Eagles-Cowboys Stock Market: Zack Attack, Takeaways and Taking Care Of Business

The Eagles were given an easy draw in North Texas Saturday and took advantage.

Nov 10, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) throws a touchdown pass against the Dallas Cowboys in the third quarter at AT&T Stadium. / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

Sometimes fate deals you a nice hand and the Eagles used one on Sunday to emphatically halt a six-year losing streak at AT&T Stadium.

A sloppy start was replaced by a workmanlike efficiency in a 34-6 rout of the undermanned Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia's fifth straight win to improve to 7-2 on the season.

Playing without quarterback Dak Prescott, the Cowboys managed just 146 total yards on 56 offensive plays, a dismal 2.6 yards per clip. Backup Cooper Rush threw for just 45 yards on 23 attempts, an almost inconceivable 1.96 yards per attempt.

The dominating win, coupled with a 28-27 Washington loss to Pittsburgh, lifted the Eagles into first place in the NFC East, four days ahead of a Thursday night matchup with the 7-3 Commanders.

THE BULLS

RELENTLESS QB - Jalen Hurts' four-game, turnover-less streak was ended and the quarterback was having some trouble pulling the trigger early but rebounded to put together a solid performance, completing 14-of-20 passes for 202 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception.

Hurts added 56 more yards on the ground with two additional touchdowns. Sometimes it's not pretty with Hurts but he's typically an all-day sucker, albeit with a respite Sunday when Kenny Pickett came on to finish the blowout.

ZACK ATTACK - Linebacker Zack Baun has been quite the story for Philadelphia this season. That continued against Dallas with a team-high eight tackles -- one for loee -- , two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery. When you factor in the money -- one year at $1.6 million -- Baun is the best free agent signing in football through 10 weeks.

"He's just a really good football player.," head coach Nick Sirianni said. "The best compliment I can give is, 'Man, that guy's a really good football player.' And that happens when you're tough, you're physical, detailed. And he's playing really fundamentally sound and he's getting better every time he's on the field."

TURNOVER PARTY - The Eagles generated five turnovers against the hapless Cowboys, a number that included four fumble recoveries -- one each by Baun, Cooper DeJean, Milton Williams, and Reed Blankenship -- plus an interception by C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

The spike in takeaways will surely have the Eagles' defenders needing to come up with new celebration techniques on a short week.

HUFF AND STUFF - A wrist injury suffered in pre-game warmups last week has played a part in the snap reduction for Bryce Huff, who seems to have fallen behind Nolan Smith in the rotation.

Now rookie third-round pick Jalyx Hunt, who played several first-half snaps seems to be chipping away at more playing time. A third-quarter strip sack by Huff on Rush could be the spark the $51 million edge rusher needs to reboot.

SPECIAL TEAMS STANDOUTS - Rookies Will Shipley and Cooper DeJean provided juice in the return game, the former averaging 32 yards on two kickoff returns, and the latter producing a 31-yard punt return. The negative was that Cowboys KR KaVontae Turpin did have a 47-yard kickoff return, the most explosive play for Dallas by far.

All in all, though, it was a plus performance by Michael Clay's third phase.

THE BEARS

SLOPPY FIRST HALF - Things could have been worse for the Cowboys if not for a red-zone interception by Jalen Hurts in which the playmaker Trevon Diggs peeled off to undercut a pass to the returning Dallas Goedert, along with a Micah Parsons strip-sack of Hurts which gave the Cowboys a short field that helped bolster their pathetic offensive production from three to six points.

INTERNAL CLOCKWORK - Hurts held onto the football too long on too many occasions early, resulting in five first-half sacks. More on-time throws could make the Eagles' offense virtually unstoppable.

MORE NFL: Eagles Win 5th Straight, Demolish Cowboys TO Take Over First In NFC East