Eagles Prove it Again - They are the 'Toughest the Longest'

The theme of the Eagles season is wearing down teams late, and they did it again in decking Dallas

PHILADELPHIA - Jordan Mailata, the Eagles’ affable and imposing left tackle from the newly accredited “Jeff Stoutland University,” described the Eagles' 26-17 win over division-rival Dallas with four simple words: “it’s who’s toughest longest.”

For the third time during the third 6-0 start in franchise history, Philadelphia put together a signature, fourth-quarter drive to seal the deal against the Cowboys, a 13-play, 75-yard march that took half of the final frame (7:37 to be exact) and demoralized a Dallas team that had closed a 20-0 deficit to 20-17 before order was restored.

Similar drives in Week 1 at Detroit and Week 5 at Arizona were not carbon copies but had the same thematic effect on the opposition.

The Eagles drained the clock with a perfectly executed four-minute offense against the Lions and left the Cardinals in desperation with little time and no timeouts before finally perfecting the art of the finisher against Dallas by running it down the Cowboys’ throats before finishing the TD drive with Jalen Hurts’ throws to A.J. Brown for 22 yards and DeVonta Smith for a 7-yard touchdown.

“You lean on your best guys in those situations, and A.J. made a big play on a short route and he broke the tackle for a big play that set us up for the score,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said, “but what was really sweet about it was we got to lean on five guys.

"We got to lean on the offensive line in that scenario. It's kind of what happened last week in Arizona. That long drive, we leaned on that offensive line.”

Ten of the first 11 plays on the drive were runs until the Cowboys' defense was on its heels and at Hurts’ mercy.

“It's nice that we're able to make some plays in the passing game and in the run game and be balanced, but that right there, we leaned on the guys we knew could make a play and they consistently made a play up front,” said Sirianni. “Miles [Sanders] did a great job running it. Kenny [Gainwell] did a great job running it in that one. I think [RB] Boston [Scott] had a good run in that drive as well.

“You lean on what your strength is in that scenario to get you out of ruts. I've been taught that from the very beginning. You're in a rut, get it to your playmakers. Our playmaker in that scenario was our offensive line.”

Hurts was actually upset in Arizona because he was unable to finish a 17-play, 70-yard drive that took 7:58 off the clock and left Kyler Murray and the Cards in panic mode, something that resulted in the QB spiking the ball on third-and-one and forcing Matt Ammendola to push a 43-yard field goal that would have tied the game to the right in the waning seconds.

“I think my mentality in those types of situations, kind of like last week, I know I expressed my frustration given the situation we were in. Kind of not taking advantage of a situation we controlled,” Hurts told SI Eagles Today. “I felt like again today that kind of came up. We just want to continue to grow from that.

“Given the opportunity to make plays and keep the ball in our hands at the end of the game like that. We want to take advantage of that. I want to take advantage of that. I put that on me. I just want to, you know, kind of impose your will on them at the end of the game like that.”

All-Pro center Jason Kelce connected the process of the drives even if the results varied from running out the clock to a big field goal and finally a TD drive.

“We go into those drives knowing if we can control the line of scrimmage, this is ideal,” he said. “We still want to score, but we’d like to take some time off the clock having the lead. You know going into it that you’re going to get an opportunity to run the ball.”

Mailata, playing through a painful shoulder injury with limited mobility, felt the strain so the big Aussie understood what was going on with the other side.

“It was 13 plays? Oh my goodness,” Mailata smiled. “II was just like next play, next play. I felt my legs getting heavier, heavier.”

The objective was clear, though.

“Get them tired, pound the ball.”

In the NFL, it’s who’s toughest longest and so far in 2022, that answer has been the Eagles.

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen