Eagles win nail-biter against Cowboys, 28 to 23

The Philadelphia Eagles are 8-1 after beating the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field! Final score: 28 to 23.

Honestly, this was a pretty easy win for the Birds.

OK, I lied. It was actually incredibly stressful, especially at the end!

The Eagles came entirely too close to giving this game away.

With a chance to ice the game by getting a first down, the Eagles went conservative and ran three straight times to burn the Cowboys’ timeouts. They nearly gave the ball to Dallas by fumbling on a third down run where players ran into each other at the handoff.

Managing to survive that miscue, they were seemingly in position to win the game with Dallas needing to go 85 yards in 45 seconds with zero timeouts. The Cowboys managed to get as far as the Eagles’ 6-yard line before Josh Sweat ultimately saved the day to bail out an all too leaky defense with a big sack on Dak Prescott.

Phew.

Much like basically every Eagles game this season, this wasn’t pretty. But, honestly, that’s OK.

This was a MASSIVE win for the Birds. Advancing to 8-1 and dropping Dallas to 5-3 entering the bye week is a big deal. Building up that cushion ahead of many more difficult games to follow was imperative.

Now the Eagles can look forward to getting some rest and self-scouting to try to correct mistakes that have held them back from playing their A-game.

Read on for a recap and stay tuned for BGN’s postgame coverage, including the BGN Radio postgame show.

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FIRST QUARTER

• The Eagles won the coin toss and elected to defer, per usual. The Cowboys ran twice to get to third down. Facing 3rd-and-6, Dak Prescott’s pass for CeeDee Lamb was a little too high and incomplete with Reed Blankenship having tight coverage underneath. Great start by Sean Desai’s defense.
• The Eagles took over at their own 23-yard line. A short pass to A.J. Brown and a D’Andre Swift run set up third down. Facing 3rd-and-5, Hurts took off running right and got stopped just short of the marker. The Eagles went for the Brotherly Shove from their own 32-yard line and got it. Kudos to Nick Sirianni for being aggressive. Facing 3rd-and-6, Hurts hit an open Olamide Zaccheaus on a short route for the first down. Then Hurts found Brown for another first down into Cowboys territory. A delay of game set the Eagles back. Then Hurts got strip-sacked while throwing but he was fortunately able to recover the ball. Hurts completed a pass to Brown to bring up third down. Facing 3rd-and-15, Hurts to Brown gained 12. Facing 4th-and-3, Sirianni decided to go for it and Hurts delivered a ball to Dallas Goedert who made a nice catch along the right sideline. Big time play. The Eagles used Kenny Gainwell (NO!) as their first red zone running back and he paid off the coaching staff’s trust in him with a nice 12-yard touchdown run (YES!) Back-to-back penalties on the PAT kick (delay of game, false start) didn’t prevent Jake Elliott from sending it through the uprights from 43 yards out. Monster drive to go 77 yards in 13 plays with 7:51 off the clock. EAGLES 7, COWBOYS 0.

• Big kick return from KaVontae Turpin gave the Cowboys the ball at their own 47-yard line. Two straight Dak scrambles brought up third down. Facing 3rd-and-3, Dak used his legs again to pick up a first down. Facing 3rd-and-1, an unblocked Haason Reddick got to Dak on a naked boot to force an incompletion. Mike McCarthy had the Cowboys go for it on fourth down and CeeDee Lamb dusted Eli Ricks to set up goal-to-go at the 4-yard line. Tough to expect a UDFA cornerback to shut the Cowboys’ top option down. Kind of frustrating that the Eagles’ big money cornerbacks weren’t on Lamb there. One play later, Dak hit Jake Ferguson for the score to tie it up. EAGLES 7, COWBOYS 7.

• D’Andre Swift run went for seven yards but then Hurts took a sack. Facing 3rd-and-9, Hurts rolled right and threw the ball away for a three-and-out.
• The combination of Braden Mann’s 57-yard (!) punt and an illegal block in the back penalty forced the Cowboys to take over at their own 18-yard line.

SECOND QUARTER

• Facing 3rd-and-2, Dak found Ferguson down the field for a 40-yard catch-and-run into Eagles territory. Pretty bad! The very next play, Reddick sacked Dak for an 11-yard loss. The Cowboys then burned their first timeout to avoid a delay of game penalty. Facing 3rd-and-14, Dak stayed up through a Reddick sack attempt and completed a pass to Lamb along the right sideline with Ricks trailing again. Nakobe Dean got called for pass interference to set up goal-to-go at the 8-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-goal at the 5-yard line, Dak hit Turpin for another score to cap off a nine-play, 82-yard go-ahead TD drive. The catch was automatically reviewed since it looked like the ball was moving ... but the refs upheld the ruling on the field (as opposed to confirming it). EAGLES 7, COWBOYS 14.

