Cowboys Grind Down Flightless Eagles
The Cowboys (10-3) defense held the Eagles offense out of the end zone, getting three turnovers in leading Dallas to a 33-13 win over Philadelphia (10-3) in primetime on Sunday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
PRESCOTT CONTINUES HOT PLAY
Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott had something to prove, and he did just that in leading the Cowboys to the win and a takeover of first place, for now, in the NFC East.
He commanded a precision offense that carved up the Eagles defense to the tune of 271 yards passing and 11 yards rushing. He completed 24 of 39 throws, with touchdowns to CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup, and had no interceptions. He finished with a quarterback rating of 99.4.
He was sacked three times, but continually made the right decisions with the football.
He had the Cowboys five biggest plays of the game – 39-yard pass to Michael Gallup, 32-yard catch and run to Jake Ferguson, 30-yard strike to Brandon Cooks to set up Dallas at the Philly 1, 27-yard dart to Ferguson over the middle and 26-yard pass to CeeDee Lamb to get it going in the first quarter.
After starting the game 6-for-8, Prescott missed his next five throws to finish off the first quarter. He did throw for 62 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown to CeeDee Lamb to open the scoring. But he heated up in the second quarter, going 8-of-10 for 95 more yards and a second touchdown.
Prescott finished the first half leading the Cowboys to 24 points, while throwing for 157 yards and two touchdowns. He completed 14 of 23 throws and had a QBR of 110.2 against an Eagles secondary that lost starting cornerback James Bradberry to concussion protocol early in the second quarter.
RUNNING GAME GETS GOING
The Eagles came out on defense and dared the Cowboys to beat them on the ground.
They pounded the Eagles front for 138 yards rushing on 32 carries, for an average of 4.31 yards per carry. Tony Pollard led the way with 59 yards on 16 carries, while Rico Dowdle added 46 yards on 12 carries.
Dallas went to work right away, gaining 96 rushing yards on 18 carries in the first half.
Pollard led the way with 32 yards on six carries, with a long of 11 he averaged 5.3 yards a tote. Dowdle complimented Pollard with 31 yards on eight carries, including a 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
KaVontae Turpin added a big 22-yard end around to get the Cowboys offense going on the first possession of the game.
Quarterback Dak Prescott added 11 yards on three carries, only one called and that was on short yardage in the first half.
SMITH, BROWN KEPT IN CHECK
The Cowboys secondary of cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore and DaRon Bland and safeties Jayron Kearse, Donovan Wilson and Donovan Wilson were tasked with shutting down two of the best wide receivers in the game, and they did just that.
They Cowboys held A.J. Brown and DaVonta Smith in check. Even with some late catches with the game out of reach, Brown finished with nine catches on 13 targets for 94 yards and no touchdowns. Smith added five catches on 10 targets for 73 yards and no touchdowns.
Both Brown and Smith turned the ball over with a fumble in the loss.
The duo of Bland and Gilmore got it going early, doing a solid job in the first half on the Eagles most explosive offensive weapons, holding Smith to two catches on four targets for 39 yards and Brown to two catches on six targets for 38 yards.
They were two of only three Eagles to catch passes from quarterback Jalen Hurts in the first half, along with tight end Goedert, who caught three for 15 yards. Olimade Zaccheaus had the only other first half catch, but his pass came from punter Brandon Mann on a fake punt in the first quarter and went for 28 yards.
DALLAS DEFENSE COMES UP BIG
When it counted most, the Cowboys defense came up with big plays to shut down Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia offense.
The Cowboys kept the Eagles offense from scoring a touchdown, allowing just a pair of Jake Elliott field goals in the domination at home. It is the first time the Eagles have been held without a touchdown since the wild card playoff game in 2019.
While the defense bent with 324 total yards given up, they didn’t break at crucial moments.
They came up with a trio of turnovers, one Hurts fumble in the first half – punched out and recovered by Donovan Wilson, and two more in the second half – an A.J. Brown catch that Stephon Gilmore punched out and Damone Clark recovered in the third quarter and then a DaVonta Smith catch and run that Markquese Bell punched out and Malik Hooker recovered in the fourth. All three turned back the Eagles offense.
The Cowboys defense also got a sack from Parsons, his 12.5 sack of the season. Parsons ties Reggie White as the only two players in NFL history to record 12-plus sacks in each of their first three seasons in the league.
Gilmore had such a monster game, tracking Brown and Smith all night, he finished with a team high nine tackles.
The Cowboys held the Eagles to 176 yards in the first half, but more importantly just six points.
Hurts had seven completions on 13 passes for 92 yards, while also gaining 28 yards on four carries. He led the Eagles with 120 total yards, while Smith and Brown combined for just 77 receiving yards.
ROLLER COASTER NIGHT FOR O-LINE
The Cowboys offensive line continued its roller coaster play.
After a first half where they dominated, they took some steps back in the second half.
The Cowboys offensive line was challenged from the opening kickoff, and they responded.
The Eagles dared the Cowboys to run the football, and they were up to the challenge. The Cowboys rushed for 138 yards on 32 carries behind an offensive line that continues to gel.
With right tackle Tyron Smith, right guard Tyler Smith, center Tyler Biadasz, left guard Martin and left tackle Terence Steele, the Cowboys amassed 394 yards of total offense on 74 plays.
They did allow two sacks to Hassan Reddick, one in each half, and one to Fletcher Cox. All three given up by the center, right guard and right tackle.
After a first half that saw them put up 24 points and 247 total yards, the offense stalled at times in the second half.
The big boys were tagged for 40 yards in penalties – 10 each on Tyler Smith and Steele in the first half, and then another 10-yard holding and a 10-yard clipping call on Biadasz in the second half.
BONUS: AUBREY CLUTCH AGAIN
When the Cowboys had offensive drives stall inside the Philadelphia territory, they called on kicker Brandon Aubrey to put up points.
He was good from 60 yards in the first half and then kicked one from 59 yards in the second, to become the first kicker in NFL history to hit two field goals from 59 yards or further in the same game. He tacked on a 45-yard field goal with 9:40 to play and a 50-yard blast with 1:13 to play in the game to push his NFL record for most field goals made consecutively to start a career to 30. He needs to make just five more field goals to overtake Richie Cunningham for the most field goals made in a season. Cunningham did it in 1997.
Aubrey added three extra points, while all his kickoffs went for touchbacks.
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BIG HUGE GIANT MONSTER Play of the Game
After the Cowboys scored on their first drive of the game to take an early 7-0 lead, quarterback Jalen Hurts had the Eagles marching toward a tying touchdown when the Cowboys defense did what they do so well – get a turnover. On first and 20 from the Dallas 31, Hurts took off on a run that gained 10 yards when safety Donovan Wilson came in and stripped the ball from Hurts. Wilson then recovered the football to halt the Eagles at the Dallas 21. It would be Hurts sixth fumble lost on the season. The Cowboys would march 37 yards in 13 plays and pay off the turnover with a Brandon Aubrey 60-yard field goal to put Dallas up 10-0 in the first quarter.
UNSUNG Play of the Game
Trailing by two touchdowns, the Eagles brain trust knew that they were going to need touchdowns and not field goals to get back into the game. So, they went for it on fourth and eight from the Dallas 29 with just seconds to play in the third quarter. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts hit wide receiver DaVonta Smith on a shallow crossing route, but Cowboys cornerback Stephon Gilmore was in hot pursuit. Gilmore would bring down Smith from behind after just a 1-yard gain. The ball would go over on downs and the Cowboys offense would pay it off with an 11-play drive that ended with a 45-yard Brandon Aubrey field goal and a 30-13 lead for Dallas.