Gardner Minshew falls just short vs. Cowboys

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It’s hard to ask any more of your backup quarterback than to throw for 355 yards and two touchdowns, put up 27 points on a top-10 defense in its own stadium and drive the offense inside the 20 with a chance to win in the final minute.

Gardner Minshew gave everything he had Saturday in Dallas. It just wasn’t quite enough.

“Man, we lost, so that sucks,” Minshew said. “You always want to do your job well enough to win, and I feel like I didn’t do it. Obviously, disappointed. Things to grow on, things to build on, but a lot to clean up.”

Minshew, making his first start of the year, put up 27 points against a defense allowing 18 per game and 15 per game at AT&T Stadium.

He fired two touchdowns to DeVonta Smith, threw 19 first down passes – the Eagles’ most this year and matching their 7th-most in the last 20 years – and hit on seven completions of at least 20 yards (and two more for 19 yards).

The biggest mistake he made was targeting Quez Watkins five times, two of which turned into ugly interceptions.

Those were among four turnovers the Eagles committed.

The Eagles have committed eight turnovers in their two losses and nine in their 13 wins.

They’re now 1-21 since 2008 when they’re minus-three or worse in turnover ratio. The one win came against the Texans in 2014.

“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Minshew said. “You can’t turn the ball over four times and expect to beat a good team. You can’t stop yourself.”

It’s a shame the Eagles lost because the offense did some really impressive things.

They piled up 442 total yards of offense - 2nd-most against the Cowboys this year and most against Dallas in regulation since the Eagles had 477 in Dallas in 2020. And they held the Cowboys without a sack for only the second time this year.

DeVonta Smith made a couple miraculous catches and picked up his third 100-yard game in the last four week, increasing his season totals to 79-for-1,014. A.J. Brown was 6-for-103 and is now over 1,300 yards this year. They have 17 touchdowns between them.

“It was awesome,” Minshew said. “All the guys fought their tails off. Those are the ones that hurt, when you fight like that and come up short. But I know there’s not a group I’d rather step out there with, and I’m really grateful for the effort they gave and the fight that they had.”

Minshew’s 355 yards are the most against the Cowboys since Derek Carr threw for 373 in overtime last November. The last QB to throw for 355 yards against the Cowboys in regulation in North Texas was Philip Rivers of the Chargers in 2017, when Nick Sirianni was the Chargers’ receivers coach.

“Just trying to win, man,” Minshew said. “Any time you step out there, that’s all it is. There’s a ton of guys who’ve put in a lot of effort into this season and I don’t want to let them down. I’ll do everything I can for them to win and get that first seed in the NFC East.”

As difficult a day as it was, the Eagles still had a chance in the closing minutes.

Minshew drove the Eagles from their own 25-yard-line with 1:41 left to the Dallas 19 and a 1st-and-10 with 34 seconds left.

But the Eagles just couldn’t punch in the game winner.

“We have some really good guys who can go get the ball, we’ve got a great offensive line that can protect us,” he said. “It was just a matter of getting a couple chunks and giving ourselves a chance. We did, and then we didn’t capitalize when we got there.”

Minshew may get another opportunity to start depending on how Hurts’ sprained right shoulder heals. If Hurts isn’t at practice on Wednesday, there’s a pretty good chance it will be Minshew against Sunday at the Linc vs. the Saints, when the Eagles get another opportunity to lock up top seed in the NFC.

“Jalen’s been awesome, just helping me getting up to speed with what it really feels like with these guys in a game. He’s got a lot of experience playing Dallas, and I was able to lean on that.

“But really I’ve learned from Jalen the last two years. He’s doing some really incredible stuff out there and to be able to watch him not only in games but every day in practice, I’ve learned a ton from him. Really grateful to him and the role he played this week.”

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