What the Dallas Cowboys Proved Despite Their Week 1 Loss to the Eagles | The Rich Eisen Show

What the Dallas Cowboys Proved Despite Their Week 1 Loss to the Eagles | The Rich Eisen Show

TJ, your Dallas Cowboys, I got to give it up, man. They were impressive last night. They are they are much better than I give them credit for. Um, whatever that Micah Parson’s trade might have engendered in that locker room. Either Brian Shottenheimimer dowsed uh that flame, if there was one, or maybe Micah’s trade was in fact something that would be welcomed in a locker room, maybe from a quarterback who played his ass off last night in Dak Prescott. They didn’t seem to miss Micah Parsons one bit. And what did they do? They stopped the run. They did in fact stop the run. We gave up 60 some yard rushing. But yes, dude. Dude, they stopped Saquon Barkley, man. They didn’t let him go off. And Jaylen Herz went off. I mean, Jaylen Herz got a lot of those yards. Uh, obviously. Um, I I I I know, you know, it’s tough to say you stopped the run when I did just give you, you know, they they gave upund they the rushing net yards they gave up were 158. Okay. And you take a look at, you know, the stats now that I’m actually being called out on it by you, TJ. They stopped they stopped the run at the middle. They did a good job. They did a good job in the middle. Yeah. I mean, hey, I’m I’m looking at it. Jaylen Herd said 60. He was their leading rusher last night, which is again another MVP candidate. But a lot of those were still rich. They wasn’t designed. Exactly. Exactly. That’s what I’m saying. And Barkley, you know, averaged 3.3 yards a carry. It was Will Shipley who damn near ran for a first down every time he touched it. AJ Dylan, they rolled him downhill to remind everybody that AJ Dylan still plays football after last year’s disastrous injury march season for him. The Cowboys did their job. They did their job last night and they did their job last night right before the end of the half. It was a wellexecuted end of the half setup for Brandon Aubrey. They use their timeouts wisely. They down the ball and clock the ball smartly. I mean, how exactly how many times have we seen the Cowboys run a fire drill? Yeah. Over and over and over again that only seem to have gasoline poured on the fire and then Aubry bails them out because it’s a 65 y instead of a far more makeable field goal like he made before the end of the half. Now then, did they make mistakes? Of course they did. You know, of course they did. I mean, my Sanders had he ripped off that big time run for the Dallas Cowboys. you know, 49 yard and then, you know, a red zone fumble that killed him. I mean, absolutely killed him. I if they had turned those that into points, then their last drive of the game wouldn’t have been for a touchdown, they could have just set up Aubrey for some 70 yard to maybe win it. Had they scored a touchdown in instead of fumbling it in the red zone, that changes the dynamic of that game considerably, especially because as soon as he fumbled it, the lightning came and an hour delay hit. Yeah. I mean, it was the worst time. I mean, had they had they called the delay, you know, for the delay after that Cowboys score, everyone would have been sitting in a locker room off of something like that as opposed to a field flipper, a momentum changer. And the Cowboys, obviously, the CD Lamb drops is a lot of what people are talking about today because had CDI made I I’m going to say that last catch that could have happened was a real tough grab. Yeah. I mean, that was a real tough grab. It was the one over the middle that Dak put it right in his hands that I don’t know. He he made this motion after it was after he popped up that uh I mean the guys on NBC didn’t mention it, but I was sitting in my hotel room here in Brazil and it looked to me as if he was saying he may have lost it in his eyes, but that is not what he was bringing up after the game. He did a lot of chest tapping on the sideline and gave the my bad press conference soundbite. Man, that’s terrible. Uh, honestly, I feel like the I mean, I can’t point no fingers at nobody else, you know what I’m saying? And, um, I take full accountability and everything else that come with it because I mean, as for me as a player, I pray for moments like that, you know what I’m saying? And the ball to come my way. And obviously, for me to not come up with it, bro, that it stings a little bit. But I will tell you, if you think I’m not coming back any times harder than this, you got another thing coming. And as a matter of fact, listen, um I I I I know he’s going to use this as whatever um you know, fuel for his fire. He he’s I’m sorry, man, for you TJ, cuz this was in the this was in your grasp, not to you know, borrow an unporly used phrase right here, but this he grabs one of those. And this is a different story that we’re talking about today. the Cowboys had a massive opportunity. Their run game uh we we’ll see what it looks like next week against the Giants cuz I’m imagining, you know, um Big Dex isn’t going to spit on Dak um in the, you know, right after the kickoff, uh that he’s going to play, you know, all 60 minutes. Um, but other than other than those drops and the fumble in the red