Eagles stats: Dak Prescott flourishes vs. Birds defense struggling to get off the field on third down

The Eagles dropped to 10-3 following their 33-13 loss to the Cowboys on Sunday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Here are four stats that help tell the story:

Over two games against the Eagles this season, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has completed 53 passes for 645 passing yards with five touchdowns and zero interceptions. He picked apart the Sean Desai-led unit again Sunday, although Prescott contended postgame that the offense wasn’t close to clicking on all cylinders. His expectations aside, Prescott continues to dominate the Eagles in games under the spotlight. The Cowboys supported him with 105 rushing yards total from tailbacks Tony Pollard and Rico Dowdle. Wide receiver KaVontae Turpin also gashed the Eagles for 22 yards on a jet sweep for a third-down conversion.

“I don’t think I’ve played, obviously, my best game,” Prescott said. “I’m a completions guy. I want to get it rolling. We did enough to win. But I want to be better. … [The win] was big. We needed it. Let’s not sugarcoat that. We needed that. Being able to do that against a team like that here at home, a place that we’ve had a lot of success at over the last two years, puts us tied for the front of the division. This was huge. It was huge. It was a great atmosphere from the jump. It felt like a playoff game.”

» READ MORE: Dak Prescott is the betting favorite for MVP ahead of Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts

Simply put, the Eagles cannot get off the field on third down. The Cowboys converted 56% (9 for 16) of their third-down attempts. This continued another alarming trend after the Eagles allowed the Bills to convert 59% and the Niners 73% on third down. According to Pro Football Reference, this is the first time the Eagles have allowed three consecutive opponents to convert more than 55% of their third downs since 1991, when the NFL began tracking third-down conversions. The Eagles rank last in the NFL in third-down defense. Upon his hiring, Desai said he wanted his unit to be defined as “palpable.” Through 13 games, his defense isn’t felt nearly enough on third down, and those results will continue to be magnified against the league’s best teams, barring any changes.

“It was just an ugly game by us,” defensive end Brandon Graham said. “It’s about getting hot at the right time, and I think the team will do that. We need to keep detailing our work. We need to make sure we clean it up. We need to make sure we put a better product out there, own what we did, and … stay together.”

Speaking of third down, the Eagles continue to struggle to generate effective pressure in critical situations. On third downs this season, the Eagles are sacking quarterbacks on just 6.3% of plays, which ranks last in the NFL, according to TruMedia. The issue includes several layers. No. 1, the Eagles recently haven’t been forcing opponents into known passing situations. It’s difficult for defensive players to pin their ears back and chase the quarterback on third-and-short when the play call could be a run. No. 2, the pass rushers aren’t winning enough, especially when Desai elects to send only four rushers. No. 3, without a consistent rush, the coverage unit on the back end also has struggled.

“I don’t know what it is — it’s everything,” defensive end Josh Sweat said. “I can really only speak for the front. We’ve got to take care of each other and be better. We’re too good of a rush to be getting too many ‘almosts.’ Too many QB hits. Too many pressures. We need to get home.

“We’ve seen we can be dominant, we change games. … I’m tired of [obscenity] ‘almosts.’”

» READ MORE: Josh Sweat voices Eagles’ defensive frustration after another woeful effort from Sean Desai’s unit

For the first time in the Nick Sirianni era, the Eagles scored zero offensive touchdowns. Three turnovers — all lost fumbles — from quarterback Jalen Hurts and wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, played a huge role as all three occurred just outside the red zone. The team’s only touchdown came from defensive tackle Jalen Carter, who returned a Fletcher Cox forced fumble for a score.

» READ MORE: Fumble-itis spreads to A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, dooming the Eagles’ comeback chances at Dallas

“Obviously, we’ve got to play a little bit better,” said Sirianni, whose team ran 52 offensive plays in the loss. “We struggled; I thought we moved the ball up and down the field pretty well against a pretty good defense. But they did a good job taking the football away from us. … I thought a lot of it was the turnovers. Jalen did a good job of going to the right place with the football. Guys were getting to the spots they needed to. But we uncharacteristically turned it over on some fumbles.

“We’re not coaching well enough. We’re not playing well enough. It’s my job to make sure we start fast, so I’m not doing a good enough job. We’ve played way more from behind. That’s obviously something I’ve got to figure out.”