{"id":474940,"date":"2026-10-23T23:34:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T23:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/474940\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T23:34:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T23:34:47","slug":"dallas-cowboys-at-philadelphia-eagles-3-causes-for-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/474940\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles: 3 causes for concern"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Cowboys return to action Monday night for their third consecutive primetime matchup, taking on the Philadelphia Eagles. If the Cowboys want any shot at making the playoffs, they absolutely need to walk out of Philly with a win.<\/p>\n

Before the two teams square off, here are three causes for concern in the matchup.<\/p>\n

\"(Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

(Photo by Michael Reaves\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n

1) Cowboys\u2019 Offensive Line Woes<\/p>\n

The last two weeks have been bad for Dallas\u2019 offensive line. In their two matchups against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Green Bay Packers, the Cowboys have allowed 30 total pressures, 25 QB hurries, and 5 QB hits. Dak Prescott\u2019s mobility has kept them from allowing a single sack, but Dallas\u2019 offensive line has been struggling as of late.<\/p>\n

This week, the Cowboys face another tough test against an Eagles\u2019 defensive line that has a knack for creating some pressure. In their matchup last week against the Carolina Panthers, Philadelphia recorded 17 total pressures, 12 QB hurries, and 3 sacks.<\/p>\n

If Dallas\u2019 offensive line comes in out of sync and struggles to pick up a blitz like they have the past two weeks, Philadelphia\u2019s defensive line could dominate this matchup. Fixing their protection issues should be one of the Cowboys\u2019 top priorities heading into this game.<\/p>\n

\"(Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

(Photo by Michael Reaves\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n

2) Dallas\u2019 Defensive Struggles on Third Down<\/p>\n

If you looked at just first and second down, the Cowboys\u2019 defense was outstanding last week. Unfortunately for Dallas, there\u2019s more to playing complete defense than being good on the first two downs. In the first half, the Packers converted 9 of 10 third downs, leading them to take a commanding 17-0 lead at halftime.<\/p>\n

While Dallas played a lot better on third down in the second half, Green Bay finished 11-for-18, an outstanding 61.1% success rate on the most important down in football. Dallas\u2019 third-down struggles on defense were not a one-game issue; they\u2019ve been arguably their biggest problem all season long.<\/p>\n

This season, the Cowboys\u2019 defense has allowed a league-worst 54.7% third-down conversion rate, a historically bad number. It doesn\u2019t matter who is playing quarterback for the Eagles this week; if Dallas\u2019 defense is as bad on third down as it was last week, it will struggle to leave Philly with a win.<\/p>\n

\"(Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

(Photo by Kevin Sabitus\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n

3) Playoff Hopes Hang in the Balance <\/p>\n

If the Cowboys walk out of Philadelphia on Monday night without a win, you can put a nail in the coffin for their playoff hopes this season. Losing a third straight game, two of which they were favored in, bringing them to 2-5 and 1-2 in the division, would be a near-impossible deficit to recover from.<\/p>\n

On the flip side, if the Cowboys can find a way to defeat this beat-down Eagles team, their next five matchups feature some winnable games. Including this week, Dallas will likely be favored in four of their next six matchups, with four of those matchups coming at home.<\/p>\n

If the Cowboys play like they have the past two weeks, none of it will matter, but Monday night\u2019s game has a chance to be a season-defining matchup for this 2026 Cowboys team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Cowboys return to action Monday night for their third consecutive primetime matchup, taking on the Philadelphia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,23679,669,104,103],"class_list":["post-474940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys-analysis","tag-dallas-cowboys-roster","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}