Blogging The Boys
They say that football is a game of inches, and the Dallas Cowboys discovered exactly how agonizing those inches could be during their 2023 Week 9 trip to the unfriendly confines of Lincoln Financial Field against the Philadelphia Eagles. It was a battle for supremacy in the NFC East, carrying massive divisional weight and eventual playoff seeding implications. When the clock struck double-zeros, Dallas fell on the short side of a 28-23 loss. This particular defeat was an especially difficult pill to swallow because of just how many close moments refused to go the team’s way.
It was a fantastic back-and-forth battle, but Dallas struggled to keep pace for a stretch and found itself staring at a 28-17 deficit in the fourth quarter. Pre-snap penalties, a stagnant running game, and blown defensive assignments allowed the Eagles to take control. Then, a sudden late surge sparked a comeback. The defense abruptly came to life, forcing three consecutive three-and-outs and throwing the door wide open for the Cowboys to steal a huge divisional win on the road.
What happened next in that final quarter is still a little hard to stomach. The team endured one close-call letdown after another. The heartbreak started when a replay review overturned a Luke Schoonmaker touchdown, showing the ball was just short of the goal line when his knee touched the turf. Instead of closing the gap to 28-24, Dallas walked away with zero points and still trailed by 11.
The team kept fighting and got the ball back quickly. Dak Prescott marched them down the field, going 5/6 for 57 yards in just over two minutes, capping the drive with a seven-yard touchdown to Jalen Tolbert. Unfortunately, they fell victim to another close call after replay again spat in their faces. A two-point conversion was overturned because Prescott had stepped out of bounds before extending the ball past the goal line, keeping it a five-point game instead of a three-point game. That was massive.
Dallas got the ball back quickly yet again and drove 45 yards, but again they came up short at the Eagles’ 25-yard line, turning the ball over on downs with 1:17 left. The defense continued to come up huge, forcing another quick series for the Eagles’ offense. And Philly narrowly escaped disaster after running back D’Andre Swift ran into his own teammate and put the football on the turf. Micah Parsons was in perfect position to fall on it, but rookie offensive lineman Tyler Steen somehow pulled it in.
The offense still got one final possession and strung together a great final drive. Well, almost. They got all the way down to the Eagles’ six-yard line with first-and-goal with 27 seconds left on the clock. The game was right there for the taking.
What followed was an absolute debacle. False start. Terence Steele completely whiffs on a block, and Dak gets sacked. With no timeouts left, the clock continued to run. Incomplete pass. Delay of game. Suddenly, four shots at the six...
