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The Good, the Bad, and the DiNucci... Against Philadelphia

The Good: A lot of this is going to be shaped by rather low expectations coming into the game... but there actually were some good points in the game...

1. Pass Defense: Wentz had some big plays as he went through the night... but despite that, there weren't a lot of them. In this, the Eagles passing game was limited in terms of those chunk plays and this actually allowed for a few punts to be forced in the game, something that this defense hasn't really done to anyone, even in games that we've won this year.

2. Improvement in the Run Defense: This wasn't great... as for the most part the Eagles did get their chunk plays in the ground game... BUT in many cases these sorts of plays weren't the 50 yard TD run and this thus forced the Eagles to have to run more than one or two plays... and as the game went on, the rush defense did get a bit better. It's not much... and some may argue this comes from issues the Eagles have, but it IS improvement.

3. Turnovers: Something that we've missed for much of the season... but the defense forced some turnovers tonight. Wentz fumbled twice, though once was on a fourth down attempt, and threw two picks... both of which went to Diggs... One can argue that this was just Wentz making mistakes, and to a degree that's probably true, but all things considered... I'm not going to knock the effort just because of who the Eagles have at QB.

4. Pulling Some Gadget Plays: There isn't much this season to lose... Might as well try them here and there and at times they produced some nice gains.

The Bad: It wouldn't be a Cowboys game without something bad...

1. Getting Into Many Gadget Plays: They're good from time to time... particularly when looking for a spark here and there. But you don't want to run them too many times and focus on what is working. And in the third quarter... that's where Dallas got away from a successful offensive drive that was largely moving between the tackles for a gadget play that put them well behind the chains and ultimately cost them points... I believe that was the drive that ended in the missed field goal...

2. Turnovers: The defense managed to force some turnovers tonight, which was good... but as has been the case this season, the offense often handed it back to them. DiNucci had two fumbles that took Dallas points away and had a fair number of passes that it was probably a miracle they weren't intercepted. In this despite forcing four turnovers on the day... we still left the game +2 in that category.

3. Failing To Take Advantage: The defense gave Dallas a big lift in getting Wentz to fumble on the first Eagles possession and Dallas got the shot to at least double its lead up to six points in the first quarter. And the offense did get into the red zone... Then DiNucci had his first fumble, taking points off the board and allowing the Eagles to go down and score their first TD. Then Dallas got two INTs... and in both cases went three and out on offense... essentially wasting big defensive plays and forcing the defense to have to keep making them.

The DiNucci: He wasn't great... and we shouldn't pretend that he was. But things weren't completely bad... Going into the fourth quarter, down 15-9 and before the second fumble... the score was competitive and he was actually moving the ball rather well, all things considered. Regardless of who one is playing, that's probably about all one can expect from a rookie who likely wasn't expected to see the field at all this year had Dak not gotten hurt.

That said... DiNucci still has a lot of growing to do. For he had guys open at times for some big plays, and he even found them and threw in their direction... but the balls were so overthrown that there was no realistic way to catch those passes. A good many of the sacks he took in the game came from holding onto the ball too long and either not throwing it away or not running it on his own. And he did have some designed QB runs of his own that did fairly well. In this, DiNucci could be athletic enough to pull the ball down and run it when he needs to... But he didn't do that often and often got sacked as a result.

And that was ultimately what set up the two fumbles that he had... The second one being the worse of the two. Now, one can argue as to whether or not one Eagles player was touched down with the ball before it squirted out at the end... but regardless of that... DiNucci could have gotten the ball out quicker on that play and thus prevent any argument over possession in the first place. Hopefully for him... this game ends up being a learning experience, especially if Dalton isn't healthy for next week...

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