• The Eagles were gifted a start from their own 40-yard line after the Cowboys kicked the kickoff out of bounds. Hurts held the ball forever before throwing it away. Swift ran for a yard. Facing 3rd-and-9, Hurts fit a ball into a very tight window to a crossing DeVonta Smith for a first down. Wow. A Hurts “pass” to Swift gained 20 yards to put the Eagles at the edge of the red zone.

Facing 3rd-and-3, a Gainwell carry got to the marker to make it goal-to-go from the 10-yard line. On first down, Swift fumbled while falling and the Cowboys picked it up for a recovery to midfield. Upon review, Swift clearly recovered the ball while on the ground and was downed before Dallas ripped it out. Dallas Goedert drew defensive holding to give the Eagles 1st-and-goal at the 5-yard line. Two Swift runs got the ball to the 1-yard line. You already knew what was going to happen at that point: Brotherly Shove TD. EAGLES 14, COWBOYS 14.

• Nakobe Dean and Fletcher Cox combined to sack Dak to bring up third down. Facing 3rd-and-15, Dak to Lamb picked up 13 yards. Facing 4th-and-2, McCarthy decided to go for it ... and Ferguson beat Byard on a slant for a first down. Second straight drive allowing a 3rd-and-long situation to be converted with the Cowboys previously turning 3rd-and-14 into fourth down and then a first. Facing 3rd-and-3 from the Eagles’ 33-yard line, Dak’s pass to Michael Gallup was dropped. Fortunate break there. Also fortunate that the Cowboys didn’t decide to go for it on fourth down. Brandon Aubrey hit the 51-yard field goal. EAGLES 14, COWBOYS 17.
• The Eagles took over at their own 25-yard line with 1:15 on the clock and three timeouts to work with. Facing 3rd-and-8 after a false start, Hurts completed a good ball to Brown along the left sideline to move the chains. Hurts took off running up the middle and the Eagles called their first timeout with 0:32 remaining. Hurts got sacked by Micah Parsons and was visibly hurt after the play. The Eagles used a timeout to allow Hurts not to miss a snap and he handed off to Gainwell to help burn some clock.

• The Cowboys took a knee with four seconds left in the first half.

THIRD QUARTER

• The Eagles started at their own 40-yard line for the second time after a face mask penalty on the Cowboys’ special teams unit. RASHAAD PENNY ALERT: he took his first carry since Week 2 for six yards. Then another carry for one yard. Facing 3rd-and-3, Hurts took off running for a first down after seeing Micah Parsons crashing on the running back instead of accounting for him. Hurts hit a wide open Swift along the right sideline for another first down. Then Hurts delivered an absolute dime to DeVonta Smith for an over-the-shoulder TD catch. Awesome throw, great job by DeVonta to stay in bounds. Remarkable toughness by Hurts to battle through the pain. EAGLES 21, COWBOYS 17.

• Tony Pollard broke off a 15-yard run on 2nd-and-10. The Cowboys crossed midfield but got set back with a holding penalty. Facing 3rd-and-15, the Eagles needed to get a stop after previously allowing 3rd-and-long situations to be converted. And they finally got one with Dak’s pass going of the sticks. The Cowboys punted from no man’s land at the Eagles’ 48-yard line.
• The Eagles took over at their own 13-yard line. They pounded the rock and played small ball before a downfield shot to Brown drew a defensive pass interference penalty to move the Birds into Cowboys territory. A crossing Goedert had a big catch-and-run into the red zone but he got hurt while being taken down by his arm. The Eagles had 1st-and-10 at the 13-yard line before a defensive holding brought up 1st-and-goal at the 4. The Eagles ran the same play they did with Goedert but with Brown instead this time and it resulted in a touchdown. Nice stuff from Brian Johnson. Massive 11-play, 87-yard TD drive to go up two scores while taking 6:18 off the clock. EAGLES 28, COWBOYS 17.

FOURTH QUARTER

• The Cowboys quickly drove into field goal range. Facing 3rd-and-1, Dak completed a pass to Gallup with the ball somehow not being deflected by James Bradberry despite the CB having good coverage. Lucky. The Cowboys moved into the red zone. Facing another 3rd-and-1, the Cowboys ran but got stopped for no gain. Facing 4th-and-1, the Cowboys went for their tush push and it looked like Dak got stopped short, at least initially ... and then Kevin Byard got called for unnecessary roughness since he pushed Ferguson. Nick Sirianni, who was already upset the Cowboys reset the play clock before the sneak, challenged the ruling that Dak moved the chains. The challenge was unsuccessful. Facing 3rd-and-goal from the 4-yard line, Dak took off running and jumped for the goal line only to be met by Cunningham and Slay stopping him short in the air. Dak’s fourth down pass was complete to Luke Schoonmaker for a touchdown ... or not! It looked like the ball didn’t actually cross the goal line. Sure enough, the play went to review and the Cowboys’ tight end was ruled down JUST short for a turnover on downs. HUGE STOP! They don’t call it a game of inches for nothing.

