Eagles Postgame Report: Birds Crush Cowboys In Dallas

The Eagles may have been riding a win streak, but nothing is ever easy in this NFC East showdown between the Birds and the Cowboys, so they made fans sweat it out for the first half of the game.

After trading punts, the Eagles defense benefited from a terrible snap that Milton Williams recovered. With the ball in the red zone to start, the Eagles punched first with a touchdown on four plays (culminating in a successful tush push).

The Cowboys managed some movement, but the defense forced them to settle for a field goal that was mostly earned on the kick return providing good field position. The Eagles appeared ready to respond with a long, 65-yard drive they should have cashed in for a touchdown. Instead, nega-Hurts re-emerged deciding to ignore a wide-open receiver in the end zone on the right half of the field in favor of throwing to Dallas Goedert, who had been open for the touchdown but no longer was because Hurts had taken too long to get the ball out. The result: instead of a touchdown, the Eagle threw the ball away for an interception.

That did not phase the defense, as they forced a three-and-out. Nega-Hurts remained in the game, however, taking two straight sacks after holding the ball for well over 5 seconds on each play to end the drive early.

The Cowboys had their best drive of the first half in response. Nakobe Dean nearly had a pick, but dropped it and it seemed like the Birds would be giving up the touchdown with Dallas at the six-yard line. Instead, Zack Baun forced the fumble for the Eagles to recover and keep the Cowboys off the board.

Unfortunately, nega-Hurts remained in the game weakly fumbling the ball away and losing 10 yards in the process on just the second play from scrimmage. It resulted in the ball returning to Dallas at the six-yard line again and Saquon Barkley getting shaken up trying to cover for Hurts’ mistake.

The defense stepped up once again and allowed just one yard on three plays, forcing the Cowboys to kick a field goal and make it a one-point game.

In the two minute drill, Hurts finally woke up. He did miss the deep pass with a poor throw and slow read, but on the other six plays of the drive the decisions were made quickly and the ball got where it needed to to continue pushing the ball down the field. This culminated in a touchdown throw to Dallas Goedert to put the Eagles back up a full score before the defense forced another three-and-out before heading into the half.

The teams traded three-and-outs before the Eagles had a quick touchdown setup by a 31-yard punt return by Cooper DeJean. Johnny Wilson had his first touchdown reception as Hurts extended the play and rolled out to make the pass. The Eagles only added it on after a three-and-out by the defense was immediately followed by an absolutely beautiful 44-yard pass right in the bucket to AJ Brown. Then Birds then went to the ground to push the 83-yard drive for to four minutes of clock time and another touchdown that really seemed to suck the air out of the building for Dallas.

On the ensuing drive, Bryce Huff got a sack and stripped Cooper Rush. On 3rd and 9, it seemed the Cowboys OL was attempting to scoop the ball and run for 10 yards instead of falling on it, which allowed Zack Baun and Avonte Maddox to recover the ball. The Eagles didn’t move the ball, but kicked a field goal to stretch the lead to 25.

The Cowboys sent in Lance but Baun forced another fumble following the reception, which was recovered by Reed Blankenship. The second-team offense took the field for the Eagles, who kicked a field goal. Then CJGJ came down with the interception to get the ball back again before the Eagles second-team offense went three-and-out.

The Cowboys had to punt again and that’s when the Eagles second-team offense finally gained a bit of traction and moved the chains a few times, not only moving for 7 plays and 43 yards, but culminating in a tush push for Kenny Pickett that moved the chains on fourth down. The drive wasted all 5:03 left in the game and ended a huge beatdown of a division rival.

The Eagles are now on a five-game win streak and advance to 7-2 on the season, gaining a half-game lead on the Commanders. They have a short week to take on the Commanders Thursday night at the Linc.

Offensive MVP: AJ Brown

Had Hurts not spend most of the first half shooting the offense in the foot repeatedly, he’d be an easy choice with his play following the two-minute drill in the first half. In this game, the largest, most consistent contributions came from AJ Brown, who had 109 yards in his return from injury. On five catches, he was burning the Cowboys secondary on the regular, sometimes even needing to move from one wide-open spot to another just to be in position to get the ball.

Defensive MVP: Zack Baun

Baun was the leading tackler once again and has really come into his role.  It’s amazing that Baun was basically an afterthought in free agency but he extended his team lead in tackles with eight, including one for loss. More importantly, he forced two of the fumbles in this game and the third one (the one he didn’t force) he was the one to recover it. There’s not much more you can ask for from a defender who is also dropped into coverage quite a bit.

Game Notes

• The defense really killed the Cowboys offense in this one. Of the first 12 drives the Cowboys offense had, five of them were three-and-outs and five of them they forced turnovers.
• How is a Zack Baun extension not done already? What an incredible free agent pickup that was.
• Nakobe Dean was basically handed what could have been a pick six and didn’t manage to come down with it. He could have swung all the momentum in the Eagles favor and instead the defense allowed two straight 10+ yard plays because he was unable to make that basic catch. He was bailed out by Zeke’s inability to hold the ball himself.
• Darius Slay was handed an easy interception in the third quarter, but he never turned around, so the ball hit him square in the back.
• The duo of DeJean and Mitchell has been incredible. I can’t think of another comparable pair from the same draft class that shot to the top of such a tough position so quickly. Fantastic to think that they are still growing and only in the beginning stages of their career.
• It was great to see the backups out there again and even better to see them get their first extended drive of the season at the end of the game as they were able to keep moving the chains and get more than three plays at a time – that could be huge for development.
• Really, it was self-inflicted injuries that even made this game close for the first 30 minutes. Had the Eagles not made the stupid plays like turnovers and sacks, the rest of the team basically dominated from start to finish.
• Jalen Hurts relapsed big time in this first half. He made a slow read and a bad read on the same play to turn a would-be touchdown to an interception and keep the Eagles off the board. Then he started standing in the pocket for minutes at a time without making any decision at all, just waiting for big sacks. It was high-school level play that he flipped back to as quick as possible and then seemed to get snapped back by the pressure of the two-minute drill. No idea what caused this, because he looked good to start the second half, too. It was basically like the Eagles had two entirely different QBs play.

Injury Notes

• CB Darius Slay played just one drive before he was replaced once again. Isaiah Rodgers was the replacement again. Slay did return in the second half.
• Saquon Barkley seemed to exit the game with an arm injury in the first half on the Hurts fumble. No official announcement was made, but he did not enter for the two-minute drill. He did return after the half, however.

Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys – November 10, 2024