PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- In a season filled with disappointment and missed opportunities, it's only appropriate the Eagles playoff aspirations ended in Dallas. An early 14-3 lead quickly evaporated, and the Cowboys beat the Eagles, 37-17.
The loss to their longtime rivals knocked the Eagles out of the NFC East race. At 4-10-1, the Eagles will be forced to play the role of spoiler next week at home against Washington.
For coach Doug Pederson, it was another game filled with the kinds of mistakes that hurt his team all season.
"It's difficult when you have those issues, especially in the situation that we're in," said Pederson. "With the amount of injuries that have taken place with this football team, you just can't make those mistakes and expect to win games."
The Eagles were outscored, 34-3, over the final three quarters. The loss of Fletcher Cox to an injury did not help, but the Eagles had no answers as they allowed 513 total yards.
Defensive end Brandon Graham echoed Pederson's sentiments, lamenting the penalties and turnovers that proved costly yet again.
"We just can’t have the penalties," Graham said. "We can’t have the pre-snap stuff on our side as a defense and on the offensive side, and just penalties, period. We always try to win in that category for the year. We didn’t do that this year."
Jalen Hurts threw for 342 yards, but the first-year quarterback made his share of mistakes. Hurts was intercepted twice, and he had a costly fumble in the second half. After leading the Eagles to victory against New Orleans and playing well in defeat in Arizona, Hurts will try to digest what went wrong against the Cowboys.
"I’m not going to make any excuses for anybody," said Hurts. "I’m not going to make any for myself. It’s something you learn from. It’s not a loss. It’s a lesson."
This season has given the Eagles a lot of lessons to learn from.
They have one more game to play, Sunday night against Washington. A victory for the visitors will give them the NFC East crown. A loss by Washington means the winner of the Cowboys-Giants game will take the division.
For Miles Sanders and his teammates, it's not exactly the situation they envisioned at the beginning of the season.
"This city is so passionate about this game," Sanders said. "We’re passionate, too, but we owe it to the fans, and I promise you better days are coming."