. One catch on the
(12:02):
game again, minute and forty six seconds left in the game,
one catch for eight yards just absolutely unacceptable in my opinion.
But really, I think we have to credit Jalen Hurts
for the win in this game. I think we have
to credit him. Not that we're gonna be giving out
MVPs all the time per game, and maybe we should
(12:22):
do that. Maybe it would make our Eagles postgame podcast
shows a little bit more interesting. But you know, maybe
Jalen Hurts was the MVP in this game. I mean,
I think it was an entire offensive performance quite frankly,
but Jalen Hurts made some huge plays in this game
when it mattered, specifically with his legs. We look at
(12:43):
the box score and you see the rushing Jalen Hurts
led this team in rushing fourteen carries for sixty two yards.
He averaged four point four yards per carry, two touchdowns.
I gave you a Saquon Barkley's stats a little while ago,
And yeah, while the passing tack wasn't necessarily the most prolific,
(13:04):
him getting the ball down the field. You know, there
wasn't a lot of stretch in the field and not
a lot of long passes down the field. We'll get
to Jalen Hurts's passing numbers in a bit, but Jalen
Hurts probably, I would say, and unequivocally the MVP of
this game. But again, him making huge plays when it mattered.
He is a top three quarterback in this league and
(13:26):
it's not even close. So tired of the narrative that
we've had to hear all summer. You know, is he
even top ten? Is he you know, a top eight quarterback?
People are ridiculous. He is a top three quarterback in
this league. Real quick, before we go to break special teams.
There were no punts in the first half, folks, none
(13:46):
at all. It's like there was so much action in
the first half and then there was a whole lot
of nothing in the second half from both teams. But
like like we mentioned earlier, Ben van van Sumerin going
down on the first kickoff of the season. Wishing him well,
but there's something else, a concern that I had. And
(14:09):
if you have listened to this podcast over the past
couple weeks, we've talked about Jake Elliott. Jake Elliott today
nail the fifty eight yard field goal. Safe to say, folks,
Jake Elliott is back. Seems like he's okay. As we know,
last year he was one of seven on fifty plus
yard field goal attempts. That fifty eight yard or today
(14:30):
should make us feel a lot better about where he
is with his leg, where he is in terms of
field goal kicking. Again, he only had one field goal
on the day for fifty eight yards. He had three
extra points made all of those. I'm feeling good about
Jake Elliott. We're going to take a break here, but
(14:50):
when we come back, I want to get into some
stats from the box score. Since I don't have a
co host here this week, not going to actually get
into any grades here, but I did want to go
through the score here just to highlight some of these areas.
We're gonna get to it in just a bit. All right,
we are back, and I'm gonna go through some of
the Eagles and Cowboys box score notes here just to
(15:13):
give some perspective about how this game really went. Look,
Jalen Hurts through the ball twenty three times in this game.
The Eagles rushed thirty eight times in this game, but
Jalen Hurts completed nineteen passes on those twenty three attempts
one hundred and fifty two yards, only six point six
yards per attempt. He was sacked only one time, lost
(15:35):
eight yards on that sack, but he ended with a
rating of ninety four point two. Not a terrible day
in terms of passing, but we know with Jalen Hurts,
he doesn't have to put up four hundred yards and
four touchdowns in order to have a great game. Why because,
as I mentioned before the break, he carried the ball
fourteen times for sixty two yards. He led this team
(15:57):
in rushing. He scored twice. Saquon Barkley eighteen carries for
sixty yards and a touchdown. Will Shipley carried the ball
three times for twenty six yards. I mean he averaged
eight point seven yards per carry on those three carries.
Aj Dillon got the ball three times as well, for
a total of ten yards. So it really was the
rushing attack that really got the job done today at
(16:20):
the end of the day, especially when it came to
touchdowns as well. This Eagles team put up one hundred
and fifty eight total rushing yards, four point two yards
per rush, and three total touchdowns. But then you look
at the receiving and again as I mentioned before the break,
Johan Dotson was the leading receiver on this team fifty
nine yards on three catches. He averaged nineteen point seven
(16:42):
yards per reception as long as fifty one yards. And
then you have Dallas Goddard being targeted seven times. He
came down with all seven balls for forty four yards.
Very very short passes six point three yards per reception.
Saquon Barkley caught the ball four times for twenty four yards.
Devonte Smith only targeted three times for sixteen yards in
(17:06):
this game five point three yards per reception. Aj Brown,
as we mentioned, only one target for eight yards, and
Kylon Granson one target for one yard. The receiving corps
have to wonder, and there's gonna be questions this week.
Of course, there should be that narrative of why weren't
some of these wide receivers targeted more. It's not like
(17:26):
the Dallas defense and secondary is somehow the next greatest thing.
