The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from Cowboys-Eagles With Diante Lee

0:00Diante Lee:Oh, welcome to the Ringer NFL show. The 2025 season is underway. Sheil Kapadia here with my friend Diante Lee. Eagles beat the Cowboys 24-20. Diante, this had a little bit of everything. We had a magic loogie before the game. No, I guess before the first play from scrimmage, we had an ejection. We had a weather delay. We had offensive fireworks and then offensives that couldn't do anything from an entertainment. and value I feel like this delivered, right?

0:34When you say it had everything, you know how they say like there's everything complimentary and everything derogatory. In a lot of ways, maybe I'm just kind of biased by the second half because we're jumping on right in the wake of the end of this game. But when you say it had everything, the first thing I thought about was that might be a little bit more derogatory than I think complimentary.

0:51Diante Lee:It might be, yeah. It didn't end with a bang. They came back from that weather delay and it was like, wait, what happened to the teams we saw before this thing. We're going to get into all of it, Deontay and I, and then at the end, I'm going to make some picks for the Ringer 107 contest. If you don't know what that is, don't worry. I'll explain at the end. So let's take a quick break. We come back. Let's get into the first game of the 2025 NFL season. This is the Ringer NFL show presented by FanDuel and the NFL is officially back. So if you're going to be in it, be in it with FanDuel. They've got the goods, futures, live betting, SGPs, Your Way Bets, all of it.

1:30Diante Lee:The app's clean, it's fast, and yeah, when you win, you get paid instantly, which is nice because Sunday patience doesn't exist. So get your bets in, build something bold, and make every game feel bigger. Download the FanDuel app or head to fanduel.com slash ringer NFL to get started. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Must be 21 plus and present in select states or 18 plus and present in DC, Kentucky, or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com.

2:11Diante Lee:Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Paid endorsement. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tremphaya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tremphaya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Tremphaya, proper training is required. Tremphaya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis.

2:54Diante Lee:serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them, and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Trimphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit trimphiaradio.com.

3:32Diante Lee:all right we're back on the ringer nfl show dionte i'm starting because i have a takeaway from this game i want to hear what you think about it but my big takeaway is i would be furious if i was a cowboys fan watching this game now you're probably saying well you'd be furious because cd Lamb had those key drops and it was a winnable game. I'm zooming out and I don't mean to be a troll or come with a hot take and keep bringing up the same stuff, but I couldn't help. You know where I'm going with this, watching this game, thinking the Cowboys probably are a more interesting team than people thought they were going to be.

4:08Diante Lee:The Cowboys offense looked pretty good until that weather delay going up and down the field, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, field goal, driving again. I mean, they had some self-inflicted stuff at the end, but this is a team that maybe could make some noise in the NFC if they had one of the best defensive players in the league. And I'm sorry, Cal, but I know you're trying to let it go, but that is where my mind went when I watched this game. I thought, man, if Micah Parsons is chasing down Jalen Hurts on some of these scrambles and pressuring the Eagles on some of those key third downs, do you win this football game?

4:44Diante Lee:Now that could go either way, but other, you know, future games this season with Dak Prescott playing like he did tonight. I thought he was awesome with that offensive line passing its first test with unproven tackles and a rookie at right guard. I thought that was encouraging. And then defensively you have holes and you don't have that one pass rusher. So I don't know. Am I being a troll with that being the first place my mind goes to with this football game? Not at all. As a matter of fact, the thing that I was thinking about before we jumped on was a segment that you had at the top of this week, just kind of rehashing the details of the Michael Parsons trade.

5:20And you pointed it out. And I know several other like Cowboys reporters and people who follow the league on a national level pointed it out as well, that when he's on the field over the course of his career, number one defense in the league, by a lot of efficiency metrics, you take them off and they're the worst defense in the league by the same metrics. And you just can't help but think as you're watching the first half and seeing Philadelphia just be on schedule the entire way up and down the field. And every time they're in an obvious passing situation, you get Jalen Hurts patting the ball in the pocket.

5:51I hope you guys lose your wrestling integrity because you got a bunch of young guys, speed rushers, guys that can't close, can't finish. He can just get outside the pocket.

5:59Diante Lee:Because it was a reminder that Dak Prescott is a very good quarterback when he's healthy and he has like enough help around him. You know, we talked about them all of last year and it was CeeDee Lamb and nothing else. And now George Pickens didn't have a monster game, but he's another option on the field. And I thought they did some good things offensively. I thought he threw the ball really well. And they're 30 games over 500 in the regular season with Dak Prescott. And he's 32 years old. And it's just, I can't get over that by the time you see that second first round pick, he's going to be 34 years old and might look like you will have wasted, you know, two seasons potentially by the time you're seeing that compensation that you got from Micah Parsons.

