The Dallas Cowboys fell to the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 28-23 on Sunday afternoon, and afterward, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy offered his thoughts on the close loss.
“Stating the obvious: It’s a game of inches,” McCarthy said, according to Michael Gehlken of The Dallas Morning News. “We came up an inch or two short on a few plays. … We knew this was the kind of game it was going to be. We came up short.”
Dallas held a 17-14 lead at halftime, but the Eagles answered with a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 28-17 advantage.
The Cowboys then punched a score in the fourth quarter to close to within 28-23 but failed to make the two-point conversion. It didn’t matter anyway, as Philadelphia held on for the five-point victory.
It was certainly a frustrating loss for McCarthy’s club, as Dallas actually outgained Philly 406 to 292 in yards of total offense. The Cowboys also went a solid 3-for-5 on fourth downs, and while they were penalized 10 times, the Eagles were, as well.
As McCarthy said, it’s a game of inches, and Dallas ended up coming out on the short end of the stick in the first of two pivotal NFC East divisional matchups between the two rivals.
On the bright side for the Cowboys, quarterback Dak Prescott played one of his best games of the season, going 29-for-44 with 374 yards and three touchdowns.
However, in spite of Prescott’s strong showing, it wasn’t enough.
Dallas fell to 5-3 with the loss and now sits two-and-a-half games behind Philadelphia—which is 8-1—in the NFC East.
The Cowboys have a couple of “gimme” games coming up on their schedule, as they will battle the depleted New York Giants next weekend before taking on the lowly Carolina Panthers on Nov. 19. They also have a very winnable Thanksgiving Day clash with the Washington Commanders lined up.
Dallas will see Philly again on Dec. 10, and next time, the game will be in Texas.
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