Absolutely not. Why weren't these Philadelphia Eagles wide receivers more
prevalent within this game. Let's now move over to the defense,
where you know what you have Zach Bond at the
top of the box score again with nine total tackles,
(17:48):
six solos, one tackle for a loss, one pass defended.
I will say this though, folks, there was not one
sack in this game by the Philadelphia Eagles. Dak Prescott
stayed on his feet all game long, unacceptable in my opinion.
They just weren't able to get to him. Dorri Jackson
actually was credited for seven total tackles. In this game,
(18:10):
Jordan Davis was credited for six total tackles, Cooper Dejen
with five, Andrew mccouba with four, Quinjon Mitchell with four.
I don't like having the secondary being the top six
in terms of total tackles in this game. Don't like
it at all. Tackles for a loss there were three.
Jylex Hunt had one, Jordan Davis had one as well,
(18:33):
and as I mentioned, Zach Bond too passes defended. I
like seeing the secondary stepping up, but Zach Bond again
stepped up in that regard. Dory Jackson did have one.
Jordan Davis, Cooper Dejen also had a pass defended. Quinjon Mitchell.
Jihad Campbell as well. I mentioned him and his athletic
ability and quickness being that offline or I'm sorry, being
(18:58):
that linebacker that's able to get down the field. My gosh,
what an athletic guy. There was only one quarterback hit
in this game by Moro Ojomo, only one, folks. This
defense has got to get to work. This defense needs
to rebound from this game. Yes, Philadelphia Eagles won this game.
(19:18):
Dallas Cowboys put up twenty points on them. But man,
this defense this very soft defense needs the rebound before
they head out to Kansas City next week. For Week two.
In terms of kick returns, there was only one for
John Metchi for twenty yards, one for Will Shipley for
twelve yards. There were absolutely no punt returns in this
game at all with either team, and Braden Mann on
(19:43):
three punts he averaged forty eight point seven yards per punt.
If we look at the Dallas Cowboys, look Dak Prescott.
He threw the ball thirty four times, only completed twenty
one of those for one hundred and eighty eight yards.
He averaged five point five yards per tempt and he
ended with a rating of seventy six point six. So
(20:04):
you're looking at the two quarterbacks here and you say, yes,
Jalen Hurts obviously outplayed Dak Prescott, and he did in
a lot of different ways. Javonte Williams was their leading
rusher fifteen carries for fifty four yards three point six
yards per carry. Miles Sanders he had that huge rush
for forty nine yards as we saw, and then ended
(20:25):
up coughing up the ball and fumbling for Quinnon Mitchell. Boy,
if it wasn't for Dak Prescott would have actually returned
that for a touchdown. But Miles Sanders had four carries
for fifty three yards. Ceedee Lamb thirteen targets in this game,
coming down with seven of them for one hundred and
ten yards fifteen point seven yards per reception. George Pickens
(20:47):
came down with three balls on four targets for thirty
yards as well. Jake Ferguson caught the ball five times
for twenty three yards. Cavante Turpin caught the ball twice
for eighteen A lot of Dinson dunks, a lot of
short passes from Dak Prescott as well. The only time
he was throwing down the field strategically, he was getting
(21:09):
calls for pass interference. I mean that was part of
the Dallas Cowboy scoring process in this game. Dak throwing
all the way down the field, there's a pass interference call,
and you know the chains move from there. I'm not
going to get into the Dallas defense. You know, we
know what the Eagles offense did to them. But again,
(21:29):
you know, as we're closing down things here and getting
ready to get out of your ear drums, however you're
listening to us. Look, it was a sloppy game at
times by the Philadelphia Eagles. In general, the defense ended
up stepping up to the plate when it mattered at
the end. You know, teams grow. This is one of
the youngest defenses in the entire NFL. It is the
(21:52):
youngest defense in the NFL. There's gonna be some growing pains, folks.
I think we need to get used to it. Got
sixteen more games to go. I think this defense is
gonna grow. Vic Fangio is a fantastic coach in this league.
He's a great leader, and I think you're gonna have
leaders like Zach Bond stepping up to the plate. I
think you're gonna have leaders on the defensive line stepping
(22:16):
up as well. I think that we need to be
patient at times, and I know it's difficult as Philly
sports fans to do that. I certainly know, but patience
is going to need to happen with this Philadelphia Eagles
defense for sure. Offense really clicking on all cylinders basically
until the second half, and basically clicking until the lightning
(22:39):
delay happened. But I'm very confident about where this offense is.
So with that being said, that's gonna end our Eagles
postgame analysis here at the PST Podcast Show again. The
Philadelphia Eagles winning down at the Link in the season
opener by a score of twenty four to twenty against
the Dallas Cowboys. Good division win right out of the gate.
(23:03):
Happy about that, all right, folks, that's gonna do it
for us. Take care and will catch you next time.
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