6:37Diante Lee:And so again, I promise I'm not trying to be a troll with this. I'm not trying to harp on the same points over and over again. But that's where my mind went because I really thought it was an encouraging performance from that Cowboys offense. But I look at it and go, even though the defense finished strong and I thought they played hard, I just don't know that that's going to be a unit anyone's going to be able to trust this season. The story of the Eagle season, which is where I want to start to me in 2025 is going to be, can you win in different ways? Right. I think a lot about 2023, which wasn't a contending year for them for reasons that obviously have been rehashed a thousand times over with the offensive line and offensive construction.

7:16But I thought in 2023, the story of that regular season was, oh, this team can go into the fourth quarter, pass the ball and be efficient doing it. And, you know, they still have the run game. I was looking at Philadelphia and I was really impressed in the first half. Right. Like there's an art to being unimpressive in the passing game sometimes. So when you look at their EPA per dropback and success rate numbers in the first half, this is actually the, that was actually the best first half that Philadelphia has had in terms of EPA per dropback and success rate since 2022. And any first half of the regular season that they've had, basically since they've been making these Super Bowl runs.

7:50And it looked like that to me, even though Devontae Smith wasn't touching the ball a bunch, even though AJ Brown didn't see the ball at all, you saw Jalen Hurts that was able to sit in the pocket, work effectively versus soft zone coverage. they were able to lean on the run game and early downs and I was like okay maybe we're seeing some of the things that Kevin Petulo said he was going to add to the office to help you know move this thing along and then you come out in the second half and it looked very much like 2024 Philadelphia all over again run on first down run on second down third down Jalen is scrambling around throwing the ball away instead of putting it in harm's way and they were able to sit on the lead that way but it's hard not to think like when you're dealing with a team that's more competitive in the first half defensively, or maybe you're behind in the game script.

8:31Is Jalen Hurts, is this passing offense going to be able to call upon what we saw in the playoff run, in the NFC Championship game, in the Super Bowl specifically, to be able to move the chains and not be so over-reliant on Saquon Barkley?

8:45Diante Lee:That felt a little bit more like some of the times last year where we said, how many times do they call a pass play and no one is targeted, whether it's a scramble or a throwaway or a sack. Now sacks weren't the issue today, but even some of the blitzing that the Cowboys did in the second half where they were very conservative in the first half. And then they said, we got to make something happen here. And you saw some of those issues we saw two years ago for the Eagles when they had no answers against the blitz. Those were surfacing as well. So yeah, it was just a very weird game for them offensively.

9:17Diante Lee:And I feel like it might be one of those things where we watch them for a month and we're still not sure. and maybe we're talking in December and it's like, oh, they made these changes after week X and figured some things out. But yeah, I'm with you. It was quite an uneven performance from the Eagles offensively and Jalen Hurts. I want to take a break. I want to come back. And I do want to talk about the Eagles defense because I think - There's a lot to talk about there. In Philadelphia, if there is some panic, I don't know, panic's too strong. If there's some concern about what Eagles fans saw tonight, I think it might even be more on the defensive side of the ball.

9:54Diante Lee:So let's take a break. We come back. We talk about that. The Ringer NFL Show is brought to you by FanDuel. Football fans, the wait is over. The NFL is back. And the best place to kick off the season is on FanDuel. Because every game day during week one, FanDuel is giving all customers a no-sweat NFL bet. From the money line to player props to same-game parlays, your no-sweat bet can be used on any NFL wager type. And if it doesn't win, you'll get bonus bets back. I'm going to give you my five favorite bets at the end of this episode for the Ringer 107. I'll give you a hint. Maybe that Cleveland Browns team can cover the five and a half.

10:33Diante Lee:So you can look at the lines for week one. And remember, this season, make FanDuel your go-to app for any snap. Just visit fanduel.com slash ringer NFL to kick off the NFL season with a no sweat bet every game day during week one. Play your game with FanDuel, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Must be 21 plus and present in select states or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Opt-in required. Refund issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Max refund$5 unless otherwise specified. Restrictions apply, including token expiration. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com.

11:14Diante Lee:Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tremphaya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tremphaya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Tremphaya, proper training is required. Tremphaya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis.

12:01Diante Lee:Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Trimphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit TrimphiaRadio.com. All right, we are back on the Ringer NFL show. And this episode of Clutch Plays is brought to you by Amazon Business. And I want to get to the bigger picture stuff, Deontay, on the defense, but probably the biggest play of the game.