• The Eagles basically took over at their own inch-line and ran a Brotherly Shove to gain two yards for some breathing room. The Eagles went three-and-out after only picking up five yards. Braden Mann’s punt took a favorable bounce to go 46 yards.
• The Cowboys took over at their own 48-yard line with 8:36 left. Dallas moved into goal-to-go at the 2-yard line with the defense giving Dak all day to throw ... no pressure. An illegal formation penalty set the Cowboys back to the 7. Dak rolled right and found a wide open Jalen Tolbert for the score. McCarthy decided to go for two as analytics suggests to do ... and Prescott ran into the end zone for a successful try. OR NOT! Because he actually stepped out before the ball crossed the goal line. Wow. EAGLES 28, COWBOYS 23.
• A Swift run and a Hurts scramble up the middle brought up third down. Facing 3rd-and-3, Hurts had Brown open deep but overthrew him out of bounds. Bad time for a three-and-out!
• The Cowboys took over at their own 26-yard line with 4:42 to play. Two plays later, the Cowboys reached midfield. Facing 3rd-and-10, Dak easily converted with a throw over the middle to Ferguson. Brandon Lee Graham sacked Dak — BLG’s first of the season — to knock Dallas back seven yards. Jalen Carter and Graham then combined to take Dak down on the next play for another sack. Facing 3rd-and-21, Dak completed a ball to Lamb to bring up fourth down. Facing 4th-and-8, the Cowboys lined up and the Eagles called their second timeout to get a look at the formation with 1:22 remaining. Facing 4th-and-8 for real this time, Dak threw to Tolbert and James Bradberry helped to break up the pass at the catch point for a turnover on downs!

• The Eagles took over at their own 32-yard line with 1:17 on the clock and Dallas having three timeouts. The Eagles called their third and final timeout for some reason before even running a play. Facing 3rd-and-7 with 1:07 left, the Eagles FUMBLED and very fortunately recovered with Tyler Steen getting control of the ball. Oh my god. Almost a disaster. The Cowboys called their final timeout ahead of the Eagles punting.

• 54-yard bouncing punt from Mann forced the Cowboys to take over at their own 15-yard line with 0:45 on the clock. Dak took a deep shot and Bradberry got called for DPI to put the Cowboys at midfield with just five seconds off the clock. Dak completed a pass and then then Reddick got called for roughing the passer to put the Cowboys at the Eagles’ 25-yard line with 0:32 left. CeeDee was wide open and got out of bounds at the 11-yard line with 0:27 left. Then Carter got called for encroachment ... before a false start from Dallas. Back at the 11. Josh Sweat sacked Dak to knock the Cowboys back to the 22 with the clock running. Dak took a shot into the end zone but the pass was way out of bounds. Facing 3rd-and-21 with 0:05 left on the clock, the Cowboys got hit with a delay of game. The next play, Dak threw short of the end zone to Lamb, who was tackled to end the game! PHEW!

FINAL SCORE: EAGLES WIN, 28 to 23

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EAGLES LINEUP NOTES

• In case you missed it somehow, Derek Barnett was a healthy scratch for this game.
• Sydney Brown got the start at nickel cornerback again. Eli Ricks replaced him in rotation on the very next snap.
• Rookie Tyler Steen made his first NFL start at right guard, as expected.

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EAGLES INJURY NEWS

• Jason Kelce was limping after a play on the Eagles’ first drive.
• Fletcher Cox went down on the Cowboys’ second drive but was able to jog off the field after spending some time on the ground. He shortly re-entered the game.
• Jordan Davis entered the medical tent on the Cowboys’ second drive after grabbing his injured hamstring.
• Haason Reddick got banged up on the Cowboys’ third drive. He returned shortly after.
• Milton Williams jogged to the locker room while the offense was on the field midway through the second quarter. He remained in the game.
• Nakobe Dean went to the locker room late in the second quarter. He was ruled out with a foot injury.
• Dallas Goedert got hurt on a play where he was taken down by his arm being bent. He got up and walked into the tunnel with trainers. He was ruled questionable to return with a forearm injury. He was later ruled out.
• James Bradberry was hurt after committing DPI on the Cowboys’ final drive. He was able to slowly walk off the field.
• Darius Slay got banged up on the Cowboys’ final drive but returned to the game.