Eagles squeeze out win over Cardinals in Arizona, 20 to 17

The Philadelphia Eagles are 5-0 after defeating the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium! Final score: 20 to 17.

Things looked too easy early on for the Eagles as they jumped out to a 14 to 0 lead. But the offense dried up as injuries along the offensive line started to pile up. In addition to starting left tackle Jordan Mailata and backup left tackle Andre Dillard missing this game, the Birds were without Landon Dickerson and Jason Kelce at various points in this one.

Jonathan Gannon’s defense ultimately allowed just 17 points was too reminiscent of the soft version that caused frustration in the past. The defense was in jeopardy of allowing the Cardinals to win the game or force overtime ... but Kyler Murray sliding short of the first down marker forced Arizona into a 43-yard field goal attempt early. Cardinals backup kicker Matt Ammendola missed it and the Eagles won!

Phew.

This certainly wasn’t a game where the Eagles scored style points. But even though the Cards didn’t look good on paper, this wasn’t necessarily going to be an easy one. This game had the makings of a trap game.

The Eagles are fortunate to have escaped the trap to exit with the win. That’s all that matters for now. They just need to get healthier with a VERY big Week 6 game against the Cowboys looming at Lincoln Financial Field next Sunday night.

It’s officially Dallas Week.

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FIRST QUARTER

• The Eagles won the coin toss and elected to defer, as they usually do. The Cardinals picked up a first down by way of a Zach Ertz screen but then had to punt. The Eagles had Kyzir White spying Kyler Murray on third down. Loud cheers at the opposing stadium for Philly’s defense forcing a stop. Road field advantage.
• The Eagles picked up two first downs on Dallas Goedert screens. Hard to stop! Then Jalen Hurts connected with A.J. Brown twice. It would have been a third time if he didn’t drop a screen pass. The Eagles got to 4th-and-1 at the 3-yard line and Nick Sirianni made the right decision to go for it with a Hurts sneak. They got it. Then the Eagles got to the 1-yard line and went with another sneak for a touchdown. Made it look easy! EAGLES 7, CARDINALS 0.

• Kyler Murray aired it out ... and it was underthrown into double coverage with C.J. Gardner-Johnson picking him off. Terrible decision and execution by Murray.

• Hurts slipped on the Cardinals’ field on a 3rd-and-1 to lose a yard and bring up a three-and-out. Sabotage!
• Josh Sweat did a nice job of not losing contain on a reverse to force a 3rd-and-10. Haason Reddick pressured Murray into a deep throw that was a bit off target and well-defended by Darius Slay. Punt.

• The Eagles got knocked back to 3rd-and-13 from their own 11-yard line after a Goedert screen got sniffed out. On third down, Hurts rolled left and made a throw across his body to an open DeVonta Smith for a conversion. Took a hit as he made it as well. Great to see him make a big play going left, not previously a strength of his! Hurts had another nice completion to Smith rolling to his right to bring up the end of the first quarter. The Eagles have a good quarterback, don’t they?

And Philly has free frostys now!

SECOND QUARTER

• The Eagles drove to the 11-yard line with Hurts eluding an oncoming defender and running for 17 yards. Hurts then ran to set up 1st-and-goal ... but a holding penalty on A.J. Brown knocked it essentially replay 1st-and-goal from the 11-yard line. Looked like a tacky penalty to me. The Eagles got to 1st-and-goal from the 1-yard line and snuck twice for the score!

• Another three-and-out for the Cardinals with Murray throwing off target. Arizona’s offense out of sync.
• Hurts threw his second pick of the season with him seemingly locking in on A.J. Brown and not even seeing a dropping defender. The Eagles were fortunate that the refs ruled the ball hit the ground, which it did, but it was close. Hurts tried to scramble out of pressure on 3rd-and-11 but eventually got taken around after dancing around in the pocket. Not a good series from the Eagles QB.

• The Cardinals took over at their own 43-yard line. Brandon Graham was like half a second shy of strip-sacking Murray before he hit Marquise Brown for 14 yards and first down. The Eagles got the Cardinals to 3rd-and-3 from Philly’s 25-yard line ... and Murray hit Brown over the middle for what should’ve been a first down. Instead, it was a catch-and-run for a score due to some atrocious tackling. EAGLES 14, CARDINALS 7.

• The Eagles got to 3rd-and-2 from their own 48-yard line and Hurts nearly got sacked by J.J. Watt but was able to throw it for an incompletion. Could’ve been called for intentional grounding. Offense not set up to thrive with Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, and Jason Kelce all missing.
• The Eagles’ defense caught a break with Brown bobbling and dropping what might’ve been a touchdown on a slant. The Eagles caught another break with Zach Ertz being unable to hold on to a third down catch for a conversion, though Marcus Epps also helped to break it up. The Cardinals lined up to punt ... but ran a successful direct snap for a conversion. More special teams issues for Philadelphia. The Cards slowly but surely entered the red zone with the middle of the field defense looking soft. Then they got to goal-to-go territory with 0:10 on the board. Murray missed some throws and the Eagles were able to hold the Cardinals to three. Could’ve been worse. EAGLES 14, CARDINALS 10.

