2025 Game Review – DAL 24, PHI 21

If you want to know how things went in the PHI/DAL game, there is one simple way to describe it. Punter Braden Mann was the Eagles best player in the game. That’s not ideal when you’re playing a division rival and trying to put a nail in their coffin. This would have been a great week to kick some ass. Instead, the Eagles played sloppy football and lost on a last second field goal.

There were times when the Eagles played well. They jumped out to a 21-0 lead and had some good moments. But man were they sloppy. They had a season high 14 penalties. They tied a season high with 2 turnovers. They missed a FG. And the defense allowed three plays of 43 or more yards. That isn’t winning football. In some ways, it was crazy that the game stayed close.

The offense looked good early on. They had 196 yards and 21 points in the first half. They didn’t score after that. Drives got past midfield and then something bad would happen. A turnover. A key penalty. A missed FG. The defense gave up 473 yards, but made some critical plays. They held Dallas to 0-2 on fourth downs. They had an end zone INT. They had another takeaway just outside the red zone. This was as bend but don’t break as you can get.

The Eagles played just well enough to lose a close game.

The Eagles didn’t win the line of scrimmage on offense or defense. They didn’t win the turnover battle. They didn’t win the explosive play battle. That’s not Eagles football. Dallas was sloppy in their own right, but give them credit for making a few more plays and winning the game.

I know some people will be upset about the officiating. The Eagles had a couple of bad calls go against them, but also had a couple of things go their way so I don’t think you can blame that. They were called for more penalties, but most of those were legit calls. They just played really sloppy football.

This game was frustrating to watch live. It was more frustrating on the re-watch because the Eagles had so many chances to score points or really take control of the game. They just blew chance after chance. Tough loss.

COACHING

Nick Sirianni had a mixed performance. I thought he was too passive at the end of the half. He could have used a timeout or two to try and save some time for his offense. Instead he was passive and the Eagles got the ball with only 17 seconds left. He ran the ball and ended the half. The Eagles didn’t go run happy with the 21-point lead. They weren’t having success so they kept throwing the ball. That was smart. I had no problem with Nick kicking the 56-yd FG that Elliott missed. Jake has hit those kicks this year. I did think Dallas played with more of a sense of urgency. A loss would have all but killed their season so they were the more desperate team.

Kevin Patullo had a good plan early on. He actually had some good calls later in the game as well. The problem is that the Eagles struggled with penalties on several drives and Patullo couldn’t come up with plays to overcome the tougher situations. Patullo’s play on the crucial 3rd & 2 didn’t work great. For such a key moment, you would have liked a better call. Patullo also wasn’t able to get the run game going. The linemen talked about issues with Dallas 5-man front. The OL had troubles all game long.

#Cowboys DT Quinnen Williams was the best defensive player in the #Eagles game. pic.twitter.com/ZOLCTWe4A3

— Dominic White (@DomWWhite) November 26, 2025

Vic Fangio had to be highly frustrated. The design of his defense is to limit explosive plays and the points they generate. The Eagles gave up three plays of 43 or more yards. Dallas had 7 explosive plays altogether. That had to drive Fangio nuts. The plan was fine. Dallas just made some key plays. Fangio had to be happy that his defense limited Dallas to 24 points.

Michael Clay’s guys made some key mistakes. Cam Latu got called for roughing the kicker. I don’t know why the Eagles were rushing the punter on that. Dallas was punting from their end zone. The Eagles should have had the ball at midfield. Instead the re-kick was a rocket and a penalty on the return pushed the Eagles way back. That might have cost them points. And then Xavier Gipson fielded a punt inside the 5. Making matters worse, he then fumbled while returning it. Not so special.

OFFENSE

Jalen Hurts was mostly good, finishing 27-39-289. He had 1 TD pass. He was 7-33-2 as a runner. Hurts looked sharp early. He got the ball to AJ Brown and the offense had some rhythm. Things were less smooth in the 2nd half. Dallas got pressure on Hurts and he wasn’t able to move the ball effectively with any consistency.

Saquon Barkley was 10-22 on the ground. He didn’t have much room and wasn’t able to take advantage of what was there. Saquon fell down short of the sticks late in the game, setting up the fateful 3rd & 2. Crucial mistake. He fumbled when the Eagles were in scoring territory. Another crucial mistake. He did go 7-52 as a receiver. Tank Bigsby didn’t play much and finished 1-8.

AJ Brown had a good game, going 8-110-1. He caught the ball well and showed good RAC ability. His best game in a while. That’s the AJ the Eagles need. He did have one key mistake when he lined up on the LOS with Matt Pryor in the game as a TE. AJ did ask the official if he was good, but should have known he needed to be back. That penalty wiped out a big play to DG.

