ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Something had to give, and unfortunately for the Dallas Cowboys, it was their six-game winning streak over the Philadelphia Eagles when at home, losing 34-6 to their NFC East division rivals.
Dallas still has not won inside AT&T Stadium, having now lost all four, handedly.
Both the Cowboys and Eagles’ first drives ended in punt.
Quarterback Cooper Rush, taking the place of Dak Prescott amid his hamstring injury, fumbled the snap on the opening play of the second drive, and it was recovered by Eagles’ defensive tackle Milton Williams.
Jalen Hurts with a QB sneak opened up the game’s score, and Eagles’ kicker Jake Elliott’s point-after-TD was good. The Cowboys have given up the first touchdown in every home game so far this season, struggling to find the end zone before the New Orleans Saints, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions and now the Eagles.
Brandon Aubrey answered with a field goal soon after from 46-yards out.
Corner back Trevon Diggs later intercepted Hurts’ pass to tight end Dallas Goedert in the end zone, but punter Bryan Anger had to kick it away at the end of their next drive.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Philadelphia had six plays of 10 or more yards, while the Cowboys had none, for perspective. However, Dallas’ pass rush game was just getting started at this point—linebacker DeMarvion Overshown sacked Hurts for the second time, and defensive end Micah Parsons, who returned from an ankle injury, brought down Hurts in the very next play, ultimately forcing Philadelphia to punt it away.
Running back Rico Dowdle ran it up the middle a few plays later, for 19-yards—the Cowboys’ longest run of the year. However, Dallas would not be able to get any points out of the drive. Eagles LB Zack Baun forced RB Ezekiel Elliott to fumble it into the end zone; defensive back Cooper DeJean recovered it, resulting in a touchback.
Eventually, Parsons would force the half’s fifth fumble, of which LB Marist Liufau recovered at Philadelphia’s 6-yard line. The next drive culminated with a 23-yard field goal from Aubrey to make it 7-6, still in favor of the Eagles.
Philadelphia would answer with less than a minute to go in the 2nd quarter; Hurts juked his way out of the pocket to find Goedert for a TD; Jake Elliott’s kick was good to finish out the drive of seven plays for 84 yards.
While Hurts was sacked five times, he went 11 for 13, passing for 152 yards and rushing for 48, in comparison to Rush, who completed just 8 of 17 passes for 36 yards. The first half ended 14-6, Eagles.
Dallas saw less than 10 yards of offense in the third quarter. The No. 3 overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, QB Trey Lance, entered the quarter with less than three minutes to go, only getting two snaps before Rush came back in. Philadelphia scored two touchdowns, Hurts completing a pass to wide receiver Johnny Wilson and scoring himself, plus Elliott’s field goal making it 31-6 heading into the 4th.
Rush would not return, completing 13 of 23 passes for only 45 yards before Lance would re-enter at the top of the next quarter.
Unfortunately, he immediately got sacked. A few plays later, threw to TE Jake Ferguson who fumbled it, Eagles’ safety Reed Blankenship recovered it.
Soon, Eagles’ GB Kenny Pickett would come in, after Hurts was able to retire having gone 14 of 20 for 202 yards, two TDs and one interception.
Dallas stays home next Monday, taking on the Houston Texans.
