The dust has settled on the Eagles‘ 38-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, and there’s plenty to glean from the latest in a string of ugly losses.

Here are five thoughts and lessons learned from the primetime drubbing:

Been here before?

After the game, the dwindling arguments that there’s still hope for this Eagles season mostly revolved around the last time the Eagles were 2-5 during Nick Sirianni’s first year in charge in 2021.

Sirianni handed over play-calling duties to Shane Steichen midway through that season, sparking a turnaround and a playoff berth that served as a springboard for the Super Bowl berth the following season, something Sirianni was quick to reference after the blowout loss.

“I think back on the 2021 season, the way we finished that year,” Sirianni said. “… The way we finished that year propelled us into the future Eagles way that we’ve been the last four years.”

But is the 2021 season, something Saquon Barkley also mentioned postgame, actually a good comparison? Looking through the major numbers from both teams through the first seven weeks of the season, I’d argue that analogy undersells just how bad the Eagles have been this season. Grouping together a handful of the “lost” Eagles seasons over the last decade (2012, 2016, 2020, 2021, and 2026), this year’s team ranks significantly worse through seven weeks in EPA/drive, success rate, yardage differential, three-and-out percentage, and plenty more metrics.

Defensively, they rank more closely to the 2021 season, but still sit second-to-last in most metrics.

All of this is also saying nothing about the fact that both the 2021 turnaround and the 2016 season laying the groundwork for the first Super Bowl in franchise history both featuring new coaching staffs rather than an established group. Perhaps the Eagles can use the next 10 games as a springboard, but it’s clear that would require a bigger swing than even the examples we’ve seen in recent memory to pull off.

Carter’s value gap

The best way to quantify how disappointing Jalen Carter’s performance against the Cowboys was came courtesy of my colleague Fran Duffy during the Tuesday edition of the PHLY Eagles Podcast.

Carter is just a couple months removed from becoming the highest-paid defensive tackle in the NFL in terms of average annual value at $38 million per year. That’s more than Justin Jefferson or CeeDee Lamb. More than Patrick Surtain. More than any offensive lineman in the NFL and just $2 million shy of Myles Garrett. Looking at the way this team is constructed, getting zero solo tackles and zero pressures from a player of that magnitude is incredibly tough to overcome.

Jordan Davis wasn’t much better in a more limited role. He also finished without a single solo tackle (four assisted tackles) and one pressure. In general, his 2026 season has shown a stall in the progress he made last year, earning a contract extension worth $26 million per year despite the fact that he’s yet to prove he can even be viable option as a pass rusher.

Not to overreact to one game, but the way this season has unfolded overall is going to heighten the questions about Howie Roseman’s decision-making at the defensive tackle position the last few years. He chose to pay for the upside of Carter and Davis at the expense of keeping Milton Williams and Moro Ojomo (presumably), now those guys need to prove the organization’s bet right.

Solidifying the sell

Sticking on Ojomo for a moment, Monday night’s loss should remove any hesitation left for Roseman to field offers for players like the 25-year-old defensive tackle ahead of next month’s trade deadline.

The Eagles have two more division games between now and the Nov. 10 trade deadline, but would even two wins against the Washington Commanders and New York Giants turn them into buyers for the second-half of the season? The real risk lies in Ojomo, or similarly logical trade chips like Riq Woolen, Nolan Smith, and Dallas Goedert getting injured between now and the deadline. There’s also the argument to be made that getting an impact player two games earlier in the season could give the Eagles more leverage in early trade talks.

It’s the type of rationale that helps explain why the Indianapolis Colts dealt former All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson to the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday.

The trickier discussions about how aggressive the Eagles should be selling ahead of the deadline revolve around players like Saquon Barkley and Zack Baun. Each is fast approaching their age-30 season but are under contract for multiple seasons. If 2027 is shaping up to be the type of year in which the Eagles take as many dead cap hits on the chin in order to reset for the following year, though, getting premium draft assets for Barkley and/or Baun could align with that approach. For me, a premium pick for Barkley would be hard to pass up.

Quick thought on Nelson

There was a report from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that the Eagles were one of the teams to inquire about Nelson before Indianapolis traded him to Seattle for a 2027 third-round pick and a 2028 fifth-rounder.

I wouldn’t read that as the Eagles being buyers going into the deadline, but rather Roseman doing the due diligence he almost always does with players available on the market. I’d still be surprised if the Eagles don’t stockpile some draft assets between now and Nov. 10, but also wouldn’t be shocked if they end up adding a player or two in the process as well. As The Athletic’s Zach Berman pointed out on social media Tuesday morning, the Eagles haven’t been afraid to add players even amidst an effort to sell off during a down year in the past under Roseman.

Coop’s confidence

Going back through some of the media scrums I missed while attending Nick Sirianni’s news conference last night, this quote from Cooper DeJean about mentally handling the adversity the team is facing jumped out to me.

“It’s been tough, to be honest,” DeJean said. “With the success that we’ve had the last couple years, it’s been tough to lose games, even lose snaps out there on defense. Not to look at the past, but we made a lot of plays the last couple years. There’s been plays that we’ve made that we haven’t made this season. You have to find a way to get past that, though, and learn from it. But I’d be lying if I said it’s easy to just move on from those plays. You get beat, you mess up a fit, whatever it is. It’s tough to move on from that. But that’s the mindset you have to have in this league.”

DeJean is seemingly a player devoid of confidence all of a sudden. He gave up a touchdown catch to Lamb in the corner of the end zone Monday night and was at fault for at least one more completion and a few missed tackles.

I wrote last week about the sudden leadership void we’re seeing with the Eagles in the wake of Jalen Hurts going on injured reserve and Lane Johnson retiring. Those absences compounded the offseason departures of veteran leaders like Nakobe Dean and Reed Blankenship and help explain how things have regressed so quickly for the Eagles defense. I’d argue that void has acutely affected DeJean as he tries navigating the most turbulent stretch of his professional career and perhaps his entire playing career overall.