PHILADELPHIA – Since Week 10, the Cowboys’ defense has been one of the best in the league at generating pressure and causing turnovers. They did neither in a 41-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

The Eagles’ offense with backup quarterback Kenny Pickett and third-string quarterback Tanner McKee managed 376 yards of offense and 41 points. Philadelphia has been Dallas’ kryptonite on the defensive side of the ball, scoring 75 points against the Cowboys in their two games this year.

“We didn’t start as well as we have in the last few games,” Micah Parsons said after the game. “When you lose that turnover battle against the top team in the NFL, that’s a little bit the result. We didn’t play our football today.”

Much of the work for the Eagles’ offense came from Saquon Barkley, whose 167-yard performance against the Cowboys made him just the ninth player in NFL history to record more than 2,000 rushing yards in a single season. Barkley also put a little pressure on Parsons on one of his carries, which left the star edge rusher with some discomfort upon his return to the locker room.

“Saquon hit me right in the ribs,” Parsons said. “It kind of shocked me a little bit. It was just a good, unforeseen bump in the ribs that left me kind of sore. But overall I’m doing well and I’m looking forward to finishing the season strong.”

If the Cowboys want to finish strong next week against the Commanders, they’ll have to get back to doing what they’ve done in recent weeks: generating turnovers on defense and protecting the ball on offense.

However, the Cowboys’ offense did their defense no favors Sunday afternoon, turning the ball over four times, with Rico Dowdle and Jake Ferguson throwing two Cooper rush interceptions and fumbles. In return, Philadelphia scored 24 points off turnovers and made one big play after another, which Parsons said was a major reason the Cowboys didn’t emerge victorious in this game.

“Big plays, if you look at their game, they had two big runs and three good deep shots. Otherwise, we made sure they earned it,” Parsons said. “If you take away the scoreboard, it was about five plays that decided this game.”

At 7-9 with one game remaining, it will be Parsons’ first losing season in a Cowboys uniform. After three straight 12-5 records in previous years, it certainly wasn’t what he or this team expected.

“Yeah, definitely not what I imagined, definitely not what I was hoping for after a devastating playoff loss,” Parsons said. “And you go into this season and with the devastating injuries across the board, CeeDee (Lamb), Dak (Prescott), Tre (von Diggs), you can’t catch a break.”

Things don’t get any easier from here either, as some of the serious injuries to players like Diggs and DeMarvion Overshown may keep them out until later in the 2025 season. The return of their key playmakers will be crucial for the Cowboys to get back to the top of the NFC East.

“First of all, we have to get healthy,” Parsons said when asked how the Cowboys can get back to the top of the division. “We have three or four starters that aren’t coming back until the middle of next season, so we have to plan for that, we have to get healthy, we have to continue to stick together. This will be a difficult point.” “

The Eagles, who clinched the NFC East title with today’s win, and the Washington Commanders have found their franchise quarterbacks for the future, and the Giants have a chance to do the same in the 2025 NFL Draft. Parsons recognized that this would be a very difficult challenge for the Cowboys over the next few seasons.

“The next few years are going to be very difficult,” Parsons said.

Difficult or not, Parsons will still give it his all, even until the end of this season in the final against the Commanders next week.

“If you’re a great football player, that’s who you are; it’s not what you do. So I’m not going to say I wish the season was over,” Parsons said. “You have to appreciate these games, these opportunities that we have.”

“So when it comes to how we finish strong, I will still give the commanders my best shot. It’s me. I love this game.”