Face it: Eagles are bad, especially after bad loss to Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night | 6 immediate observations

By Zack Rosenblatt | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com | Posted November 11, 2018 at 11:28 PM | Updated November 11, 2018 at 11:29 PM

PHILADELPHIA -- Keep waiting for it to happen, for the Eagles to turn the corner.

For the offense to finish drives.

For the defense to prevent big plays, especially on third-and-long.

For the running game to get going.

For the Eagles to look like they did a year ago.

Keep waiting.

It's not going to happen. This is not that Eagles team. It's not even a particularly good Eagles team. They're decidedly average.

Sunday night, the Eagles lost to the Cowboys 27-20 at Lincoln Financial Field.

Matt Slocum | AP

Coming off a bye week, the Eagles had 14 days to prepare for this matchup.

The Cowboys only had six days after a Monday night debacle where they lost to the Titans last week, and looked profoundly below average.

Something is off with this team, and it only gets harder next week against the Saints, on the road. New Orleans might be the Super Bowl favorite right now.

The Eagles might not even make the playoffs at this rate. They're tied with the Cowboys in the NFC East race, and two games behind the 6-3 Washington Redskins.

Call it injuries, play-calling error, underperformance or personnel mismanagement.

This does not look like a playoff team, let alone a Super Bowl contender, and a trade for a 30-year-old slot receiver was never going to be enough to fix what ails this team.

Now, they're 4-5 and heading to New Orleans.

They're in trouble.

Here are six instant observations from the Eagles' loss to the Cowboys

1. First quarter woes

Tight end Zach Ertz said earlier in the week that the Eagles were trying to emphasize fast starts and that "our team is not a team that's meant to play from behind. Our team is meant to play with a lead."

That plan failed.

The Eagles' first drive went three-and-out. Punt.

Carson Wentz was intercepted on the first play of the second drive, on a poorly thrown ball attempted for Ertz.

Their final first quarter drive included a sack for a nine-yard loss -- left tackle Jason Peters was beat by Randy Gregory -- and ended with another punt.

In the second quarter, the Eagles got it all the way to the Cowboys' 20-yard line, thanks largely to a long Josh Adams run, and then ended it on a failed attempted fourth down conversion. Adams lost three yards.

It took a 56-yard field goal with 1:38 left in the half before the Eagles scored their first points.

Wentz was 10 of 17 for 104 yards and a touchdown at halftime. The Eagles trailed 13-3. They had one first down in the first quarter.

All told, the Eagles have been outscored 32-21 in the first quarter this season and they've scored seven total points in the first quarter at home.

Typically, the first 15 plays are scripted up by the Eagles coaching staff.

It's time for a rewrite.

2. Carson Wentz

Wentz had as bad a start to this game as he's had in his NFL career.

On his first-quarter interception, the Eagles ran with four wide receivers and a tight end -- a formation they hadn't used previously this season -- and Wentz locked onto Ertz, and threw it without seeing rookie Cowboys linebacker Leighton Vander Esch, essentially at a standstill. He might as well have targeted Vander Esch.

His throws didn't get much better until late in the third quarter and into the fourth, when he finally orchestrated scoring drives, both capped by touchdown passes to Ertz.

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