‘Hungry Dogs’ dominated by Dallas as undisciplined Eagles fly back to Philly, their tails between their legs

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Eagles like to say “hungry dogs run faster.” They’re not hungry dogs anymore. They’re tired dogs. Overmatched dogs. Dumb dogs.

And they’re playing like ... well, like dogs. They’d better hurry up and learn some new tricks.

The Eagles were alpha dogs three weeks ago, and Jalen Hurts was the MVP favorite, but they just got dogged in back-to-back weeks. That smooching sound you heard was Hurts kissing his chances at MVP goodbye. The Birds first lost at home to Brock Purdy and the 49ers, who beat them by 23. Then they lost here, to Dak Prescott and the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football, 33-13.

The “hungry dogs” flew home with their tails between their legs after leaving the locker room quiet and dazed, utterly stunned by their error-addled play of late. It has been a cruel stretch, and the Birds fought doggedly for a while, but these dogs ain’t got no more fight.

This was the seventh game in an eight-game stretch in which they play Miami, Dallas, Kansas City, Buffalo, Kansas City, San Francisco, Dallas again, and, next week, in Seattle. Exhausting. They now are 10-3 overall, and 5-2 in the gauntlet, which has been brutal, especially since it followed a trip to Super Bowl LVII.

But these results ... well, these results are dogbleep.

» READ MORE: Another embarrassing effort shows the Eagles need a shake-up. It’s on Nick Sirianni to provide it.

Why?

They’re tired, sure. They’re facing the best teams, granted. It is more than this, though. It is a lack of focus. A lack of discipline.

”I’d agree with that,” said Jason Kelce.

“We didn’t play detailed enough,“ Nick Sirianni said, when he wasn‘t cussing (he used the “[poop]” word a lot). “We’re not doing a good enough job, against two really good teams.”

The Eagles remain tied, record-wise, with those teams, San Francisco and Dallas, atop the NFC for the top overall seed and the sole, precious bye that it brings, with the 49ers owning the tiebreakers. They’re tied atop the NFC East standings with the Cowboys, but they’re precious inches from getting buried like old dog bones.

Incredibly, they’re burying themselves, from offensive line to the defensive line to the sideline. Pop Warner turnovers. Dead-ball penalties. Mystifying play calls, whether they have the ball or not.

There were a few moments Sunday night that made you shake your head in wonder. Chief among them:

Late in the second quarter, rookie cornerback Kelee Ringo completed a rare trifecta: He was flagged for pass interference by grabbing the face mask of Brandin Cooks, whom he then allowed to catch the ball, anyway. Instead of an 8-yard completion and the ball at the Dallas 49, the resultant 25 yards in penalties put the ball at the Eagles’ 35 and helped the Cowboys score a touchdown for a 24-6 halftime lead. It likely was a four-point penalty.

In the second quarter Hurts got stripped, old-school style, carelessly carrying the ball in the middle of the field with one hand, in traffic; the ball was ripped from his hand as he was being tackled.

In the third quarter, the same thing happened to A.J. Brown. In the fourth, DeVonta Smith.

Lack of discipline, right?

”[Bleep], man,” Brown said dismissively, “we’re trying to make plays, man.”

Not much accountability there. Troubling; now, with A.J., sloppy play is OK?

Not so with Hurts.

“Yeah, there’s a number of things, when you think abut something not operating the way you expect it to,” Hurts said. “It’s all about controlling the things that you can. When you’re disciplined, you want to operate at a high level.”

When you’re disciplined, you hold on to the ball.

“I have to be better with the ball security as a runner,” said Hurts, who has now lost eight fumbles and has 18 total turnovers, five more than last season.

His superb ball security last year set a theme for the team on its way to the Super Bowl.

Sloppiness was the theme set early Sunday.

Four unforgivable sins happened within a span of six plays to quash the Eagles’ first drive.

Lane Johnson false-started. Jordan Mailata false-started, partly because the defender he was going to block moved, but the defender moved because the play clock had expired; the false start only wiped out what would have been a delay-of-game penalty on Hurts. Then Brown committed obvious, clumsy offensive pass interference. Finally, Hurts fumbled.

There were other moments of football surreality.

In the middle of the third quarter, Dak Prescott’s 32-yard pass to tight end Jake Ferguson went 32 yards because Ferguson broke two tackle attempts by Sydney Brown. Yes, two missed tackles on the same guy, by the same guy, on the same play.

In the first half, the all-world center Kelce whiffed on a block in space for the first time since his beard started turning gray.

With just under 13 minutes to play, trailing by 14, James Bradberry grabbed KaVontae Turpin’s jersey, and for no good reason; he’d defended Turpin well. A stop there would have forced a punt. Instead, the drive continued. The Cowboys burned three more minutes, then kicked a field goal for a 30-13 lead with 9:40 left. Instead of a two-score game, it was a three-score game, and that was pretty much that.

Why?

In this moment; poor discipline from a cornerstone veteran.

In general; a pack of tired, old dogs came to Texas and buried their best chance to win the division.