ARLINGTON — That’s what it’s like when you play the string.

The home crowd cheers you on, the more talented opponent shows you how it’s done, and you lose.

The Cowboys suffered a 34-6 loss to the Eagles on Sunday afternoon. Dallas is now an awful 0-4 at home. It is also 1-5 in the NFC.

Remember those five NFC East games that the Cowboys players kept saying were crucial to turning around the season? Well, it doesn’t seem realistic that the remaining games will mean anything now.

Quarterback Cooper Rush, who replaced the injured Dak Prescott, was not the same player who replaced No. 4 in 2022. It’s probably time to give Trey Lance a chance to start.

Lance had a chance in the second half on Sunday, but it didn’t yield much.

Here are five takeaways about Cowboys-Eagles:

The Cowboys are winless at home

The Cowboys were a franchise that loved playing in AT&T Stadium. Dallas is now 0-5 in their last five home games, including four regular-season losses this season and the NFC Wild Card loss to Green Bay in January.

The last time the Cowboys started 0-4 at AT&T Stadium was in 2010, which was the beginning of the end of Wade Phillips’ tenure as Jerry Jones was pushed toward the Jason Garrett era. Phillips was ultimately fired that season when Garrett took over.

Jones isn’t expected to let Mike McCarthy go this season, because what good would it do at this point?

Mike vs. Vic

McCarthy has had problems against Vic Fangio.

Since becoming head coach of the Cowboys in 2020, McCarthy is now 0-3 against a Fangio defense. In 2021, when Fangio was the head coach in Denver, the Broncos jumped out to a 30-0 lead, sacked Prescott twice and won 30-16. Last season, with Fangio as defensive coordinator in Miami, Prescott was sacked four times in a 22-20 loss.

On Sunday afternoon, Rush was sacked once and Lance twice, and the Cowboys generated a total of 146 offensive yards in the loss. Fangio and McCarthy meet again on December 29.

Showed up with a productive day

Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown had a team-leading two sacks and 11 tackles before leaving with 6:52 left in the third quarter with a knee injury. Overshown made a brief return later in the match. It was a non-contact knee injury for Overshown, who was backed up on a 44-yard pass to AJ Brown. Last year, Overshown suffered a torn ACL in a preseason game, ending his season before it started and leaving many fans wondering what could have happened. This year, Overshown has been a bright spot on defense, and against the Eagles he had one of his better games before the injury. His first sack Sunday came when he rushed through the A gap, something defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer likes to use with his better pass rushers.

Red zone turnovers and missed rays

The Cowboys had some silliness in the opponent’s red zone and deep in their territory. Rush fumbled a would-be throw to Rico Dowdle on the second possession of the game, ultimately leading to the Eagles’ first touchdown. Jalen Hurts scored from 1 yard out for a 7-0 lead. The Cowboys had a red zone issue when Ezekiel Elliott fumbled near their goal line, which was recovered by the Eagles. If fans wanted Elliott to get more touches inside the five, that first and goal from the six didn’t do it. The turnover prevented the Eagles from scoring. The funniest play – if you can call it funny – came with two minutes left in the first half. Rush threw a pass believed to be intended for CeeDee Lamb in the end zone. But tight end Jake Ferguson was nearby and he pulled his arms back. When Lamb got to the sideline, he told his teammates that he had lost the ball in the sun. The history with the Cowboys and the sun at AT&T Stadium is well documented. Here was another example where the Cowboys had a chance to get a touchdown on a second-and-goal play and ended up getting three points. Brandon Aubrey converted a 23-yard field goal to cut the Eagles’ lead to 7-6 with 1:48 remaining.

What to do at quarterback?

Rush started at quarterback and was pulled for Lance with 2:56 left in the third quarter. But Lance played only two plays, both runs, before Rush returned and threw a few passes. In the fourth quarter Lance took over for good. When the day was over, Rush completed 13 of 25 passes for 43 yards. Lance went 4-of-6 for 21 yards and an interception. The Cowboys will take on the Texans next week. It is believed that Rush will start that game. But at some point you should probably start Lance to see what you really have behind Prescott.

More Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News can be found here.