zone, the Cowboys looked really good, man. And you got to be happy about that. You got to be happy about it that you saw signs of life and that they also seemed to take a cue from Brian Shottenheimimer to execute. And the play calling seemed smart. There wasn’t a headscratcher that you’ve seen over the last few years. There’s nothing that we’re talking about a hot mess. All we’re talking about is it was right there. Dak looked really good. He was aggressive at the end when he needed he needed to be. He made some throws. The run game is there. They stop the run with Saquon Barkley. And Shottenheimer had this to say after the game about Sidi and the team’s chances moving forward. I still think we can win a Super Bowl. That’s the goal, Todd. It’s not going to change. I mean, um, we got the right type of guys. We got good players. Again, like I said, you know, you saw what we’re capable of in the first half offensively. You saw what we’re capable of in the second half defensively. We just got to put the game together in a more complimentary fashion because that’s what we’re capable of and um you know, we lost the turnover battle that affects some things, right? We lost one- nothing and you know, we’re all about the ball and we got to protect it better and got to try to get create some takeaways on defense. I mean, we will see uh moving forward. They go home and we all know they’ve played worse at home than they have on the road. But the fact that they made it this close, maybe TJ, that’s why I did not hear from Carl Anthony Towns at all last night. And there might not be any horn band coming into the studio today yet. Not Not a single Dang it. Not a single lick. The stage is set, you know, and obviously they’re at I know, right? At Chicago, home for Green Bay, at the Jets, at Carolina. You take a look at the way that the Cowboys played last night and you really have to feel if you have to really feel good about their home date against the Giants despite losing this one in Philadelphia, TJ. Yeah. You know, look, I can look at this from the the the disgruntled fan point of view and be like, you played well, but we lost, which we did. But there are some things that give me hope. Um Jaylen Herz, I’m not an all 22 guy like you you always say. I I’m not a tape watcher. did see massive holes in the middle of our defense were hurts. Like Chris said earlier, he was able to scramble around, score touchdowns, and get loose. I’m going to imagine that the defensive coordinator, this team will, you know, make those adjustments on defense so that doesn’t happen again. And that, Rich, that gives me hope that I think the the problems that we had can be fixed. So yeah, I’m I’m kind of, you know, I was a little down yesterday, like not knowing what to expect, but I do have a little bit more hope today. I mean, I think as well as you played, the one thing that really stood out, you kind of needed a pass rusher last night and, you know, that probably would have helped if you had 11 out there. No, they they they were able to in the second half, they were able to get Jaylen off the spot and you could see, you know, like I flu was blitzing digs from the corner spot. They were bringing some people and directions that Jaylen wasn’t seeing. Um, it’s just I have a feeling, guys, we’re gonna see Jaylen Herz do this to everybody and and it’s not just the Dallas Cowboys. Yeah, but yeah, but do what? Because he wasn’t he he wasn’t winning the game with his arm. Devonte Smith not involved. AJ Brown absolutely not involved. They had one big play to Jan Dodson of all people. That is not sustainable. So, you know, I don’t know. The Eagles really didn’t impress me that much on offense. Herz is awesome and I think he’s going to be in that MVP conversation, but he really did it with his legs last night. And Chris, is that more of a knock on Herz though or maybe looking at maybe this Dallas defense was better than everyone gave them credit for? Maybe. Or just Philly kind of kept it super vanilla and bland knowing what they have coming up. Tough games, you know, Lions, Chiefs. Maybe that’s an element, too. I I I don’t I I don’t think they kept anything vanilla. I think Dallas is just better than we think. You just got to tip your cap. And Jaylen Herz, I I I would disagree. I I I thought he did win his game with with with his arm. He didn’t make any mistakes and he won the game with his legs more than his arm. That’s for sure. Third career game with two or more rushing touchdowns and a completion percentage of 80 or more, which is the most by a quarterback since 1950. No other quarterback has more than one such game in his career. Uh maybe we’re just seeing the ascension of somebody so special that Michael Jordan’s there with him and you know they’re putting his shoes on Jaylen Herz and we’re beginning to see the ascension of a really insanely talented and special player that I think saved the Eagles night. Hey, you made it all the way to the end. Thanks for that. Check us out every single day streaming live on Disney Plus and the ESPN app 12 to 3 Eastern.

Rich Eisen breaks down the closer-than-we-thought-it-would-be Cowboys vs Eagles Week 1 game to kick off the 2025 NFL season.

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