PHILADELPHIA — On a national stage in front of a raucous crowd, the Eagles managed to live up to the gargantuan moment.
A sold out crowd at the Linc, most of them still riding the high of a Phillies playoff run and fueled off the hatred of the Cowboys, brought the energy and the Eagles answered the call with a 26-17 prime-time win. Notable attendees included First Lady Jill Biden, rapper Meek Mill, and Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout.
Dallas came in 4-1, but the Eagles jumped out to an early lead and further proved that they are one of the league’s top teams and remained the NFC East’s leader going into the bye week 6-0.
Hurts’ big-time drive
After jumping out to a 20-0 lead in the first half, the Eagles gave their crowd reason for some nervous silence for a large chunk of the third quarter.
Dallas reeled off 17 points and trailed by just three points early in the fourth quarter. Then, the Eagles answered with a 13-play, 75-yard drive that spanned more than seven minutes of game time.
The run game was instrumental in the drive, but the biggest plays came from Jalen Hurts.
There was a 5-yard scramble to move the chains on third down, then a 22-yard completion to A.J. Brown on a slant route to get into the red zone. The next play, Hurts rolled out to his right and found a wide-open DeVonta Smith in the end zone to give the Birds a nine-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.
Hurts finished with relatively modest stats: 15-for-25 for 155 yards and two touchdown passes. Still, he made the necessary plays to win the Eagles the game, quite a big-game, in fact.
Making Micah wrong
The Eagles knew Micah Parsons would be a tough assignment going into Sunday night and game-planned accordingly.
On two pivotal downs during the first half, Nick Sirianni employed the old adage, If you can’t block him, read him. Once on a fourth-and-3 and again on a third-and-2 in the red zone, the Eagles left the Cowboys star edge rusher unblocked in space and read him on an option play. Parsons would have to choose, chase Brown in space or try to get to Hurts before he threw it to the star wideout. Just as Sirianni drew it up, Parsons was wrong regardless.
Brown had an 11-yard catch the first time the Eagles ran the play for him. The second resulted in a 15-yard touchdown to put the Eagles up, 14-0. He finished with five catches for a team-high 67 yards and a score.
The Eagles generally did a solid job protecting Hurts against a vaunted Dallas pass rush. The Cowboys were one of the best defensive fronts in terms of generating pressure coming in, but the group didn’t wreck the game against the Eagles. Hurts was sacked four times, although only two were for significant losses. The Eagles also managed 136 rushing yards, which was pivotal on their lone fourth-quarter scoring drive.
Big play C.J.
The Eagles secondary continued its opportunistic ways against Cowboys backup quarterback Cooper Rush, coming up with three picks in prime-time.
C.J. Gardner-Johnson led the way with two picks, one of which came after the Eagles safety had to go into the locker room with a hand injury so debilitating that he could barely jog into the locker room without doubling over in pain.
Gardner-Johnson’s first pick was set up by Eagles cornerback James Bradberry, who jumped a Michael Gallup route to set up the tip drill for Gardner-Johnson. The first pick set up an Eagles touchdown drive, giving them a 14-0 lead in the first half.
The second essentially sealed an Eagles victory. Brandon Graham pressured Rush off the edge and forced an errant throw, which Gardner-Johnson tracked to make an impressive diving catch despite the taped-up hand.
Slay gifts another pick
The second pick came from Darius Slay, who undercut Gallup on a third-and-9 to snag his third interception of the season. Slay’s pick set up a field goal, which gave the Eagles a 20-0 lead toward the end of the half.
Even though Rush’s turnovers were inadvisable throws, the Eagles defense has proven it can make opponents pay for mistakes all season. They came into the weekend tied for the most takeaways in the NFL, and the secondary displayed its playmaking ability once again on a national stage. Each of Slay’s interceptions have taken place on national television.
Similar to one of his two picks against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football last month, Slay sought out a celebrity to give the intercepted ball to, this time gifting it to Meek Mill, who was seated in a box on the sideline.
Losing Lane
The Eagles were without Lane Johnson for the entire second half after the standout right tackle left early with a concussion. Jack Driscoll, who filled in for Jordan Mailata at left tackle the previous week, took Johnson’s spot on the right side.
Johnson was the only starting lineman not listed on the injury report in the week leading into the game.
Johnson’s absence was certainly felt. Driscoll allowed several pressures to Parsons when matched up against the edge rusher and the Eagles seemed to use more heavy personnel groupings to help slow Parsons during a second-half scoring drought.
Johnson’s injury comes just as the team is entering the bye week, which will buy him some time.