THIRD QUARTER

• Kelce had a nice block to spring Miles Sanders for a first down run to start the second half. The Eagles used their quick passing game to methodically move down the field. Sanders had a nice run to set up goal-to-go ... but it was called back to holding on Sua Opeta. The Eagles got set back to 3rd-and-21 ... and admitted defeat with a quick throw to DeVonta for just two yards. Cameron Dicker came in for his first Eagles field goal from 42 yards out and ... made it! Nice. Really could have afforded to score seven there but better than nothing. EAGLES 17, CARDINALS 10.
• The Cardinals got set back to 3rd-and-17 but converted on a screen. Pretty bad. Looked like Rondale Moore went out of bounds a little short of the marker, too, but the refs gave it to him. Josh Sweat had a chance to sack Murray on a 3rd-and-3 but the Cardinals QB escaped and made a nice throw for a first. James Bradberry came up with a nice anticipatory pass breakup to set up 3rd-and-11. On third down, Haason Reddick came with a great powerful rush to get to Murray for the sack. Reddick has been clutch this year.

• Covey got hit as he was returning to fumble the ball but was able to get back on it. Not inspiring a ton of confidence back there as the Eagles’ punt returner. Should’ve signaled for a fair catch. Hurts threw over the middle to Goedert with touch to get the ball above the underneath linebacker for a 31-yard gain. Nice ball. The Eagles got set back with holding on Landon Dickerson but were able to gain some of it back with a DeVonta catch-and-run. DeVonta then dropped a first down conversion to bring up 3rd-and-8. On third down, the Cards sent the house and Hurts took the sack.

FOURTH QUARTER

• The Cardinals drove to 1st-and-10 from the Eagles’ 11-yard line. Then they scored with an Eno Benjamin touched run. A soft, bend-AND-break defense to allow 90 yards over 12 plays. Not an overly inspiring day from Jonathan Gannon’s unit. EAGLES 17, CARDINALS 17.

• The Eagles ran eight straight times before a throw to Sanders in the flat went for a 2-yard loss. Great. On 3rd-and-12, Hurts found Goedert over the middle short of the sticks but the big tight end ran through arm tackles for the conversion. Crucial! The Eagles snuck it on 3rd-and-1 to bring up 1st-and-goal at the 10-yard line at the two-minute warning. They ran again to force the Cardinals to take their first timeout at 1:56. They ran again to force the Cardinals to take their second timeout at 1:52. On 3rd-and-goal from the 5-yard line, Quez Watkins had the ball in his hands in the end zone on a throw from Hurts but he couldn’t hold after taking a bang-bang hit. The Cardinals were forced to call their third and final timeout out with Jalen Thompson getting hurt. The Eagles decided to settle for a 23-yard field goal and Dicker made it to take the lead. Nice job by the offense to take a lot of time off the clock but didn’t really put forth an optimal plan to actually get in the end zone. EAGLES 20, CARDINALS 17.
• The Eagles caught a break with Murray missing a wide open Ertz to bring up 3rd-and-8. Murray responded by hitting Ertz over the middle for a first down into Eagles territory. Murray took off running and slid SHORT OF THE MARKER to bring up 3rd-and-1 ... and Murray spiked it to bring up 4th-and-1. Lol, wow. The Cardinals brought in backup kicker Matt Ammendola for a 43-yard field goal attempt ... and Nick Sirianni called a timeout to ice him ... and Ammendola MISSED! LOL! Disastrous ending for the Cardinals.
• Victory formation to advance to 5-0!

FINAL SCORE: EAGLES WIN, 20 TO 17.

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INJURIES

• Landon Dickerson (leg) left the game on the Eagles’ first drive and was replaced by Sua Opeta. He was originally ruled questionable to return. He returned late in the third quarter. Then Dickerson left again late in the fourth quarter.
• Jason Kelce (ankle) missed playing time in the second quarter but quickly returned. Then he got hurt again later in the second quarter. Cam Jurgens replaced him. Kelce was able to return for the start of the second half.
• Milton Williams got banged up late in the second quarter.

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GAME PREVIEW

Can the Philadelphia Eagles remain undefeated? They’re about to be put to the test with a road game against the Arizona Cardinals.

Or maybe it won’t be that much of a test? On paper, the Cardinals are hardly the most intimidating opponent.

At the same time, the Eagles would be remiss to overlook their Week 5 opponent as they try to win their first game in Arizona since 2001.

Bleeding Green Nation will be covering this game with live updates in the form of highlights, commentary, analysis, etc. Make sure to follow along and refresh the page often.

(NOTE: This is NOT a game thread; it’s a live blog that will turn into a game recap. Use BGN’s designated game threads for each quarter to discuss in-game happenings. The first quarter thread is HERE.)