Eagles running game was once again non-existent against the Cowboys. Photo by Todd Bauders / contrastphotograpy.com

Something happened on the Eagles’ journey to the Super Bowl. Something got in the way…that
something was the Eagles.

In one of the worst offensive performances in franchise history, the Birds dropped a 20-10 decision to NFC East rival Dallas Cowboys in a game that was not anywhere near as close as the score may look to anyone fortunate enough not to have watched the game.

The Eagles offense played at an anemic level of epic proportions.

How bad were the Eagles on offense? Really bad.

* Only one first down in the first half and that was on a penalty.
* Just 17 yards rushing for the game….yes S-E-V-E-N-T-E-E-N yards for the game in a backfield that features three Pro Bowl running backs all considered in their prime.
*The Eagles ran just 21 plays in the first half for only 21 total yards of offense.

Eagles head coach Chip Kelly said he was sorry to see a solid defensive effort go for nothing.

“We’ve got to get it figured out,” Kelly said. “Our defense – we let a really good defensive effort go for naught because we didn’t do what we needed to do offensively and that we need to stick together as a group and get this thing figured out.”

Kelly was asked about the running game or lack of it.

“Yeah, very disappointing,” Kelly said. “Couldn’t get anything started. I don’t think the running backs even really had time to assess if there was a hole. Too much penetration up front. Too many guys in the backfield.”

Kelly was asked if the Cowboys were doing anything differently on defense.

“No, they did the same thing they normally do,” Kelly said. “We just didn’t block them. It wasn’t a very difficult scheme; they ran four down linemen, three linebackers. They didn’t have extra guys in the box. We just could not block the defensive line tonight.”

Kelly made more than one reference to the play of his offensive line. The Birds have just 70 yards rushing for the season…as a team.

Kelly was asked about formations – having quarterback Sam Bradford under center, how he hands the ball off…looking for answers before the season slips away.

“Yea, I don’t think it mattered,” Kelly said. “We were under center today. I don’t think that was any – we had penetration. We were under center. We had penetration. We ran the shotgun. I don’t think how we are handing the ball off is the problem right now. We have to get it straightened out. We have to get it straightened out up front.:”

Kelly was asked if he has the right guys in there?

“We’ll see. We’ll see. We’ve got to assess everything.”

Kelly was asked about his statement that he was going to evaluate everything, does that include the quarterback?

“That includes everybody; coaches, everybody.”

The Cowboys overall play was not as bad as the Eagles Sunday but it walked with it.

Dallas committed 18 penalties for 142 yards and lost two fumbles.

Their vaunted offensive line allowed the Eagles to sack Tony Romo three times, the third hit ended with a fumble and a potentially season-ending shoulder injury to the Cowboys signal caller.

The Cowboys only touchdown with Romo in the game came on a blocked put that was returned by Kyle Wilber 26 yards for the score.

Kelly was asked if he saw where the breakdown was on the play.

“They had a double lead inside, and I think our center got picked,” Kelly said. “Something we had been prepared for, but we didn’t block it up right.”

With no offense to speak of the defense took chances to create turnovers, trying to get into the end zone.

It almost worked. In the fourth quarter when Byron Maxwell stripped tight end Gavin Escobar of the ball, Malcolm Jenkins scooped up the ball and raced 34 yards before being tackled at the Dallas 30-yard line.
On the first play from scrimmage, center Jason Kelce was not on the same page as his quarterback and snapped the ball before Bradford was ready resulting in a lost fumble.

It was deflating to say the least.

Kelly laid the blame on the feet of his center.

“It was just snapped before we even had a cadence,” Kelly said. “I know we had not even started, we were not even set. So we didn’t even start our cadence and the ball got snapped. So I don’t know, I have to talk to Jason in terms of exactly what happened, but we didn’t have a cadence when the ball was snapped.”

The Cowboys got a solid effort from backup quarterback Brandon Weeden who was 7 of 7 for 73 yards including a 42-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Williams.

For the game, Bradford was 23 of 37 for 224 yards, one TD pass and two interceptions. He was sacked once.

Offensive tackle Lane Johnson was asked if he would ever thought the Eagles would be this bad after playing so well in the preseason.

“Never,” Johnson said at his locker after the game. “The way we produced in the preseason, we were all hyped up and we were looking good. I think we started believing that and we went out there (now) and not playin’ and thinking we were going to roll over and steam roll people. You saw that today. We have to get our heads out of our butts and get it together.”