USA Today
Eagles Survive, Move to 5-0 with 20-17 Win over the Cardinals
Staying unbeaten and atop the NFC East was a struggle for the Eagles on Sunday.
It wasn’t until Matt Ammendola, who grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, hooked a potential game-tying field from 43 yards wide right that the Eagles could emerge with a 20-17 victory against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
The winning points came from rookie kicker Cameron Dicker, who booted a 23-yard field goal with 1:45 to play that accounted for the margin of victory.
The win moved the Eagles to 5-0 and kept them one game clear of the 4-1 New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys, who will visit Lincoln Financial Field in a primetime Sunday night showdown.
The Eagles are 5-0 for just the third time in their history. They also won for the first time at State Farm Stadium. They had been 0-4 since it opened in 2006.
It was also the first time Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury lost to an NFC East team after six wins dating back to 2019.
Arizona (2-3) tied the game at 17-17 with 9:43 to play on an 11-yard TD run from Eno Benjamin, completing a comeback from a 14-0 first-half deficit.
The Eagles, though, turned to the run game.
It had been dormant through three quarters, with just 84 yards to that point.
In the fourth, though, they leaned on it. Heavily.
They ran eight straight times after taking over their 25.
They ran it 12 times on an incredible march that ran 17 plays, covered 75 yards, and chewed up 7 minutes, 58 seconds of the clock before Dicker’s kick that proved to be the game-winner.
"Finally got the run game going," said center Jason Kelce, who was evaluated for a concussion but returned only to suffer a low ankle sprain.
Kelce had the ankle taped and returned but said he would have an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the injury.
"It took us three-and-a-half quarters (to get the run game going)," he said. "We got some really conducive looks and the backs ran it well. We're kicking ourselves for not being able to do that all game, obviously, but we’ve shown these past few weeks we can run the ball and that’s a good trait. Wish we could've finished with a touchdown, but that’s the way it goes sometimes."
The league’s second-ranked rushing team overcame injuries on the offensive line.
Already without left tackle Jordan Mailata, who was ruled out on Saturday with a shoulder injury, left guard Landon Dickerson was in and out as he dealt with a lower left leg injury.
Still, the Eagles turned to the run when they had to have it.
They ended with 139 yards on 33 runs.
"We knew this was going to be a physical game," said head coach Nick Sirianni. "We knew we had a really physical team. We know our identity is to be physical. When we needed to (be physical) the most and we were.
"...our job as coaches is to lean on our best players and we jumped on our offensive line’s back and rode them down the field. It was pretty special. "
Amidst the running on that final drive, there was a huge 16-yard completion to tight end Dallas Goedert on a third-and-11 throw.
"We were just trying to put us in the best position to make a play," said Hurts. "Obviously, in a crucial part of the game, he came up big. They were showing us a lot of different looks up front.
"They played a really good football game, but that was a moment in the game, a very pivotal moment in the game, third-and-long, and Dallas made a play."
Hurts said he checked out of play when he saw the Cardinals were going to blitz.
"That’s pretty much what it was," he said. "You just try to play what you see out there. Sometimes, you think you see something and you don’t. Sometimes you have a really good grasp for it, and you see it.
"And that was a crucial moment in the game where the offensive unit was on the same page on that play, and we took advantage of the opportunity. He made a big-time play and effort after catching the ball."
Goedert finished with eight catches for 95 yards. Former Eagles TE Zach Ertz had six catches for 48 yards, but not near the impact Goedert had on the game.
DeVonta Smith had a career-high in catches with 10 but took a pounding on many of them He had 87 yards. After three catches for 32 yards on the first drive, A.J. Brown did not have another catch the rest of the game.
Hurts completed 26 of 36 throws for 239 yards and a passer rating of 89.9.
The QB, though, pitched in 15 carries for 61 yards, That was just three more yards than Miles Sanders had (58 yards) on his 15 runs.
Hurts scored both the Eagles’ touchdowns, both on 1-yard surges.
A year after running for 10 TDs, Hurts already has six, which is tied for the most by an Eagles player after five games since Tom Sullivan did it in 1974.
Cardinals QB Kyler Murray made a huge gaffe on their final drive. He slid a yard short of a first down and on third-and-one, he spiked the ball. That error forced Kingsbury to send Ammendola onto the field.
And Ammendola missed.
"Obviously, it sucks," said Ammendola, who grew up in the Philly suburbs, playing at North Penn High School. "It’s a bad feeling but you just have to keep pushing. Got to bounce back through adversity. It is what it is.”
What it is for the Eagles is 5-0.
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.
