Evaluating the Philadelphia Eagles rookies in their defeat against the Dallas Cowboys

For the second week in a row, the Eagles lost. For the second week in a row, the Eagles looked hapless on offense and defense. For the second week in a row, the rookies had a large role to play in the team losing. Frustrating.

Jalen Carter: B

Obviously I want to give Carter a lot of love for scoring the Eagles’ only touchdown of the game. It was fun to watch him scoop and score and injected a bit of hope into the game before the Eagles flat ran out of gas. Carter otherwise looked human, which he looked last week. He has been fine, not spectacular and he blew a gap assignment on a key fourth down conversion for the Cowboys. Part of it is that he and the defense have been on the field a lot the last three games. That isn’t Carter’s fault.

Nolan Smith: B-

Nolan Smith saw a lot more action in this game than he has all season and he even had a quality pressure on Dak Prescott. The Eagles need to get Smith on the field more. The experience has a lot of value on its own to give Smith some confidence and it will help spell their other edge rushers.

Sydney Brown: B+

Came away from this game more impressed with Sydney Brown. He was relied on a lot after Reed Blankenship went down with injury and he responded in a big way. Yes, he had a lowlight on a long Jake Ferguson catch, but he had good coverage! Just needed to make a tackle afterward. Other than that, Brown had a great play over the top of the defense to save a possible touchdown grab by CeeDee Lamb and he also had an awesome tackle coming up against the run. Brown plays with a lot of energy, which is more than you can say about a lot of other Eagles defenders. They need to keep him on the field any way they can.

The Rest

• Kelee Ringo actually out snapped Eli Ricks in this game, which is surprising given his absence for much of the season. I could understand they wanted to see what they had in Ringo given Ricks struggles. He had an extremely unfortunate first play. A real “welcome to the NFL” moment where he got called for two penalties on a catch he gave up. It was a weird thing to see happen at all and just unfortunate it happened to him. Other than that, Ringo had a nice tackle coming up against the run. I say the Eagles should keep giving him snaps given how the rest of the secondary is playing right now.
• Eli Ricks was a non-factor in this game. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ringo continues to see more snaps than Ricks given his upside as a younger, more athletic player.
• Tyler Steen saw two garbage time snaps but otherwise didn’t play on offense. Cam Jurgens got banged up in the game, so his health is something to monitor in case Steen needs to start.