I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a title defense start as badly as the Eagles’ “run it back” journey did Thursday night. Losing a player to a season ending injury along with your best defensive player, Jalen Carter, to an ejection before the game was seven seconds long I think would qualify for that award but hey that’s just me. Carter was tossed for spitting on Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott before a snap took place. Prescott baited the Birds’ third year star and it turned out to be just one of the many amazing things the highest paid QB in the league did Thursday night.
The Basics: Cowboys at Eagles
- Final Score: Eagles 24, Cowboys 20
- MVP: Jalen Hurts – 19/23, 152 yds, 0 TDs, 0 INT, QB Rating 94.2, Rushing – 14 carries, 62 yds, 2 Tds
- Records: (Eagles 1-0, 0-0 Away) vs Cowboys (0-1, 0-0 Home)
- Gambling side winner: Cowboys +8.5, Total – Under 46.5, Moneyline: Cowboys -105
- Next up: at Chiefs Sunday September 14, 4:25 FOX
After that we all were treated to a real good look at why Cee Dee Lamb gets paid $34 million per year. The sixth year wide out of Oklahoma was uncoverable in the first half hauling in four balls for 86 yards.
Boys Unstoppable, Birds Undisciplined
The Cowboys scored on all four of their first half drives including their final drive which began at their own 12 yard line with just :44 seconds left in the half, while the Eagles were held to just one drive in the first quarter and seven penalties for 93 yards in the first 30 minutes, that included three personal fouls, and a taunting penalty to Nolan Smith Jr. after a marvelous open field tackle.
Wait, it gets even more bizarre. Believe it or not the Eagles led at the break 21-20. Yes, you read that right. After a horrendous performance by the defense, last year’s number one defense in all the land, the Birds, behind Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley (shocking) somehow found a way to hit the locker room with a one point lead.
Hurts and Barkley and Pray for Rain
Hurts was 9/11 for just 93 yards and a qb rating of 101.2 but kept his team in it with six carries for 48 yards and two touchdowns while last year’s rushing king popped for 61 yards on 11 carries and the go ahead score with :51 seconds left in the second quarter.
In the second half the Boys were knocking on the door about to take back the lead, down 24-20, until former Eagle Miles Sanders fumbled in the red zone and Birds’ cornerback Quinyon Mitchell recovered it and returned it to the 16 yard line. Only an all-out effort by Prescott saved a scoop-6 as the Dallas QB went horizontal to make a shoe string tackle on Mitchell, keeping it a one score game.
And that’s when the game got even more bizarre as an ominous thunderstorm rolled through the Delaware Valley and halted play for slightly over an hour.
When play resumed neither team got their mojo back offensively and the score never changed the rest of the way. The first eight drives of the game resulted in points for both teams but only one drive in the last eight resulted in points, a Jake Elliott 58 yard field goal.
The same Cee Dee Lamb who torched the Birds in the first half dropped two beautifully thrown balls from Prescott (3 total) late in the fourth quarter and the Boys just couldn’t overcome it. The Birds wrapped up their first test of their title defense with a 24-20 win over the Cowboys and now have nine days off to prepare for the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium two Sundays from now.
Postgame Beat: Eagles Title Defense Off to a Good Start Despite a Bad Start