DAL at PHI: 6 plays that altered the outcome of the game

The Dallas Cowboys went into Philadelphia on Sunday, and played a hard fought game where they came up just short.

Philadelphia squeaked by Dallas 28-23, and needed a defensive stand at the end of the game to keep the Cowboys from scoring the game winning touchdown.

There were several big plays in the game, and some close calls that changed the outcome of the game itself.

Let’s take a look at some of these plays that if they had gone in the Cowboys’ favor, could have changed the end result.

Gallup Drops A 3rd Down Pass

Near the end of the first half, the game was tied at 14.

Dallas had the ball after a touchdown drive by the Eagles, and were looking to capitalize before the end of the half.

Dak Prescott was driving the Cowboys down the field, and converted a 4th down attempt to setup Dallas with a first down at the Philly 40 yard line.

A 2nd down run by RB Tony Pollard setup a 3rd & 3 from the Eagles 33 yard line.

Prescott took the shotgun snap, and scanned the field, eventually throwing a pass to a crossing Michael Gallup.

Gallup was open beyond the first down, but the pass bounced off of his chest.

Dallas would settle for a 51 yard field goal by Brandon Aubrey, who would nail it, and set the record for most consecutive field goals to start a career (19).

There’s no guarantee the Cowboys would end up scoring a touchdown if Gallup makes that catch.

Assuming they did, they would not have needed a two point conversion to get within three points

More on that play later.

Schoonmaker Holding Call

Dallas kicked the ball away to the Eagles to start the second half, and Philadelphia drove all the way for a touchdown and a 21-17 lead.

The Cowboys’ first possession of the 2nd half would start promising, but end in a punt thanks to a questionable holding call on rookie TE Luke Schoonmaker.

On a 1st & 10 from the Eagles 45 yard line, RB Rico Dowdle took a handoff up the middle and rumbled 18 yards to the Philly 27 yard line.

Bring it back. Schoonmaker was called for a holding penalty that looked eerily similar to a hold that Micah Parsons drew on the drive before, but did not get awarded with a flag.

The missed calls are going to be a theme in this article.

Dallas would not make it back into field goal range for Aubrey, and would eventually punt.

In a five point loss, those nearly guaranteed three points would have come in handy at the end of the game.

Instead, Dallas came up empty on that drive, and the Eagles would score yet another touchdown on their next drive to go up by 11.

Schoonmaker Ruled Short Of Endzone

The Dallas defense gave up touchdown drives on the Eagles first two possessions of the second half to put the Cowboys in a 28-17 hole.

Prescott drove the offense down the field, and after a heels over head dive to get into the endzone came up just short, Dallas faced a 4th & Goal from the one yard line.

Dallas decided not to run the ball, and Prescott’s pass was caught by Schoonmaker on a short out route right at the goal line.

The initial call on the field was touchdown, but the replay review showed Schoonmaker’s knee hit the ground with the ball just inches from the goal line.

That same replay also showed a blatant defensive pass interference on Eagles S Reed Blankenship, tackling Schoonmaker before the ball arrived.

Considering he was interfered with, it was an incredible catch by the rookie tight end, but it also may have led to his demise.

I can’t help but wonder if the official held on to his flag because Schoonmaker caught the pass despite the interference, and the call on the field was a touchdown.

It’s possible that the flag didn’t come because it would have been declined anyway, but that decision doomed Dallas after the replay.

Instead of being within one score with 10 minutes left in the game, Dallas instead gave the ball back to the Eagles to chew more time off of the clock.

What’s even more frustrating is that Schoonmaker appeared to be Dak’s first read, and he fired the football without looking right, where Brandin Cooks was wide open on a slant.

Prescott Steps Out Of Bounds

After the failed 4th down conversion on the previous drive, Prescott again drove the Cowboys all the way down the field for a touchdown.

Dak completed five of six passes and ended the drive with a scramble drill touchdown pass to Jalen Tolbert, the first of his career.

