Eagles Move to 6-0, Beat Cowboys 26-17

The defense intercepted Cooper Rush three times and ended Dallas' four-game winning streak

PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles' first-half lead was all but gone.

Only three points separated the Dallas Cowboys from tying the game early in the fourth quarter.

Then the offense roared to life and the defense followed suit.

The result was a 26-17 win in a primetime Sunday night game in the NFC East and completed a weekend for the ages in Philadelphia, with the Phillies finishing off the Atlanta Braves to advance to the National League Championship Series and the Eagles moving to 6-0.

Lincoln Financial Field was rocking as the Eagles jumped to a 20-3 lead at halftime.

"I don't know if it was the Phillies game or the Dallas rivalry, but we knew we were coming into a pretty awesome atmosphere and Philly did not disappoint, that's for sure," said center Jason Kelce, who made his 128th straight start. 

“The crowd was crazy," said WR A.J. Brown, who had a 15-yard TD catch and made five receptions for 67 yards. 

"I know (Dallas) had a hard time because we had all of the momentum, especially in the first half. Hats off to the fans for showing up and showing out, because we definitely feed off of their energy.”

Dallas was thoroughly frustrated and lost its composure, picking up two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and one personal foul penalty. It committed 10 penalties in all for 72 yards to the Eagles' two for 10.

Philly's ended the Cowboys' four-game winning streak and left them at 4-2 and in third place in the division behind the Giants, who improved to 5-1 with a win over the Baltimore Ravens.

The Eagles intercepted Cooper Rush three times, with Chauncey-Gardner Johnson getting two of them and Darius Slay the other.

Rush hadn’t been intercepted in his fours starts this season. Nor had he lost a game as the Cowboys’ quarterback, winning all four games this year and one last year.

The Eagles now have nine interceptions this season with Slay and Gardner-Johnson leading the pack with three each.

"They’re a team that never played from behind," said Slay. "They’d been winning consistently, running the ball, controlling the clock. We just knew that if we get up, we’d see how they do playing from behind."

Philadelphia leads the NFL with a plus-12 in the takeaway/giveaway category after getting three more and not giving one up.

Gardner-Johnson’s second pick came after the Eagles offense had moved 75 yards in 13 plays, using 7:37 of clock to open up their lead to 26-17. Ten of the plays were runs. Two of the passes were huge.

The drive was huge in a big moment, but that is something the Eagles have done in a few of their wins now - grind out yards on the ground in big moment.

Miles Sanders had four carries for 19 yards on the drive and Kenny Gainwell two runs fo 11 yards.

Sanders finished with 71 yards on 18 carries to lead a ground game that put up 136 yards on 39 runs. Gainwell added 25 on five runs.

"It nice knowing they rely on the O-line to make critical plays in critical moments, and one of them was that, going to a four-minute mode really to really run down the clock," said left tackle Jordan Mailata, who played with a right shoulder injury that required him to wear a sleeve and a cuff to restrict his range of motion.

"When it comes late like that, everybody knows it's a have-to-have-it situation."

The Eagles lost right tackle Lane Johnson to a concussion late in the first half and did not return, forcing Jack Driscoll to step in for Johnson after two weeks of filling in for Mailata on the right side.

There were two huge pass plays sprinkled in during the drive.

The first was a Jalen Hurts 22-yard completion to  A.J. Brown that brought the Eagles to the 7-yard line. On the next play, Hurts hit DeVonta Smith for a 7-yard TD.

"I just knew I had to beat Micah (Parsons) on the edge," said Brown. "If he didn’t pick me up, then I had to outrun everybody else."

Mission accomplished.

Dallas had cut the Eagles' 20-3 halftime lead to 20-17 with two touchdowns in the second half, a 14-yard TD run from Ezekiel Elliott, and a 7-yard TD catch by rookie tight end Jake Ferguson with 14:39 to play in the final quarter.

On the Cowboys’ next possession after the Eagles boosted their advantage to 26-17, Gardner-Johnson made his second pick.

The safety, acquired on Aug. 31 in a trade with the New Orleans Saints, had left the game with a hand injury early in the second half. He was announced as questionable to return, but return he did.

CGJ didn't want to talk about the injury afterward.

"I’m good," he said. "I play football. Soldier mentality. ... I caught a pick, that’s all that matters."

His interception on a deep try to CeeDee Lamb was a sight to behold, with him having to dive to make the grab. Bad hand and all, he scooped it off the turf and returned it 15 yards.

The throw was errant due to Brandon Graham, who was in Rush’s face and delivered a wallop as the QB released it.

“It felt good because we were saying to just keep coming," said Graham. "You can see that the ball was coming out but a lot of guys were getting to him. But it was just one of those games that was going to be a gritty game. 

"We knew that those guys were going to fight to the end just like we were going to fight to the end. We needed a big play and I’m just happy to be able to be out there and still be able to make plays for the team and I’m just enjoying the moment. We definitely fought hard in this game."

The Eagles offense did nothing with the third turnover of the game, though, and punted back to the Cowboys, who picked up a few first downs before a 59-yard field goal with 1:08 went wide right.

Hurts threw for 155 yards and two touchdowns.

The second quarter continues to be the money quarter for the Eagles. They put up 20 and now have outscored opponents 112-27 in the quarter.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.