Roob’s Observations: Eagles hang on against Cowboys, take 8-1 record into bye week originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
That was sure easy.
Good lord.
The Eagles tried just about every way imaginable to give this game away, but somehow, some way – and honestly I have no idea how – they held on and finally beat Dak Prescott, finally beat the Cowboys, finally escaped with a win.
This game ended with the Cowboys six yards from the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds, but it ended Eagles 28, Cowboys 23, and you guys can all exhale now.
Here’s our 10 Observations from a win the Eagles had to have.
1. The site of Jalen Hurts jogging out of the tunnel onto the field after halftime was about the best thing any Eagles fan could have hoped for. After the blow he took to his knee at the end of the second quarter? When you see Hurts hobble off the field, you just see the entire season just crumble to pieces. Then when you see him come out for the second half and operate at such a high level, it just shows you how tough Huts is, how resilient he is, how clutch he is and really how focused he is to be able to function like that when physically there’s no way he was close to 100 percent. Hurts put together another fantastic passing game – 17-for-23 (74 percent) for 207 yards with two TDs and no interceptions. He’s been over 74 percent with multiple TD passes in three straight games. None of us know how much he’s hurting, but Hurts is playing at an extremely high level right now. And the Eagles sure need every bit of it.
2. After losing 14 of their last 22 games against the Cowboys, after losing nine of their last 14 vs. Dallas at the Linc, after losing seven of their last eight to Dak Prescott, this is one the Eagles had to have. Had to have. If you want to consider yourself a legit Super Bowl contender, you have to hold serve against the one other quality team in your division, your biggest rival by far and a team you’ve struggled against for most of the last decade. That’s why this was so huge. This wasn’t Ben DiNucci or Cooper Rush the Eagles beat. This wasn’t some lousy Cowboys team coached by Jason Garrett going nowhere. This was Dak Prescott and a 5-2 Dallas team and a game the Eagles had to win with the teeth of the schedule coming up after the bye. Nick Sirianni has done a ton of positive things since he got here, but beating a good Cowboys team with its regular quarterback at the Linc – something the Eagles hadn’t done since 2006, believe it or not – is right up there when it comes to regular-season wins. The Eagles go into the bye in command of the No. 1 seed in the NFC and with a 2 ½-game lead over the Cowboys as they try to become the first team to repeat in the NFC East since the Eagles from 2001 through 2004. There will be other challenges, other big games. Chiefs, Bills, 49ers, Cowboys again, Seahawks. But there’s not much better than a win over Dak and the Cowboys. The Eagles are the best team in the NFL and they proved it Sunday at the Linc.
3. Love the bounce-back second half for the Eagles’ offensive line, which was really shaky in the first half but got its act together after halftime and played much better the rest of the way. First half, Hurts was sacked three times, hit four times and pressured eight times on 16 drop-backs. Second half no sacks, one hit and two pressures. Rookie Tyler Steen deserves a ton of credit for playing at a high level at right guard in his first NFL start against a formidable defensive front. That’s not an easy NFL debut right there. But really this was just typical Jeff Stoutland. He knows exactly what adjustments to make, what changes to make, what buttons to push, and the o-line dialed up a nearly perfect second half. And Steen’s heads-up play recovering that D’Andre Swift fumble with a minute left – that could have been a major disaster – probably saved the game.
4. The Eagles have been juggling secondary lineups all year, navigating through injuries, calling up practice squad guys, signing dudes off the street, and I have no idea how they’re making it work, but when the smoke had cleared Sunday the Eagles had done enough to get a win. Dak had his usual outstanding game against the Eagles, with 375 passing yards and three TDs – he’s still never thrown an interception at the Linc – and CeeDee Lamb got his 192 yards, but this defense just comes up huge in big moments. B.G.’s sacks. Sweaty’s sack. Reed Blankenship at the goal-line keeping Luke Schoonmaker out of the end zone. Slay, Nicholas Morrow and Sydney Brown on the final play, somehow finding a way to keep Lamb out of the end zone after a 23-yard catch down to the 4-yard-line and then Blankenship actually securing the loose ball. The Eagles gave up a ton of yards, a ton of big plays, left a lot of guys wide open, committed a bunch of stupid penalties. But 28-23 is 28-23. And 8-1 is 8-1. And that’s really all that matters.