Cowboys

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones addressed the criticisms surrounding WR George Pickens and doesn’t buy into it.

“I think the criticism of this last ballgame is being hard on him. Not justified. I understand what we wanted to do, but there was more to it than met the eye. Let’s just leave it all at that,” Jones said, via Jon Machota. “A game like that leaves us all wanting more, and of course when we lost (CeeDee) Lamb it was glaring if we had any type of play that didn’t work the way it appeared it should work. That’s a mouthful of saying, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a body of work or a season dismissed as quickly as it was with Pickens getting criticized against Detroit. And that’s madness.  But I’ll tell you what, he’s had a great week of practice.”

Eagles

Eagles WR DeVonta Smith was asked about the team’s mistakes and doesn’t believe there are any major issues, given that the group will continue to improve down the stretch.

“When we’re not shooting ourselves in the foot, we operate pretty well. …We always make a big splash and then do something stupid,” Smith told Zach Berman. “Our tempo. We operated faster. Got in and out of the huddle pretty good…How many games have we lost? (5) …We’re alright. We’re in a good spot. We just have to continue to go out there and play our brand of football.”

Eagles

The Eagles’ recent loss to the Chargers resulted in their third consecutive defeat. Philadelphia owner Jeffrey Lurie remains confident in their team’s ability to turn things around. 

“In 32 years, I don’t think we’ve ever lost a game we were about to win, like on a missed field goal or a last-second catch or something like that,” Lurie said, via Michael Silver of The Athletic. “(Brian) Dawkins would get a pick in the end zone, or something would happen and we’d pull it out. Maybe I’m not remembering something, but I don’t think it’s ever happened (until now). I expected us to do it again. We were just a couple of plays away.”

This year has drawn similarities to 2023, where Philadelphia started 10-1 before finishing 11-6 and second-place in the NFC East. Eagles RB Saquon Barkley said many people have recalled back to 2023, and feels the players who were on the team have learned from that season. 

“A lot of people bring up 2023,” Barkley said. “I wasn’t here. A lot of guys weren’t here. And the guys who were here would be crazy not to learn from that. It may not make sense right now. … It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Eagles’ veteran DE Brandon Graham remains confident that they aren’t coming to a crashing end like in 2023.

“Nah — this ain’t no crash at the end,” Graham said. “It’s just the way it’s going right now. We’ll get it right. I’m not worried at all. We’ve still got Vic. Back then, we lost (coordinators) on both sides of the ball. This isn’t 2023. We’re definitely gonna get it right. I just know that how we handle this right now is key. Let people talk. While they keep talking, we’ll just keep working.”

• According to Jeff McLane, Eagles OT Lane Johnson (foot) will need another week for his recovery.