12:41Diante Lee:Eagles are up 24-20, third quarter. Cowboys are driving. Miles Sanders had the 49-yard run. Reed Blankenship is called for the penalty in the end zone. And you're thinking, Cowboys are about to take the lead here. Jihad Campbell, the rookie, Byron Young, the backup defensive tackle, they combined for the forced fumble on Miles Sanders. That, to me, was the biggest play of the game because at that point, the Eagles had not gotten a stop, literally. It was touchdown, touchdown, field goal, field goal for the Cowboys, and then you get the fumble with them in the red zone. So that was a clutch play, but overall, this certainly was not the Eagles' defense that we saw for most of last year.

13:19Diante Lee:and a lot of the concerns I think that people had about them defensively, those were precisely the things that were exposed in this game. Adoree Jackson at the second cornerback spot had a very tough time. The pass rush inconsistent there. Obviously, not having Jalen Carter for this game after he spits at Dak Prescott was a big factor there. But what were kind of your biggest concerns with the Eagles defense or do you say settle down? It's week one. this is maybe what you expected it to look like? I think it's a both and situation. To me, the hallmark of the Super Bowl run for Philadelphia was that defensively, they were always able to make their opponents play left-handed, right?

13:59And a lot of that was taking the run game away from Green Bay, taking the run game away from Los Angeles on early downs, definitely taking away Jaden Daniels' ability to create with his legs in the NFC Championship game and not allowing RPOs from Kansas City. So no matter what it's been that they've had to face off against, They've done an excellent job of being able to take those strengths away and force offenses to play on Philadelphia's defense's terms. That's not what we saw in the first half and really not what we saw up until that fumble. Right. We saw a Dallas offense that was able to move the ball in between the tackles, whether it was under center with the run game, going shotgun with quick game.

14:38They were obviously able to take advantage of mismatches on the perimeter with C.D. Lamb multiple times and one on one coverage against the Dory Jackson. early in the game. And I think that those things can be addressed, right? But it's very easy. And I think it will be rightful for any fan or observer to say, I think that we just realized where the issues might be for Philadelphia. Not necessarily like this is going to be why they're not contenders, but if you want to point something out and identify this is going to be something that they're clearly going to have to work through all season long.

15:11The fact that they couldn't get the same kind of pass rush with four, something that happened throughout the regular season last year and maybe having Jalen Carter helps you finish some of those sacks that Jordan Davis was missing. But it is something that we're going to be talking about throughout the year. And when you don't have the turnover luck that they had during that playoff run, during the back half of the regular season in 2024, it's just hard to live this way as a football team, right? This is not a Vic Fangio issue. It's not a Zach Bond issue. It's not a Cooper DeGene or Quignon Mitchell issue.

15:39And they had their opportunities to get their hands on the ball and drop some picks tonight. but I do think that we have to be frank and forthcoming and honest about the fact that if we're talking about a defense that doesn't want to blitz and doesn't always get home with the four-man rush, the coverage has to be perfect. And right now they don't have a perfect back five. This is not Houston. We're talking about, you know, this is not Minnesota. That's going to throw you a thousand different looks. This is a defense is going to play pretty straightforward. And the whole mentality is our guys on the backend are either better or more content connected than you are.

16:09Your receivers are. And we did not see that tonight. And I think Dallas kind of gave at least a little bit of the handbook of how you can attack this team down the field in the passing game.

16:18Diante Lee:Yeah, I think the reason it's concerning is because you knew it was an issue. They let Darius Slay go, and then they're saying, Keeley Ringo, young player, we want him to be the guy. It never happens. That was the outcome they wanted, and he just didn't play well enough in the summer for them to get there. So then it's, well, what are we going to do? They trade for Ja 'Cory and Bennett from the Raiders. He got in the game a little bit today when Adoree Jackson went out. But Adoree Jackson out there tonight, I mean, you saw it. The Cowboys and, you know, all due respect to Brian Schottenheimer, I don't think people would put him in the same league as like the Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Andy.

16:53Diante Lee:Like there are other, if he can do that and I'm the Eagles, like other teams are going to be able to figure out how to attack Adoree Jackson. And it even felt like they were trying to give him help at times and putting Quinion Mitchell one-on-one with George Pickens, but Jackson wasn't really using the leverage or there were some mix-up there where he was still giving up explosive plays. So, yeah, I think that's concerning for the Eagles just because there's not an obvious fix. The pass rush, you can say, all right, Jalen Carter comes back. It's going to look a lot better. But the secondary and specifically that one spot at second cornerback, that's going to be a concern for them and something to watch week to week.

17:32Diante Lee:I will say Zach Vaughn, you mentioned Zach Vaughn, and it jogged my memory. He made two just clutch plays. I mean, chasing down Miles Sanders, Deontay on that, because that's a 49-yard run that could easily be a touchdown if another linebacker was not that fast, can't catch up to him. And then a few plays later, they end up getting the fumble. I mean, that is a game-changing play. And then he just had a beautiful one just running down the middle of the field. He and Jahad Campbell both had one of those, yeah, pass breakups there. So those were clutch plays also. So when it comes to business, Amazon Business is your clutch performer with fast access to essential supplies and flexible purchasing options.

