Eagles Stock Market: Opportunistic Defense Dooms Dallas

The Eagles were plus-3 in the turnover margin during a 26-17 win over the Cowboys that pushed them to 6-0 heading into their bye week

PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles moved to 6-0 for just the third time in their history by outlasting the Dallas Cowboys, 26-17, at Lincoln Financial Field on a Sunday night primetime stage.

What looked like it was going to be a laugher early after Philadelphia jumped out to a 20-0 lead, had some tense moments in the second half before the Eagles restored order on what is starting to become a trademark - a methodical, clock-draining drive in the fourth quarter.

Here's our Week 6 stock-market report.  

THE BULLS:

FOURTH DOWNS - Nick Sirianni went all Brandon Staley on the Cowboys during the first Eagles' scoring drive, putting incredible pressure on what had been one of the league's best defenses by forcing them to play all four downs.

First Philadelphia converted on a 4th-and-3 from the Dallas 38 with a nice Shane Steichen play call that got A.J. Brown loose with plenty of room for an 11-yard gain.

On 4th-and-4 from the Cowboys' 10-yard line, Sirianni skipped a chip-shot Jake Elliott field goal and didn't even have to run a play when Dante Fowler got antsy and jumped offside.

A play later Miles Sanders walked in from five yards out.    

“Well I mean obviously the start of the game was in their favor," Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. "We obviously got behind."

SWARMING SECONDARY -  There was one undefeated team coming into this game but two unbeaten starting quarterbacks as Dallas backup Cooper Rush arrived in South Philadelphia after leading the Cowboys to four consecutive wins following Dak Prescott's Week 1 injury. 

That was one of the surprising stories of the season but Rush had his Cinderella moment when the clock struck midnight in the first half, finishing the first 30 minutes at 5-of-16 for 36 yards and two interceptions - to Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and Darius Slay - and a dismal 1.0 passer rating.

“I thought Cooper, obviously when you’re playing in a crowded stadium first time outdoors, all those things, you’re going to have more pressure in these types of games," McCarthy said. "I thought he did a good job hanging in there. Obviously the giveaways. ... Obviously you have to take care of the football. We’ll learn from it and be better.”

FOURTH QUARTER RUNNING GAME - Another week, another methodical, clock-draining drive in which everyone in the building understood Philadelphia was going to run it and the Dallas defense could do nothing about it.

Up 20-17 and teetering, the Eagles went 13 plays and 75 yards over 7:37 with the guts of the drive being runs until the final two pass plays, a big 22-yard gain from Jalen Hurts to A.J. Brown which set up a 7-yard TD throw to DeVonta Smith. 

Ten of the first 11 plays were runs that sapped the Cowboys despite Lane Johnson being out with a concussion and Landon Dickerson leaving during the drive for Sua Opeta.

"It was just kind of doing what we do," Hurts said. "... 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."

THE BEARS:

INJURIES - The Eagles suffered two injuries that really impacted the game. The first was RT Lane Johnson leaving right before the half with a concussion. Backup Jack Driscoll, who did a wonderful job replacing Jordan Mailata at LT over the past two weeks, just could not deal with Micah Parsons.

Also, Gardner-Johnson injured his left hand early in the third quarter and managed to return in the same frame but while he was out backup K'Von Wallace was exposed.

CGJ was able to return, though, and had another interception and could be in line to keep the Eagles' current five-game streak of having a player of the week alive.

SPECIAL TEAMS - This has been a recurring theme all season and the big miscue today was allowing a 63-yard kickoff return to KaVontae Turpin. The Eagles were up 20-0 before the return and the Cowboys began a  run of 17 consecutive points after it.

PASSING OFFENSE - The Eagles' passing offense wasn't spectacular with Jalen Hurts only putting up 155 yards. Of course, he did throw for two scores which had been a complaint coming in so there is a give-and-take with that nitpicking with a 6-0 team.

"The crazy thing about it that Jalen and I were just talking about is that we’re just ready for the next one," Brown said. "We’re trying to go 1-0 every week. That turnover is very fast. We just celebrated in here and now we’re already looking forward because we’re trying to get ahead.”

-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