By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys renewed one of the most historic rivalries in football. In this contest there was a lot on the line first place in the NFC East and potentially the number one seed in the NFC. Philly was able to do just enough to stay ahead of Dallas thanks to a third quarter touchdown by AJ Brown and a late showing by Philly’s front seven. The Eagles were able to beat Dallas 28-23 and are now eight-and-one heading into their bye week.

The Eagles started the game off hot as they were able to use two fourth down conversions and some explosive plays to keep their opening drive alive. This drive ended with a Kenneth Gainwell touchdown run to put Dallas on their heels early. Throughout this game the Eagles did just enough on the offensive end to keep this game close and hold on until their defense finally showed up. At times Jalen Hurts was feasting on Dallas’ bad defensive plays he connected with his receivers on multiple drives. One play he hit DeVonta Smith on a beautiful deep ball to recapture the lead from Dallas and the Eagles did not look back after that. He completed 17/23 passes, for 207-yards, completed two touchdown passes, and rushed for one touchdown as well. Philly’s offense has been slowly getting back on track after that lackluster showing against the Jets a few weeks ago. Brian Johnson deserves a lot of credit for righting the ship and getting it together. They have been scoring 28-plus points for the past few games and if they can execute better, they should get back to scoring 30-plus points and being one of the most dominant offenses in the NFL.

Dallas played like a team that wanted to prove they belonged in the upper echelon of the NFC with the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Francisco 49ers. Dak Prescott made the Eagles secondary pay for every window they left open to complete a pass. He completed 29/44 passes, for 374-yards, and completed three touchdown passes. However, when the pressure was on Dallas just could not execute tonight, they had four chances to take control of this game and they blew all of them. Whether it was Dak Prescott stepping out of balance on a crucial two-point conversion, a Cowboys receiver having his knee down on another crucial touchdown play that would have given the Cowboys the lead in this game,  Prescott getting sacked by Josh Sweat which effectively ended this game, and the Eagles tackling CeeDee Lamb late in the game to end a threatening late-game Dallas drive. If the Cowboys end up in a wildcard spot instead of a top three seed in the NFC, they will look back on this game as the one that got away. They had plenty of opportunities but just could not execute them to put away a conference foe and stake their claim to being a top team in the NFC.

The Eagles will now head into their bye week with a two and a half game lead in the NFC East and sole possession of the number one seed and the best record in the NFL. They will need to get healthy over this week as they suffered a number of key injuries in this game. Additionally, they will need to watch the tape and find the best plays that work in the red zone, which is still a big weakness of this offense that was a strength last year. They will need to get these things together as they enter a tough stretch of their schedule that sees them face the Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, and San Francisco 49ers in the next few weeks.