Eagles crush the hapless Cowboys, 34-6, to take over first place in the NFC East

ARLINGTON, Texas — For the first time in seven years, the Eagles are leaving AT&T Stadium with a victory.

A sloppy first half from both teams gave way to a lopsided affair with the Eagles forcing five turnovers and beating the Cowboys, 34-6. It’s the Eagles’ first win at Jerry World since the 2017 season and an important one, pushing them to 7-2 and into first place in the NFC East with a matchup against the second-place Washington Commanders looming on Thursday.

Here’s our instant analysis of the blowout win:

Zack Baun’s starting to make a habit of taking the ball away.

For a third week in a row, Baun forced a turnover and was one of the team’s most impactful defensive players once again. Jarring the ball loose from Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott on Sunday, Baun’s third takeaway of the season came in a pivotal moment with the Cowboys facing first-and-goal from the Eagles’ 6-yard line. Rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean recovered the loose ball in the back of the end zone, saving the Eagles at least three points with the game still close late in the second quarter.

“He’s on a streak right now of taking the football away and the ball being on his mind,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “The best compliment I can give a guy is, ‘Man, that guy is a really good football player.’ And that happens when you’re tough, you’re physical, detailed, and he’s playing really fundamentally sound and getting better each time he steps out onto the field.”

Baun, who also had a forced fumble against the Cincinnati Bengals and an interception against the Jacksonville Jaguars, doubled his tally for the evening with another punch out against tight end Jake Ferguson early in the fourth quarter.

Baun’s impact was apparent even outside of the takeaways. He finished the game with eight tackles, two pass breakups, a tackle for a loss and a fumble recovery as well.

“Just good, meat and potatoes linebacker play,” fellow ‘backer Nakobe Dean said. “Then you’ve got the plays that jump off the screen. Yeah, that’s it.”

Baun added, “I’m trying to be a complete linebacker. I’m just grinding at every little thing and putting the time in.”

Just like last week, Baun wasn’t the only Eagles defender to take the ball away. Milton Williams recovered the first fumble of the game, after Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush mishandled a shotgun snap and put the ball on the turf. In the right place at the right time, Williams set up the Eagles’ first scoring drive, falling on the ball at the Cowboys’ 17-yard line. Late in the third quarter, Eagles edge rusher Bryce Huff also got on the board with a strip-sack of his own.

Huff has seen his role significantly diminished in the last two games and wore a protective cast around his left hand due to the apparent wrist injury he suffered two weeks ago. Still, the Eagles used him in obvious rushing situations sparingly and, while it’s hardly the role the team envisioned when signing him in free agency, the edge rusher showed up with the game still somewhat in the balance on Sunday.

C.J. Gardner-Johnson also got his second interception of the season, pushing the Eagles’ takeaway tally to five for the evening. It should be a welcome sight for the group, which forced just four turnovers in the team’s first seven games.

“We knew when it came to our defense, what was lacking was takeaways,” Dean said. “We knew when we got one, it was going to get rolling, and that’s what it’s doing. We’re going to just keep the floodgates open. Ain’t no closing.”

Although the Eagles spent most of the second half protecting a lead and running the ball often, the process in which they acquired that lead featured some up-and-down play from Jalen Hurts.

Seemingly eager to take deep shots downfield against an aggressive Dallas secondary, Hurts often wound up holding the ball in the pocket even with pressure bearing down on him and limited options downfield. The result was an arrhythmic first half for Hurts, who was sacked five times, lost one fumble, and tossed an interception as well.

The second-quarter interception ended Hurts’ four-game streak without committing a turnover. Targeting Dallas Goedert running a vertical seam route in the red zone, Hurts left the ball behind the tight end and within the range of Dallas cornerback Trevon Diggs. It’s fair to acknowledge Diggs’ effort to make the play. The former All-Pro cornerback seemingly cheated off of his assignment of covering Grant Calcaterra running down the sideline, instead committing to getting underneath Goedert’s route.

Arguably the bigger blunder, Hurts’ second turnover came later in the quarter with Micah Parsons bearing down on him to force a fumble deep in Eagles territory. The Cowboys weren’t able to capitalize despite taking over at the Eagles’ 6-yard line and settled for a field goal, but the play resembled the shaky play the team got from Hurts earlier in the season before he found his footing after the bye week.

Still, Hurts’ response to close out the half set things right for the rest of the game.

With the Eagles taking over at their own 16-yard line with 1 minute, 43 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Hurts led the offense downfield with a few tight-window throws and a timely scramble. Hurts went 5-for-6 on the drive, including a 14-yard completion to an in-breaking A.J. Brown while facing pressure and an impressive touchdown pass to Goedert after making a pass rusher miss to spring free from the pocket. Hurts also pulled off a 24-yard scramble to get the Eagles just outside of the red zone.

Watching most of the lopsided second half from the sideline with Kenny Pickett running the show, Hurts finished 14-for-20 for 202 yards with two touchdowns and one interception while also rushing for 56 yards and two touchdowns.

“He did a lot of good things,” Sirianni said. “It didn’t start the way we wanted it to start, but there’s something to be said for guys who can rebound and play a really good game after things don’t go right early on. We’ll want some of those plays back, he’ll want some of those plays back, but great job handling adversity, putting his head down, continuing to work. ... He’s a winner, he knows how to win. He knows every game is not going to be perfect.”

On the other side of the ball, Rush had a forgettable first start in place of Dak Prescott.

The Cowboys’ offensive struggles were apparent even before Prescott left last weekend’s game with a hamstring injury, but Rush fared even worse against the Eagles defense and was benched late in the third quarter. Rush finished the game 13-for-23 for just 45 yards, lost a fumble, and was sacked once before getting replaced by Trey Lance.

Lance also had his share of miscues, including a third-quarter fumble when Huff beat Dallas backup tackle Terence Steele to the inside and punched the ball loose. Gardner-Johnson also got the better of Lance, picking off the third-year signal caller midway through the fourth quarter on a pass intended for Cowboys receiver Jalen Tolbert.