On Sunday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles square off in an early-season battle for control of the NFC East. After nearly blowing a 20-point lead against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field, the Eagles found a way to win once more, defeating them 26-17 to maintain their status as the only unbeaten team in the NFL.
To unseat the reigning NFC East champs, the Eagles (5-0) are off to their finest start in 18 years. After losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on opening night, the Cowboys (4-1) have won four straight games to take the division lead in 2021 with a 12-5 record.
“We up! Philly’s up right now, We’re going up. Up, up, up. We’re going up to that room.” cornerback Darius Slay said.
With 20 of their scores coming in the second quarter, the Eagles used a dominant performance to cruise to victory. Cooper Rush was only able to complete 18 of his 38 passes for 181 yards and one touchdown on the night because of Philadelphia’s three interceptions of him.
The Eagles used play design to overcome an aggressive defence and capitalized on an opponent that made several blunders. Final stats for Jalen Hurts included a meagre 15 of 25 completions for 155 yards and two touchdowns, while A.J. Miles Sanders ran for 71 yards on 18 rushes and a touchdown, while Brown hauled in five passes for a team-high 67 yards and his second touchdown of the year.
The cowboys lost the ball, committed too many penalties, lacked the offensive oomph to compete with the Eagles, and failed to stop the run or the RPO game on crucial third downs.
The highlights of the Games
Perhaps the most impressive individual play of the evening was this juke by Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson into the end zone. The Eagles’ DeVonta Smith faked a pick route before stepping up into the end zone, where Jalen Hurts found him for a simple touchdown. This was the play with the best design.
The last play of the first quarter was the first. With 46 seconds left in the half, the Eagles and Cowboys were deadlocked at 0-0, and Philadelphia faced a third-and-12 situation at the Dallas 18-yard line.
With a 5-yard touchdown run, Miles Sanders started the scoring. Then, Philly intercepted Dallas QB Cooper Rush twice, which resulted in 10 additional points. To make it 14-0, Jalen Hurts completed a touchdown pass to A.J. Brown.
Cooper Rush, the Cowboys’ backup quarterback, was targeted by the Eagles‘ defence after he completed 18 of 38 passes for 181 yards and a score while also throwing three interceptions, two of which were caught by safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and one by cornerback Darius Slay.
The Cowboys had an opportunity to go within one score after Philadelphia opened up a 14-0 lead in the second quarter. Rush found CeeDee Lamb over the middle on third-and-9 from their 26-yard line.
Photo by: Mitchell Leff
To prepare for their Sunday Night Football game against the NFC East rival Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field, the Dallas Cowboys travelled to hostile territory this past weekend.
Coach Mike McCarthy took a minute to reflect and review the comeback attempt before the game concluded in a 26-17 defeat.
He remarked with some pride, “We punched back.”
Following five victories, Rush’s first loss as a starter in the NFL reduced the Cowboys to 4-2. Now ranked third in the East. The Eagles’ offensive line is strong, but the Cowboys’ defence is perhaps stronger. Dallas ranks third in the NFL with just 14.4 points allowed per game, ranking seventh in the league with 311.4 points allowed per game. The Eagles rank second in the league with 419.8 yards per game and sixth in scoring with 27.0 points per game, so that trend will have to continue on Sunday night.
