PHILADELPHIA — It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, except it wasn’t the former at all when the Dallas Cowboys headed to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles, as Cooper Rush can readily attest. in the penultimate game of a season that they would like to forget.

Rush and the offense just couldn’t get going at Lincoln Financial Field as the ghosts of Rush’s past returned to the stadium to haunt him Sunday afternoon.

“I think we were proud to march down the field and score a touchdown (after the pick-six),” Rush said. “That was huge for our team and for the offense. We felt like we could move the ball all day, but we kept losing the ball. That’s the motto – two or three games here and there.”

“They don’t always happen in the last minute to decide the game. Sometimes two or three too early can decide a game.”

The veteran quarterback threw two interceptions in the first half, marking the first time since 2022 that Rush has thrown more than one interception in a game, in a Week 6 matchup against the exact same Eagles on the exact same field.

Both of his interceptions in Week 17 fell to CJ Gardner-Johnson as the safety had been stressing him out all afternoon.

A lost fumble by Pro Bowl tight end Jake Ferguson gave the Cowboys an early escape, and they never got it back as the Eagles turned those three Cowboys turnovers into 17 of their 24 points by halftime.

Things weren’t much different in the second half when Rico Dowdle, who was largely a bright spot against the Eagles in an otherwise dark, or rather pitch-black, game, lost a fumble deep in plus territory after linebacker Nolan Smith hit the ball free and cornerback Cooper DeJean recovered it.

“Minus four is the difference in the football game,” said head coach Mike McCarthy about the turnover margin, which was clearly in favor of the opposing team. “Very disappointed. That’s all of us. I felt like this was an excellent opportunity that we had prepared for, but being minus-three at halftime was a real kick in the ass.”

“I think that put our defense in difficult situations and resulted in points being lost. The giveaways were sloppy. Our boys had a chance to win the game today, but the game got away from them. Minus-four? You can’t win games like that.”

“You can’t even stay in the game at minus four. Look at the last four or five games and (owning that lead) is our formula for winning. It was our formula for losing today.”

Overall, it was Rush’s lowest yardage, passer rating and accuracy since his game against the Eagles in Week 10 this season.

As a starter against Philadelphia, he is now down 3-0.

“For whatever reason, it’s the stadium or whatever,” Rush said with a wink. “Maybe subconsciously I don’t like green or something – I don’t know.”

As the world prepares for the James Gunn version of Superman, the Cowboys come to the realization that despite being such a solid quarterback, Rush is dealing with a very real kryptonite.

And not entirely coincidentally, it is actually green.