Eagles and C.J. Gardner-Johnson take hits from Cowboys, but stay imperfectly perfect | Bowen

PHILADELPHIA — C.J. Gardner-Johnson wasn’t worried about the wrap on his injured right hand, or the way the Dallas Cowboys had gone from dominated to dominating in the span of a quarter or so of Sunday night’s game.

“Read the eyes of the quarterback, break on the ball. You just do what you gotta do. … See ball, get ball,” Gardner-Johnson said, after his second interception of the evening — a sprawling dive for a lame duck of a Cooper Rush throw, Gardner-Johnson charging like an outfielder tracking a bloop flare — proved pivotal in the Eagles’ 26-17 victory.

Afterward, Gardner-Johnson didn’t want to discuss his injury, at one point calling it “a little boo-boo.”

“Solider mentality,” he said. “I’m good.”

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The play started when Brandon Graham, who’d spent much of the night watching from the sideline, made the most of a rare pass-rushing opportunity. Graham hit Rush as he threw, and only Gardner-Johnson had a bead on the errant ball, it seemed. This third and final Dallas turnover, with five minutes and three seconds remaining in the game, on the series after the Eagles pushed their advantage from 20-17 to 26-17, told the raucous, rollicking crowd and the national TV audience that the home team was back in charge for good.

“We needed a play. We all know who’s gonna make it,” said Graham.

At 34, the defensive end whose Super Bowl LII strip of Tom Brady will always occupy an exalted place in franchise lore is no longer a starter, but he remains a finisher.

“I’m just happy the hit made him throw it up, and C.J. came down with it. That was a tough catch. … Then he cupped it and twisted,” Graham said, referring to how Gardner-Johnson maneuvered so the ball wasn’t jarred loose when the safety hit the ground.

The Eagles’ other starting safety, Marcus Epps, watched the interception from the backside.

“I just saw the ball go up in the air. I turned around and saw him come out of nowhere and make an amazing catch,” Epps said.

Much earlier, Gardner-Johnson had snagged the first of the Eagles’ three interceptions. Then, he’d had to leave the field, with about 11 minutes remaining in the third quarter, his left arm dangling. He would return during the 15-play 93-yard Dallas touchdown drive that pulled the Cowboys within 20-17, a drive that almost erased the memory of how impressive the Eagles had been in building a 20-0 late-second-quarter lead.

“We’ve got to clean up a couple things,” Gardner-Johnson conceded. “We had to collect our thoughts. We still were running pretty high after going in [at the half] with the 20-3 [lead]. You’ve got to focus and make sure you still play four, not two quarters of ball. … We’ve got to go from good to great.”

Domination in spurts has been the story of the Eagles’ season. The NFL’s only 6-0 team builds big leads and then watches them dwindle. Some weeks (vs. Minnesota, Washington, or Jacksonville) the dwindling is minimal, and you feel that if the Eagles had really needed more points, they would have scored them. Other weeks (Detroit in the opener, Arizona last week, Dallas Sunday night), the whole thing seems to be falling apart, in every phase, and disaster looms.

But somehow it doesn’t quite arrive.

“We know we have to play a complete game,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “What’s exciting about being 6-0 and not having played a complete game yet in my opinion — and the players will tell you the same — is that there is only room to get better, right? That’s our goal.”

Sirianni has a bye week to figure that sort of stuff out, before the Steelers visit on Oct. 30.

The Eagles drove for a second-quarter touchdown — they’ve outscored opponents 112-27 in the second quarter this season — then got another TD after Gardner-Johnson’s first interception. They added a field goal when Dallas unwisely went for it on fourth-and-1 at its 34. Another field goal followed a Darius Slay interception. The Eagles’ defense leads the NFL with 14 turnovers, and the team’s plus-12 turnover differential also is the league’s best.

But at 20-0 with just 1:51 remaining in the first half, the Eagles suffered a special teams breakdown. This also is a continuing theme, one that has to end if they are going to become the team they want to be. Jake Elliott’s kickoff came back 63 yards to the Eagles’ 41.

Rookie linebacker Nakobe Dean, who plays on kickoff coverage, said returner KaVontae Turpin just got outside the containment. Last week at Arizona, it was a fake punt they failed to stop, and they muffed a punt. Against the Vikings, they had a field goal blocked and nearly run back for a touchdown. At Washington, another muffed punt, and a personal foul on a field goal attempt that gave the Commanders a red zone first down.

This miscue only cost the Eagles three points, but it definitely changed the tone on the Dallas sideline, and it came just as Lane Johnson, the Eagles’ dominant right tackle, was heading to the locker room with a concussion.

The third quarter was just a disaster, offensively and defensively. Micah Parsons terrorized sub right tackle Jack Driscoll, and the Eagles’ defense couldn’t stop the run; Dallas ran for 89 yards on 16 carries in the second half. That’s 5.6 yards a carry, and a good way to keep your backup QB functional. Dak Prescott (thumb) returns next week.

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But Jalen Hurts and the Eagles’ offense put together a 13-play, 75-yard, run-based touchdown drive that ate up nearly half the fourth quarter, and then Graham hit Rush, and Gardner-Johnson swooped in.

That’s three interceptions in two games for Gardner-Johnson, who arrived in a trade with the Saints just before the start of the season. Gardner-Johnson acknowledged he has had to make a lot of adjustments to fit in; the brash persona he brought with him from New Orleans was not a culture fit.

“It’s a humbling experience for me. I had to swallow my pride when I first got here,” he said. “Coach got on me about it. It’s all tough love.”

Presumably, Gardner-Johnson was talking about defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, though he would not confirm that.

“I was the new guy coming in, loud, showboating,” he said. “I’m not here to do a show; I’m here to get better, improve, and help this team win.”

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Les Bowen is a freelance columnist who covers the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL for NJ Advance Media.

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