PHILLY FLOP: Eagles soar past Cowboys

Published 3:48 pm Sunday, December 29, 2024

Tribune News Service

PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles didn’t have Jalen Hurts Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field, but that didn’t stop them from stomping the rival Dallas Cowboys, 41-7, and securing their 11th NFC East championship in the 21st century.

For that, they can thank Kenny Pickett, the quarterback who grew up in Monmouth County a fan of the Eagles before becoming a star at Ocean Township High School and the University of Pittsburgh.

And they can thank a defense that has suddenly become a takeaway machine with nine of them in the last two games. They had four against the Cowboys for the second time this season, including two interceptions by C.J. Gardner-Johnson that led to 14 points.

Pickett, making his first start with the Eagles after starting 24 games with the Pittsburgh Steelers during the first two years of his career, delivered exactly what you’d want from a backup quarterback.

Playing with extra padding to protect the ribs he injured in the fourth quarter against the Commanders, Pickett completed 9 of 14 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown in the first 30 minutes. The half ended with Pickett scoring on a quarterback shove into the end zone that gave the Eagles a 24-7 lead at the half.

Unfortunately for Pickett, he was a spectator for most of the second half after he re-injured his ribs on a hit from Chauncey Gholston that was flagged for a penalty. He initially stayed in the game, but eventually left after being hit again by Dallas’ Micah Parsons on a touchdown throw to A.J. Brown that was negated by a holding penalty on Lane Johnson.

The Eagles eventually settled for a field goal on that drive to go up 27-7. Tanner McKee came on in relief of Pickett and also looked sharp, completing 3 of his first 4 passes 54 yards and two touchdowns. He threw a 20-yard touchdown to Brown that made it 34-7 late in the third quarter and a 25-yard touchdown to Smith in the fourth quarter.

At that point, the only interesting aspect remaining in this game was how many rushing yards Saquon Barkley would end up with in pursuit of the NFL rushing record. Barkley finished with 31 carries for 167 yards to become just the ninth player in league history to surpass 2,000 yards. With 2,005 yards, he is 100 yards shy of Eric Dickerson’s 40-year-old NFL record of 2,105 yards.

The Eagles have one regular-season game remaining, but it’s possible they will be locked into the second seed when they play the Giants in Week 18 and Barkley will be rested.

The division title was the Eagles’ 13th in franchise history, which is tied for 10th in the NFL since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. The 11 division titles in this century are tied for the third most with the Chiefs. Only the Patriots (17) and Packers (12) have won more.

By winning the division for the second time in four years under head coach Nick Sirianni, the Eagles kept a quirky NFC East streak alive during which no team has won in consecutive years for 20 straight years. The Eagles were the last team to win back-to-back titles when they won four in a row from 2001 through 2004.

The Eagles, after an odd start to the game, took control of the game in the second quarter.

Dallas, which had won four of its previous five games, looked good on its first two drives with Cooper Rush at quarterback. They moved 35 yards on six plays on the opening drive of the game, but then Rush made an inexplicable throw to a tightly covered Brandin Cooks.

Chauncey Gardner-Johnson picked off the pass and returned it 69 yards for a touchdown. It was the first pick six of his career.

On their second possession, the Cowboys went 70 yards on 12 plays to even the score at 7-7. The touchdown came on a four-yard pass from Rush to Jalen Tolbert.

At that point, the Cowboys had eight first downs and 100 yards. The Eagles had zero first downs and the same amount of yards.

Things were about to change.

The Eagles reeled off 377 yards and the next 34 points to go over 40 points for the first time this season.

Pickett’s best work of the day came on the team’s third offensive series, Faced with a third-and-eight situation from the 46-yard line, the quarterback scrambled out of trouble and completed a 34-yard pass to tight end Grant Calcaterra at the Dallas 20-yard line.

Three plays later on a third-and-12 play, Pickett hit DeVonta Smith for a 22-yard touchdown.

The second of the Eagles’ four takeaways was a forced fumble by linebacker Oren Burks, who was playing for the injured Nakobe Dean. Jordan Davis made the recovery and it led to a 31-yard field goal by Jake Elliott.

Gardner-Johnson’s second interception of the day came with just 36 seconds left before halftime and Pickett led a four-play, 65-yard drive that started with a 15-yard run by Barkley and included a 49-yard completion to Smith. Pickett covered the final yard to make it 24-7 and the Linc became a division-clinching party with the Cowboys as an unwanted guest in the second half.