The score was 28-23, and Mike McCarthy elected to go for the two point conversion to bring the deficit to three points.

Prescott dropped back to pass, and then scrambled to the right where he raced Eagles DE Brandon Graham to the pylon.

Dak appeared to convert, but replay showed his left foot stepped out of bounds just as he was reaching for the pylon.

That near conversion completely changed how the Cowboys would handle their final two drives of the game.

On the next possession, they were forced to go for a 4th & 8 conversion instead of tying the game with a Brandon Aubrey field goal.

They were also forced to go for a touchdown on the final drive as well.

Eagles Recover Their Own Fumbles

This actually happened three different times over the course of the game, but the most critical occurrence was with just over a minute left.

On the Eagles first drive of the game, Cowboys’ DE Sam Williams flew in and stripped Jalen Hurts of the ball.

Alertly, Hurts was able to pick up the football off of one bounce and retain possession.

They would eventually score a touchdown on that same drive to go up 7-0.

The next occurrence was on their next touchdown drive on a 1st and Goal from the Cowboys’ 10 yard line.

Eagles RB D’Andre Swift took a handoff and ran into the right side of the line, where he had the ball punched out by Cowboys S Malik Hooker.

It appeared S Markquese Bell picked up the football and ran with it, but the ruling was overturned after replay showed Swift fell right on top of his own fumble.

With fortune on their side once again, Philadelphia would score a touchdown to tie the game at 14.

The final, and likely most impactful occurrence, happened with just over a minute left in the game, and Philadelphia attempting to run out the clock.

Facing a 3rd & 7, the Eagles appeared to fake a jet sweep with AJ Brown to force Dallas to defend the outside.

Swift took the handoff and ran right into Brown, and fumbled the ball.

It hit the turf, and appeared to be within Parsons’ grasp before it was kicked around and eventually recovered by Eagles G Tyler Steen.

Philly would punt, but instead of a 1st & 10 in Eagles territory with one timeout left, Dak and the offense would start with zero timeouts from their own 14 yard line.

The Entire Final Sequence

Driving 86 yards with under a minute to play is a tall task for any offense, but the Eagles defense did all it could to help the Cowboys accomplish it.

On the first play of the drive, Prescott fired a deep pass up the left sideline to Michael Gallup in single coverage.

The pass was incomplete, but Eagles CB James Bradberry was called for defensive pass interference, and Dallas gained 36 yards to midfield.

Now 40 seconds left, Prescott hit Ferguson on the right sideline for a 10 yard gain, and Dallas tacked on a roughing the passer penalty on Haason Reddick.

After a 14 yard strike to Lamb, Dallas was setup with a 1st & 10 from the 11 yard line with 27 seconds left.

On the next play, a hard count by Prescott drew Jalen Carter offsides, and the Cowboys now had a 1st & 5 from the Philadelphia six yard line.

It was all backwards from there.

Tyler Smith was called for a false start, moving the ball back to the 11.

That call was also questionable, as it was similar to how the Eagles RT Lane Johnson fired off the ball right at the snap earlier in the game, but it wasn’t called.

Back to 1st & 10 from the 11, Prescott was sacked by Josh Sweat for an 11 yard loss.

Nearly all the way to the ground, the officials missed yet another penalty call when Jalen Carter led with his helmet in a head to head hit on Prescott.

With no timeouts, Dak hurried up to the line, but instead of spiking the ball, elected to run a play.

Prescott threw the ball out of play to setup a 3rd and 21 from the 22 yard line with just five seconds left.

A delay of game penalty put the endzone 27 yards away for the Cowboys’ final grasp, where they would come up short on a completion to Lamb.

In a game of inches, the ball bounced in the Eagles’ favor at seemingly every turn.

The Cowboys and Eagles will meet again in Arlington a month from now on December 10th, and Cowboys Nation cannot wait for their revenge.