Things your parents might say, Week 6 edition: ‘This doesn’t feel as bad of a loss’

Week 6 didn’t turn out to be a statement game for the Dallas Cowboys. The national media would have rightfully put them on a pedestal if they somehow found a way to win against the Philadelphia Eagles. Instead, the Cowboys lost 26-17, and everyone was waiting for the old shoe to drop, where everyone starts to doubt how good this Dallas team really is.

However, there was none of that this week. Even across the “Power Ranking” landscape, most sites had the Cowboys either moving up in the polls or dropping slightly. At the end of the game, my dad mentioned, “The Eagles beat up on Dallas’ backup quarterback. They did what they were expected to do. This doesn’t feel like much of a loss to me.”

Seems like an astute observation from my father. Dallas came back but couldn’t find a way to finish. With Dak Prescott likely to return this weekend, many power rankings were probably grading on a curve.

Keeping things as PG as possible, here are the other choice words my dad had to say during the Cowboys game against the Eagles.

“Philly is a cesspool. I never liked the city or the team. Whenever I watched Ron Jaworski play, I thought he looked like a gopher.”

Before a snap of football was played, my dad started getting into everything he didn’t like about the Eagles. It shows no love loss on either side of the fence. My dad has also lived in central New Jersey his whole life, so he’s been publicly barked at a time or two by Philly fans in the area.

Apparently, there can be disdain against someone even though they never had success against the Cowboys. Jaworski’s lifetime record playing Dallas is 4-14 with a 47.25 completion percentage. Not very good.

The gopher comment can also come from Jaworski’s time as a broadcaster for ESPN. As a Cowboys fan, my dad never liked seeing an Eagle broadcast Dallas games. Do Philly fans feel the same way about Tony Romo?

Every fan of the Eagles or Cowboys can point to many reasons they don’t like the other. This rivalry runs deep and should be that way for many years.

“The Cowboys offense is not helping their defense out at all. They keep shooting themselves in the foot. The 20 points scored by the Eagles should be put on Cooper Rush, not the defense.”

We agree that Cooper Rush has been a godsend for the Cowboys this season. Going 4-1 as a backup quarterback in this league is not easy. Especially winning games against both Super Bowl teams from 2021, the now 5-1 Giants, and a dismantled Commanders team.

The reason why Rush had success against those teams was that he never turned the ball over. Even when the offense wouldn’t score on drives in previous weeks, time would run off the clock and could give the defense some rest. That didn’t happen in Philadelphia.

Rush finished the night throwing three interceptions, but the first two put the game out of reach early. Giving the Eagles offense a shortened field is why they could score so fast. Outside of the one 13-play drive in the fourth quarter, the Dallas defense made Philly earn every yard and stopped them from scoring more.

The second-half performance by the offense kept it close when Rush protected the ball better. Jerry Jones and Co. will hopefully find a way to bring Rush back as the backup if Prescott is ever to go down again in the future. However, if Prescott is healthy for the rematch in December, there should be hope that he’ll be the one to flip the script.

“There are a lot of boneheaded penalties going against the Cowboys. There seems to be a lack of discipline.”

Penalties were pointed at being a problem last season, in the preseason and Week 1 of 2022. After being better in previous weeks, the Cowboys found themselves in familiar territory.

My dad pointed out there was a lot of emotion on both sidelines Sunday. Holding penalties are one thing, but inexcusable unsportsmanlike conduct penalties are another. That was evident on the game’s final drive when Nick Sirianni was shown barking at Cowboys players.

The Cowboys emotions got the best of them. Donte Fowler jumped offsides on a crucial fourth down when the Eagles were clearly trying to run down the clock. It became a four-point swing as Philly scored a touchdown instead of kicking the field goal.

One another drive, Micah Parsons was defending Dallas Goedert and deflected a pass in his direction. Instead of walking away, Parsons looked over Goedert on the ground and flexed. In today’s NFL, referees will call that penalty nine times out of ten. That took it from a would-be 3rd and 10 from the Philly 30-yard line to a 1st and 10 from their own 45. The Eagles ended up punting on the drive, but it ran an extra two minutes off the clock when every second was needed for the Dallas offense.

The Cowboys finished the game with ten penalties for 72 yards. With the game being within three points in the fourth quarter, you wonder what could have been if nine of those were taken away. It might have given Dallas extra time to score.