Eagles Confident In Rebound After First Loss In Nearly Three Months

The Philadelphia Eagles will try to get back to winning after losing last week for the first time since Sept. 29 when the Cowboys visit in Week 17.

Dec 8, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles center Cam Jurgens (51) in action against the Carolina Panthers at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA – The last time the Eagles lost a game before last week’s meltdown against the Commanders, they had a bye to get things right, and they did, winning a franchise-record 10 in a row on the other side of that week off.

They don’t have the luxury of a week off this time, with the Dallas Cowboys coming in Sunday for a 1 p.m. kickoff. A win and the Eagles capture the NFC East for the second time in head coach Nick Sirianni’s four-year run as the team’s coach.

The last time the Eagles suffered defeat was on Sept. 29 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“I think everybody's treating it like a normal game week,” said center Cam Jurgens. “You don't really want to change anything. Because, how many games we win in a row, a team record, most in our team's history, so whatever we're doing week by week to win games, and even if you lose you don't want to switch up and change what you're doing. I think guys do a really good job of keeping the same approach going into each week.”

The approach is different if only because Kenny Pickett will likely start at quarterback in place of a concussed Jalen Hurts.

“I don’t think it’s a sense of urgency,” said running back Saquon Barkley. “We just have to finish strong. We know what’s at stake with the division, being able to win the division this week. That’s kind of the main focus, go out there and win this game. We can do that.”

Not only is Pickett new to the game plan, but the Eagles defense needs to remedy whatever caused it to allow five touchdown passes to Commanders rookie Jayden Daniels last week. The defense forced five turnovers, so that was a bright spot worth noting.

Dec 15, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Darius Slay Jr. (2) celebrates with linebacker Zack Baun (53) after his fumble recovery during the third against the Pittsburgh Steelers quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

“There were a lot of bright spots in that game,” said linebacker Zack Baun. “That can’t be overlooked by the (number) in the score column. We had five takeaways, six if you include the fourth-down stop early in the game. That’s crazy, and a lot of teams win with that.

“We just let up too many explosives. We gotta keep an eye on the good things that we did during that game, and correct the negative plays. We’re a good defense. We just played one game that’s not up to our standard. This is a great week to get up to our standard.”

The Cowboys have already been eliminated from the playoffs and have shut down receiver CeeDee Lamb for their final two games. Dallas though has won four of their last five and is treating this like a Super Bowl they haven't come close to playing in since the 1990s.

“Knowing how they’re trying to get the number one seed, they are fighting for everything,” said Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons. “They are fighting for where they wanna be in the playoffs. We are fighting to whoop them. That would be a great feeling right there.”

To get there, the Eagles will have to put last week’s loss behind them and not let their losing streak reach two games. That would invoke too many bad memories of last year’s collapse.

“Go back to the drawing board, which we did,” said Barkley. “We played a really good team last week. It didn’t go the way we wanted but everything we want is still in front of us. We just won 10 in a row, something that’s very hard to do in the NFL.

“You don’t want to lose football games, but we hit the reset button. It humbles you a bit, but you have to stay hungry, and we get another opportunity this week.”

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