18:11Diante Lee:They're there when you need them most so you can tackle unexpected demands and keep your business in the game. Visit business.amazon.com to learn more. All right. I got to ask you this, Deontay, because correct me if I'm wrong. You were watching the first half with Bops, who's a Cowboys fan. Is that right? That's right. All right. Take me inside the living room or wherever you guys were when the Jalen Carter loogie is unfolding. You being someone who's been around football your whole life and coaching high school kids. And here you're watching this grown man, one of the best players in the NFL with the loogie.

18:50Diante Lee:And then later in the night, we get this footage with NBC. What are we doing? Where was that footage earlier? There was no Dak Prescott had the first spit. Now, whether that was towards Jalen Carter or not, I need the break. Basically, I need everything you have on the spits from this game. Go ahead. What do you got? So I think Jalen Carter gets ejected. There's obviously a bunch of confusion, right? Like, first of all, I'm sitting here like texting other people that either cover Philadelphia or I know they're Eagles fans. And I'm like, man, all this work that they've done to keep Ben Van Sumeren on this roster, moving him around positions wise, making sure he plays a role on special teams.

19:29Like he's clearly an important player to this organization. And God, you can't imagine a worse way to have to leave a game. Right. And we'll see obviously what the injury news is. But the way that he was reacting to what they were doing to test his knee on the field obviously raises some concern. So I'm focused on that. I see a flag. so my thought is like oh maybe this is an unsportsmanlike from something that dallas did while you're making the special teams to offensive exchange because the guy is down right maybe somebody says something you know whatever little exchange and obviously it was a chit ended up being a chippy game throughout and then they show the field then they show the footage of jayla carter spitting on that crescot's chest and what the hell just happened in this football game we're not even 10 seconds in to the game clock running a guy just got hurt and another guy just got tossed I don't know what's going on.

20:17And my dad's just kind of looking like, hey, you know, I guess it's even now. Our best defender, not here. Your best defender, not here. We can play real football, you know, going on. And I just think, you know, as the game plays out, you kind of see the the many stages of grief. Right. When Jalen's running around, it's like, hey, man, number 11 probably gets a sack there or at least a QB hit. He doesn't want to hear that because he's been in my ear about how we can't pay forty seven million dollars to this edge rusher. You know, I don't know if he's been reading ESPN's Bill Barnwell talking about cap math and all that, you know, but he's feeling really good about the fact that we're going to spread our money around the cap and we're going to have a competitive team.

20:54And then as the game goes on, you see that fade a little bit. And then you get Dak start to heat up in the second half. It's like, yeah, you know, this guy owns Philadelphia. So now he's kind of puffing his chest out a little bit. And maybe thankfully to some seedy lamb drops, we're able to escape out of there. And I get to, I get to poke my chest out at bye-bye nights in, But, you know, we kind of ran through the whole gamut there and I'm looking forward to the next time Dallas plays Philadelphia because I'm interested to see how Big Fangio adjusts and whether or not there are adjustments to be made.

21:25And if it's just as simple as when we've got 99 or 95 on the field, everything is right, you know. So that's going to be something to look out for in the future.

21:34Diante Lee:Yeah, it's one of the, I mean, you know, you look at the, like just the drives and you're like, oh, you know, the Cowboys finished fumble, punt, punt, turnover on downs. but I'm with you. I mean, CeeDee Lamb, he dropped one on third down, I think. And then that last one, I don't, you know, that was a tough catch. But the one before that on the last possession, I mean, that is a beautiful throw from Dak Prescott, stepping up and firing that downfield. And it's maybe a different game. You got to make that play. Yeah, you got to make that play if you're going to win some of these games. Now, did Dak, when they, I was fascinated by when they were going back to the Dak original, like, was he bathing him?

22:12Diante Lee:What was going on? because Jalen Carter's walking towards the Cowboys huddle. He's having words with Dak Prescott. Dak Prescott's talking back, and he's kind of splitting his offensive linemen. And he spits, but not at Jalen Carter, but in his direction and kind of give him a little wink and a look. And then, yeah, I don't know. If that was Dak Prescott's endgame, great job by him to get the scariest guy on the other team out of the game. And if there's one guy on Philadelphia's defense that is going to take the bait every single time, it's going to be Jalen Carter, right? So, you know, I am disappointed to see Carter, you know, especially knowing I know that he is aware that this entire defense kind of revolves around the impact that he can make on a down to down basis.