Eagles Postgame Report: Birds Beat Down Cowboys

The talk all week was about the Eagles QB. As it turned out, Hurts remained concussed due to a dirty hit and the Eagles rolled out Kenny Pickett, the QB who grew up an Eagles fan and came in with the chance to secure the division in a game against the Cowboys.

Instead, it was the defense that started off the game in the spotlight with a 70-yard pick six by CJ Gardner-Johnson. Unfortunately, they couldn’t keep that going as they then allowed a six-minute, 70 yard touchdown drive that tied the game back up. 

That’s when the Eagles came out for a three-and-out, that was followed by three more punts in a row before the Eagles offense finally got moving before a huge tip and grab by Grant Calcaterra and a touchdown reception by DeVonta Smith as he broke wide-open deep. The 81-yard drive put the Birds back in the driver’s seat.

The defense took notice and forced a fumble that they recovered to get the offense the ball back again. They weren’t as effective, but two tush pushes on fourth down helped to keep the team rolling most of the way before two incompletions in a row forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal attempt from the 13-yard line, but it did put the team two scores up. In a last desperate attempt to score before the half, the Cowboys threw deep and were easily picked off on an errant throw that became a 36-second, 65-yard touchdown drive to end the half.

Entering the back half of the game, the Eagles used almost 7 minutes of clock keeping the ball on the ground most of the time while moving the chains. Pickett did well for a scramble drill  where he hit AJ Brown in the back of the endzone for a touchdown, but it was called back for a Landon Dickerson hold and Pickett was shaken up. McKee came in to hand the ball off before the Eagles settled for a field goal.

With McKee at center, the Eagles began another drive that almost ended with a beautiful one-handed catch in the endzone by Brown, but his second foot couldn’t find the ground quick enough as he was being pushed out of bounds. No matter, McKee went right back to him for a successful completion, going 2/3 on his first NFL drive and extending the lead more while burning almost 4 minutes of clock.

The defense started getting gashed, but they turned even that drive around when Nolan Smith forced another fumble and Cooper DeJean jumped into the pile to recover it, leaving the Cowboys shutout for two full quarters and getting the ball back. McKee handed off to Barkley until the back broke 2,000 yards rushing on the season before Barkley came out of the drive and McKee threw a dart for another 25-yard touchdown strike to DeVonta Smith to basically put the game away for good early in the fourth quarter.

The Eagles put in their backups and forced the Cowboys to settle for a 61-yard field goal, which was missed. With Barkley benched for the day, Ty Davis-Price could not keep the chains moving and the Eagles quickly punted the ball back before the final plays to waste away the clock.

The Eagles officially secure the division and, at worst. the second seed in the playoffs.

Offensive MVP: DeVonta Smith

Smith bounced back from that drop last week and was effective throughout this game – both when the run game was working and when it wasn’t in the beginning of the game. He had two touchdowns and six receptions on seven targets. The Eagles had 120 yards on passes to him throughout the game. While Barkley took over in the third quarter particularly, Smith again finished that drive when Saquon was brought to the bench.

Defensive MVP: CJ Gardner-Johnson

There were so many splash plays in this game, but Gardner-Johnson gets credited for two of the turnovers. In particular, his 70-yard return for a touchdown to tear what appeared to be easy points away from the Cowboys on their initial drive proved to be a bit of a tone-setter that made all the difference this team needed.

Game Notes

• Can’t overstate how incredible an accomplishment it is for Saquon to have crossed 2,000 yards rushing in the third quarter of this game. He needs 101 rushing yards against his former team next week to set an NFL rushing record.
• Saquon got the ball 5-10 yards behind the line way too much in this game (particularly in the first half), leading to quite a few plays for loss. No idea why they suddenly decided to have him try to avoid blockers well behind the line of scrimmage to try and make plays working.
• Oren Burks was playing in place of Nakobe Dean and he wasn’t great, but he did a nice job for someone with essentially no actual snaps of consequence in the defense, including forcing the fumble in the second quarter that helped to open up the first multi-score lead of the game.
• Nolan Smith could have had perhaps the easiest interception of his entire career with a bat right into his chest and both hands with no one else looking for the ball but he was in such shock he just let the ball roll out of his grasp.
• CJGJ will be credited with two first half interceptions, but there was a bit of friendly fire there as Quinyon Mitchell was in better position to make the second interception and return before CJGJ took it going the opposite way of the return. Worth noting that Mitchell’s first career interception was easily lined up early in the year but was broken up by CJGJ blasting him for no apparent reason.
• AJ Brown heaved McKee’s first touchdown ball into the stands, but he was able to secure a trade for it to get it back after realizing it was a milestone ball for McKee.
• Dallas isn’t a great test, but both Pickett and McKee proved to be highly effective in their play today – easily quality backup play at the worst.
• Frankly, Pickett looked a lot better this week than he did last and he seemed to play a whole different game. It’s almost like McKee should be the backup who comes in for games (because he seemed more ready as needed) but Pickett might be a better option with the reps at practice to prepare rather than the sluggishness we saw from him last week.
• At the end of the game, Sydney Brown was ejected for his part in a scrum. The Cowboys had two of their own players ejected for instigating and continuing the scrum, as well.
• This was just a pleasant day to be an Eagles fan as even the third-string Eagles quarterback just tore up the team from Dallas.

Injury Notes

• Mekhi Becton was slow to get up in the second quarter after Kenny Pickett rolled into the back of his legs. He was pulled off the field by the training staff and replaced by Tyler Steen. He did return.
• Kenny Pickett was removed from the game on the first drive of the third quarter as he took a big hit for a touchdown that got called back for a penalty. He was replaced by Tanner McKee. While he didn’t return to the game, he returned to the sideline. There was no reason to put him in at that point anyway, so it’s unclear how severe the injury was.
• Gardner-Johnson was shaken up after his feet got tangled with Jalyx Hunt’s and he left the game. Again, it would not have made sense for him to return even if he was healthy.

Dallas Cowboys @ Philadelphia Eagles – December 29, 2024