DeVonta Smith was 6-89 with one spectacular catch.

How on earth did DeVonta Smith adjust to this? pic.twitter.com/OpYyW0M7FB

— Coach Dan Casey (@CoachDanCasey) November 26, 2025

Wow. DeVonta can do some special things. He was called for OPI on a play that went for a good gain. That was an awful call.

Darius Cooper finished 2-7. He was used as a blocker/chipper/dump-off option.

Dallas Goedert was only 2-20, but penalties cost him another 50 or so yards. Ugh. Those were key plays. Grant Calcaterra was 1-8 as a receiver.

The OL had a bad game. That is the worst game by an Eagles OL in a few years. All five guys struggled. Fred Johnson was the RT. He reminded us why he’s not a full-time starter with that performance. He wasn’t good as a run blocker or pass protector. He had multiple penalties and one wiped out a play that would have put the Eagles inside the red zone in the fourth quarter. Ugh. Rough day. Quinnen Williams got the best of the interior guys. Nobody did a good job on him with any consistency. Jordan Mailata had another sloppy performance.

The coaches had various guys blocking and chip-blocking to help the OL out. That isn’t common for the Eagles and should give you an idea how nervous the coaches were about protection in this game.

DEFENSE

The pass rush was really good vs Detroit. It wasn’t nearly as effective in Dallas. Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt were the starters. Smith played better than I realized when watching live. He was credited with 3 tackles and 2 QB hits. Smith had a good sequence near the goal line. He tackled Dak short of the end zone on a scramble and then hit Dak on the next play, forcing him to get rid of the ball early. Hunt had 4 tackles and 1 QB hit. That was a good shot on Dak late in the game.

Jaelan Phillips was quiet. He didn’t have any tackles and just 1 QB hit. That was disappointing. Brandon Graham didn’t play much and got hurt in the game.

Jalen Carter played well in his first action vs Dallas. He had 5 tackles and 1 QB hit. Carter was disruptive at some key moments. Jordan Davis had 6 tackles and a TFL. He was good against the run in the first half. He didn’t stand out as much after that. Moro Ojomo had a quiet game.

Great read by Zack Baun but he can’t finish the play pic.twitter.com/WmUfzlIhgG

— Shane Haff (@ShaneHaffNFL) November 23, 2025

Zack Baun led the team with 9 tackles. He was good against the run and in coverage. He almost picked off a pass. Baun got into the passing lane and played it perfectly, but couldn’t make the catch. Dallas later scored a TD on that drive. Ugh. Baun did recover a fumble. Nakobe Dean had another good showing, with 5 tackles and the team’s only sack. Jihaad Campbell didn’t play much. He finished with 1 tackle.

Reed Blankenship had a strong game. He had 8 tackles and an INT in the end zone. He covered well. Blankenship hurt his thigh in the fourth quarter and left the game. Drew Mukuba only had 3 tackles, but was generally good in coverage. He got hurt late in the game. Sydney Brown replaced Blankenship and finished with 5 tackles. He was aggressive, but wasn’t able to make any coverage plays.

Blankenship picks off Prescott in the end zone!

PHIvsDAL on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/v8ri79zzXq

— NFL (@NFL) November 23, 2025

Cooper DeJean had a challenging game. He played in the slot and outside. He was good in the slot, but had some struggles on downfield throws. He was in good position on one, but got grabby and drew a flag. Lamb caught the ball anyway. He also got beaten by Pickens for a big gain. Again, he was in good position, but couldn’t get his hands on the ball. DeJean did have 7 tackles, a PD and a FF. He made a couple of really impressive tackles.

Quinyon Mitchell had 3 tackles and a PD. He got called for PI on a short pass. Q was breaking on the ball aggressively and trying to come up with a pick. Solid game. Adoree Jackson gave up several catches, but I thought his coverage was okay. He banged his head on the turf and was taken out of the game. Michael Carter played in the slot after that. He finished with 1 tackle and looked okay.

ST

Jake Elliott missed his only FG attempt. That really hurt.

Braden Mann averaged 50 yards on 5 punts. He had 3 of them downed inside the 20. He was able to pin Dallas deep a couple of times. Great showing by him.

Gipson made a terrible decision to field a punt inside the 5. He then made it worse by fumbling the ball away. Gipson has played well for the Eagles so it was tough to see him fall apart in such a big moment.

The coverage units did a good job on Turpin. He had a 33-yard KOR, but nothing bigger than that.

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