U.G.L.Y.

Doug Pederson, and many other coaches, likes to say there is no such thing as an ugly win in the NFL.

Bullshit.

The Eagles 23-9 win over Dallas on Sunday night was ugly with a capital U. It was still a win. It counts just the same as if the Eagles were perfect and won 63-0. No matter the style points, you get one win in the standings.

But style points do matter. This isn’t college where you’re trying to impress pollsters, but how you play reveals what kind of a team you are. The Eagles won a big game tonight. They are in first place. They are also a bad team. Anyone who watched the debacle could see that.

This wouldn’t be a big deal if the Eagles were mostly playing well. That’s not the case this season. The Eagles have not played well for a whole game yet this year. And we just got to midseason. That’s not good.

One of the big problems is that there isn’t any foundation to rely on. You can’t lean on the great run game or the dynamic passing attack. The defense isn’t dominant. There isn’t any part of this team that is compelling. The DL is very good, but they aren’t Reggie-Jerome-Clyde good. They can’t just take over games.

The good news is that the Eagles did find a way to win, despite four turnovers from Carson Wentz. The defense played their best game of the year, limiting Dallas to 265 yards and three field goals. Jim Schwartz’s unit had four sacks and a couple of takeaways, including returning a fumble for a TD.

Yes, this came vs Ben DiNucci, who was making his first NFL start. And he did struggle. Give the Eagles defense credit for shutting him down. They were supposed to and did just that. The Eagles had a couple of CBs get hurt during the game and had to move personnel around so there was some adversity to deal with.

The offense…yikes. They put up 222 yards and 15 points against arguably the worst defense in the league. Carson Wentz had four turnovers. Doug Pederson abandoned the running game. The offensive line was inconsistent. The skill players were up and down.

So very, very frustrating.

It felt like Doug and Carson wanted big plays early and were going to be aggressive in going after them. I understand that thinking, but once it became clear that Dallas couldn’t sustain drives, the Eagles should have gone to a more conservative approach. Run the ball, throw short passes and punt if you have to.

This was not the week for hero ball.

Unfortunately Wentz didn’t get that memo and Pederson struggled to deliver the right message during the game. It is infuriating that Wentz is a turnover machine in a year that his team is so beat up and desperate for him to play smart.

Pederson said after the game that he never considered benching Wentz. We’ll get into that subject during the coming week.

Not everything was gloom and doom. Travis Fulgham continued to play like a star receiver. He was 6-78-1 and looked like the best offensive player on the field for either team. Jalen Reagor returned from injury and 3-16-1. He just missed another TD catch late in the game. Boston Scott had the best rushing game of his career, going 15-70. He outgained Zeke by seven yards.

The Eagles found a way to win a big game and they should be happy about that.

The bigger story is the continued struggles of Wentz. Every time you think he’s taken a step forward, he seems to fall back into his bad habits.

This team can only continue to win ugly if they play flawed teams. When the Eagles go up against the Saints, Packers and Seahawks, they will lose if they play like this. They must get better.

Starting with Wentz.

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