ARLINGTON, Texas – With Dak Prescott sidelined due to a hamstring injury, the Cowboys offense had a tall task ahead of them offensively. Turns out, the task was a lot taller than they could imagine, and turnovers had their number again.
Dallas turned the ball over five times, four of them via lost fumbles and the final coming in the fourth quarter on a Trey Lance interception. That's 10 total turnovers in the last two home games for the Cowboys, who have yet to win at AT&T Stadium this season.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat this, you can't win without taking care of the damn ball…" Mike McCarthy said following the loss. "Five turnovers is just unacceptable."
In 56 plays, the Dallas offense was only able to muster yards of offense (2.6 yards per play), converted three of their 14 3rd down attempts and couldn't get in the endzone for the second time in as many home games. The last home touchdown for the Cowboys came in Week 3's 28-25 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
"Very frustrating that we didn't score," CeeDee Lamb said when asked how frustrating the loss was. "It was terrible."
Trailing 7-3 in the first half, the Cowboys were marching down the field on a 13 play, 77 yard drive taking 6:17 off the clock and faced first and goal at the Eagles seven yard line. Then on the 13th play of the drive, Ezekiel Elliott fumbled the ball into the endzone where Philadelphia recovered for a touchback. It was a demoralizing finish to a drive, and the rest of the game as well.
"It can snowball fast when you don't take care of the ball…" Cooper Rush said. "We had a chance with the defense playing well to overcome those coming out of halftime and we just didn't."
The following offensive possession, the Cowboys got the ball at the Philadelphia 6 yard line and had a prime opportunity to get into the end zone and take a lead. On 2nd and goal, it wasn't the Eagles defense that disrupted what could've been a touchdown from Rush to Lamb, who had trouble locating the ball through the sun.
"Couldn't see the ball at all." Lamb said when asked about the play.
Rush and Trey Lance combined for just 66 passing yards, the lowest output of the season by far, adding to the growing frustrations for this Cowboys offense that doesn't have a lot of answers to a situation they've never been in before.
"I've never seen anything like this," McCarthy said. "Even on teams that I was on as an assistant, I don't recall ever having back to back home games with five giveaways."
