Eagles Show Signs of Life in Second Half to Beat Cowboys

PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles seem intent on making a run at their second straight NFC East title very hard on themselves.

They hosted a given-up-for-dead Dallas Cowboys team on Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field as double-digit favorites, but nearly allowed the visitors a chance to catch their breath and stay alive following a dreadful first half of football that allowed Dallas to hold a halftime lead for just the second time this year and first time since a 14-13 lead against the Rams in the season opener.

In the second half, though, the Eagles snuffed out any signs of life the Cowboys may have had with a suffocating defense that scored a touchdown and, while the offense never really found its rhythm, they did enough to secure a 23-9 win.

Rodney McLeod’s 53-yard scoop-and-score of a fumble caused by T.J. Edwards’ strip sack-fumble of quarterback Ben DiNucci gave the Eagles some breathing room at 21-9 with 5:18 to play in the game.

The play came after Carson Wentz had hit Travis Fulgham for a 9-yard TD with 1:54 to play in the third quarter. A two-point conversion catch by Jalen Reagor made the score 15-9 at that point.

“I don’t even know who hit him,” said McLeod of his first career TD. “The ball was just scrambling. I really thought we were offsides on that play. I scooped it up, I’m running, I’m thinking, we’re probably going to have to come back and defend them in the red zone, but I look and see touchdown. It was just my time. Right place, right time.”

The final points came when the Cowboys intentionally snapped the ball out of the end zone on a punt for a safety in order to try an onside kick. After a scrum that took a few minutes to untangle, it was McLeod who was at the bottom of the pile with the ball to give the Eagles the ball back and allowed them to drain more clock.

Now winners of two straight, the Eagles sit at 3-4-1 heading into their bye week with the New York Giants waiting on the other side. The record may not be much to look at, but it’s good enough to have them in first place in a woeful division.

Dallas, playing with third-string quarterback DiNucci, fell to 2-6, with a visit from the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers scheduled for next week.

“I felt like we did what we had to do to win,” said McLeod. “There’s going to be time the defense carries the team and other times where the offense comes up big and bails us out. Every phase showed up (Sunday) when we needed them the most, special teams included, coming up with that onside kick.”

The Eagles are now 5-0 going into a bye week under Doug Pederson and it was the second straight year the Cowboys came to Philadelphia and left without being able to score a touchdown. Last year, with the division on the line, Dallas laid an egg and managed just three field goals, which is all they could muster this year.

“A win in this league is a win, man,” said Pederson. “They’re hard to come by. There’s never a pretty win, there’s never an ugly win. A win’s a win. We gotta start stacking them together. 

“Guys were excited in the locker room. We know we have to play better. We’re also optimistic we can get some players back in the second half of the season that can help us…go into this bye, get healthy and see what happens.”

The Cowboys led 9-7 at halftime of this one after the Eagles gave them good field position by failing to convert fourth downs inside Dallas territory. Greg Zuerlein turned the short fields into field goals that covered 49 and 59 yards, the latter coming with just six seconds to play in the second quarter.

Quarterback Carson Wentz turned the ball over three times in the first half, with an interception and two fumbles. He ended the game with four turnovers, adding another interception to his ledger for the night.

The Cowboys had forced just three turnovers in seven games, but the Wentz, who now fumbled 55 times in 64 games, insisted on giving them that total in just 30 minutes of football.

“Going into the bye week is huge for us,” said Wentz. “Too many turnovers. I have to be better. There are mistakes out there. Some of it, maybe not on the same page. The first fumble, I have to throw the ball. That stuff I can keep cleaning up. Obviously, individually I can get better at.

Some of these shots down the field, I’m going to keep giving these guys chances. I can be better and put the ball in the right spot, but I’m not going to change my aggressive mentality, but we’re going to start connecting on some of those big plays.”

Dallas’ defense came in giving up 34 points per game, but the Eagles had just seven in the first half. Those seven came via a 2-yard touchdown pass from Wentz to Reagor. It was Reagor’s first career TD and came after he missed the previous five games following thumb surgery.

The Eagles shut Dallas out in the second half and Wentz hit Travis Fulgham with a 9-yard touchdown throw with 1:54 to go in the third quarter.

Wentz ended his night 15-for-27 with 123 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. He ran four times for 17 yards, part of an Eagles ground attack that mustered just 119 yards. Without Miles Sanders for a second straight game due to a knee injury, Boston Scott paced the run game with 15 carries for a career-high 70 yards with Corey Clement adding five runs for 24 yards.

Dallas had given up 208 rush yards to Washington last week and Arizona had 261 two weeks ago on the ground.

The Cowboys had 133 yards rushing against the Eagles, many of those runs ended by Edwards, who had 12 tackles in his first game back after missing three with a hamstring injury.

Fulgham had six catches on seven targets for 78 yards. His TD catch was his fourth in five games.

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