Hoping to play the part of the Grinch in this holiday showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Dallas Cowboys handed out gifts instead.

Four turnovers in the game, including a pick-six on the first drive, led to 24 points for Philadelphia, a mountain far too high for the Cowboys to climb. In the end, Dallas lost to its NFC East rival 41-7.

With CeeDee Lamb being the latest Cowboys star to be sidelined for the remainder of the season, perhaps the outcome could have been expected. Nevertheless, Dallas certainly didn’t do itself any favors with its self-inflicted mistakes.

After throwing no interceptions in his last two games and just one in the previous five, Cooper Rush had two crucial picks in the first half of this game. The quarterback managed 147 passing yards and one touchdown throw, although that was an improvement from his career-low 45 yards in the Cowboys’ first meeting with the Eagles on Nov. 10.

On the ground, Dallas wasn’t too bad overall with 127 total rushing yards and an average of 4.2 yards per carry. Rico Dowdle ran for 104 yards that day, surpassing the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career this season.

Of course, it was his counterpart on the Eagles, Saquon Barkley, who made headlines. He rushed for 167 yards in the game, averaging a whopping 5.4 yards per carry. He reached the 2,000-yard mark and was still in pursuit of breaking the NFL record for most rushing yards in a season.

Not that Philadelphia’s air raid didn’t do some damage. With Jalen Hurts out, Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee threw for just 197 yards, but combined they had three touchdowns and no interceptions, for a combined passer rating of 141.9.

Needless to say, this wasn’t the beginning they wanted. The Cowboys actually moved the ball on their first possession and had reached the Philadelphia 35-yard line, well within Brandon Aubrey’s field goal range. However, on third-and-3, Rush attempted to direct a throw to receiver Brandin Cooks after the two had previously connected for a 16-yard gain. But the Dallas quarterback never saw CJ Gardner-Johnson, and the Eagles’ safety stole the pass before running 69 yards untouched for a touchdown and an early lead.

When it came to moving the ball, however, the Cowboys picked up right where they left off, responding with a 12-play, 70-yard drive to the goal line. Rush had connections of 12 yards to Jalen Brooks and 22 to Cooks along the way before capping the series with a 4-yard loft to Jalen Tolbert in the end zone, tying the score at 7-7 after 15 minutes.

It would be her first and last hurrah.

Thanks to an 81-yard drive that converted three third downs, the Eagles were back in the lead. The second of those was a circus catch by tight end Grant Calcaterra for a big 34-yard gain, the last was a 22-yard touchdown grab by streaking wideout DeVonta Smith.

But the Cowboys continued to hurt themselves as two turnovers led to 10 more points before the end of the quarter. It was close at first when Jake Ferguson fumbled after a 6-yard catch and Philadelphia defensive tackle Jordan Davis emerged from the scrum with the ball. Dallas’ defense kept the damage to a minimum, although Philadelphia still added a 31-yard field goal.

Unfortunately, in a desperate attempt to score more points in the final seconds of the half, Rush threw an ill-advised deep ball to Cooks, who was surrounded by three Eagles defenders. Not surprisingly, the result was another interception for Gardner-Johnson, who returned the pick 25 yards to the Philadelphia 35-yard line.

If the first interception was a brutal body blow, this may have been the knockout blow.

With just 36 seconds on the clock, Pickett completed a 50-yard pass to Smith to the 1-yard line, followed by the expected tush push for the touchdown. The Eagles went into halftime with a lead of 24-7.

If there were any thoughts of a comeback, those hopes were quickly dashed when Philadelphia took the ball early in the third frame and promptly marched 59 yards in 12 plays to score three more points. A hold call on third-and-goal negated a would-be touchdown, allowing Jake Elliott to kick a 26-yard field goal.

Pickett was injured on that drive and had to leave the game, but with Barkley in the backfield (again in pursuit of the NFL record), it didn’t matter who was behind center. The Eagles reached the end zone on their fifth straight possession when third-string quarterback Tanner McKee threw his first career touchdown, a 20-yard pass to AJ Brown that increased the lead to 34-7.

Another quarter, another turnover. This time the culprit was Dowdle, who ended a potential threat by fumbling at the Philadelphia 10-yard line while cornerback Cooper DeJean scored the equalizer.

That led to another Eagles drive into the end zone. Barkley started by carrying the ball five straight times for 52 yards, but by the time he passed the 2,000-yard mark for the season, his day was over. That left Smith to score his third touchdown of the game, with the speedy wideout intercepting another offering from McKee and racing across the goal line for a 25-yard score.

Mike McCarthy gave Aubrey a chance for a 61-yard field goal with just under five minutes left, and he went the distance. But typical of the day was that the ball bounced off the right post, which wasn’t good.

With that, Rush and some of the other starters took their seats as Trey Lance took over at quarterback. Nothing changed in the team’s luck. The Eagles eventually ran out of time, bringing the game to a merciful end.