Eagles Take Control of NFC East, Deck Cowboys, 17-9

PHILADELPHIA - It was a game they had to win, and they did.

The Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys, 17-9, and will now head to New York next Sunday with a chance to wrap up the NFC East title and a third straight trip to the postseason.

The game against the Giants has been moved from 1 p.m. to 4:25 ET.

It was the Eagles’ third straight win, which is the first time they have won three in a row this season, and the victory snapped a four-game losing streak to the Cowboys that stretched back to November of 2017.

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The Cowboys (7-8) came into Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday looking for a win to clinch their second straight NFC East title. The Eagles (8-7) were having none of it. Nor was the sold-out crowd, which was loud all game long.

“We just beat a really good football team,” said defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, who stepped up his game to the point where three tackles and a quarterback hit don’t begin to tell the story of the game he played.

“They came out on fire. The fans played a big role. They stayed in it the whole game, from start to finish. I think that played a big factor in it.”

It helped that the Eagles raced to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, getting a 36-yard field goal from Jake Elliott and a six-yard touchdown from Carson Wentz to Dallas Goedert.

The TD extended Wentz’s streak of touchdown passes to 18 straight games, which is the longest active streak in the NFL.

It was also the fifth touchdown catch by Goedert, which is one more than he had as a rookie last season.

Goedert ended with career-highs in catches, with nine, and yards, with 91. His previous best in receptions was seven, which he had done twice, and his highest yards in a game had been 73 on Sept. 23, 2018.

“That was the read, look front side quick and come back to Dallas,” said Wentz of the touchdown throw.

“Dallas played big. When you have a body like he does that can jump out of the building like he can, I just have to put it up in a tall spot for him to go get it over those guys and he made a great play.”

Greg Ward also reached a career-high in yards, finishing with 71 on four catches, including a big 38-yard grab that put the Eagles on Dallas’ 19-yard line.

Five plays later, Miles Sanders rushed in from a yard out with six seconds left in the third quarter that gave Philly a 17-6 lead. It was Sanders’ sixth TD of the season, three of which have come on the ground.

The rookie running back had another strong game, finishing with 79 yards rushing on 20 carries, including a 38-yard gallop in the closing seconds that allowed the Eagles to run out the clock. Sanders slid down at the Cowboy’s 20 rather than try to score. He added 77 yards receiving on five catches.

It was the defense, though, that may have played its best game of the season.

It held the Cowboys without a touchdown and without a first down in the first quarter.

The defense bottled up Ezekiel Elliott, a pain for the Eagles’ for the past two seasons and a big reason why the Cowboys had won four in a row over Philly.

Elliott mustered just 47 yards on 13 carries. He had been 5-0 against the Eagles in his career, with four games over 100 yards rushing.

Without Elliott, quarterback Dak Prescott, who is battling an AC joint sprain, couldn’t make enough plays. He ended 25-for-44 passing with 265 yards.

Cox forced a critical forced fumble on Dallas’ first possession of the second half after the Cowboys had reached the Eagles’ 24-yard line. Cox stripped the ball away from rookie Tony Pollard and Malcolm Jenkins recovered it.

The officiating crew, led by Tony Corrente, never saw it. Head coach Doug Pederson challenged the play and won, giving the Eagles the ball at their own 26.

“It was big,” Jenkins said. “They had drove down the field a little bit. They probably would’ve had a chance to kick three right there and make the game more manageable. But to be able to get that stop gave us a little more breathing room and gave our offense the opportunity to stay patient.”

Perhaps the biggest play of the game was tuned in by Sidney Jones, who broke up a fourth-down pass into the end zone to Michael Gallup with 1:15 to play and the Cowboys looking for a touchdown and a two-point conversion to send the game into overtime.. The booth buzzed down to review the play for pass interference, but the call stood.

“I wasn’t even aware of the review until probably seconds before they said it stands,” Jones said. “I didn’t think anything of it. I knew I was in good position and made a great play.”