PHILADELPHIA – That's more like it.
Just what it should have been.
Simply what it needed to be.
Cowboys 38, Eagles 21.
Sure, the Cowboys briefly but loudly celebrated this victory in the locker room here late Monday night at The Linc. That's what you do in the NFL when finishing with more points than your opponent, especially on their home grounds.
But at some point when running off the field victoriously, having chased those at times obnoxious Eagles fans to an early exit, there might have been a sigh of relief, too. After a job well done, the Cowboys, after consecutive losses, were able to stay on the tails of the NFC East-leading New York Giants, who had already posted their Week 7 victory on Sunday over Houston to move their record to 4-2-1, including that season-opening 28-20 victory over the Cowboys.
This win moves the Cowboys to 3-4, alone in second place in the East, but just one win behind the Giants, and a half-game more in the loss column. Why, had the Cowboys lost this game in Cheesesteak Land, not only would the negative fur begun flying higher, but at 2-5, they would have fallen into third place in the division, and no one wants to be three games under .500 after the first seven. So instead the Eagles drop their fifth straight, falling to the unenviable 2-5.
Whoo, them Cowboys needed this, especially to at least pause the severe criticism already being heaped upon Brian Schottenheimer. His postgame remarks were rightfully terse, knowing there were those local media members already questioning his head coaching ability. Yet the win, more importantly, also kept this team in the highly attainable division title chase with still 10 games to play.
"Great to win the game, got to win division games," Schottenheimer said, never once a smile creasing his face, quite unlike him, usually so even-keeled. Then, when confronted with his less-than-enthusiastic answers, he said, "I'm great. Excited for our guys."
This game is more of what has been expected of the Cowboys offense, scoring an accustomed thirty-something, not showing up as they did after the past two games with just 16 points against Tampa Bay and but 13 the next game at Green Bay, by no coincidence, both losses.
They did this against what always is expected to be a stout Eagles defense, that side of the ball unaffected by an inexperienced quarterback (Tanner McKee) making just his fourth NFL start in his three-year NFL career, second this season, in place of Jalen Hurts, who is now out for the season, while also playing without their injured leading receiver (JaVonta Smith). All week long, the Cowboys heard about the fine reputation of defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.
Well, the Cowboys put up a balanced 416 yards of offense, a season-high 204 of those rushing and the other 212 passing, with Dak Prescott returning to expected form, throwing three touchdown passes, two to CeeDee Lamb and one to George Pickens. And as for those ripping the head coach for the lack of Pickens production, GP caught four passes for 57 yards, and a Pickens-esque 21-yard toe-tapping touchdown catch befuddling common sense.
For everyone and their brother criticizing the Cowboys' supposed neglect to run the football, in this one they never fell behind by 17 points or had to play catch-up. Why, they could stick to complementary offense, Javonte Williams running the ball 25 times for 155 yards, matching his career high and the first Cowboys running back with more than 150 yards rushing in a game since 2018 when Ezekiel Elliott went for 151 against, well, lookee here, the Eagles.
Oh, and Williams rammed in a touchdown from two yards out, his team-leading eighth of the season, which, just for the record, also ties him for first in the NFL after seven games.
If this were a "balance" beam competition, the Cowboys would have posted a 9.8, no matter what the Russian judge would have scored.
And how about this about-face for a defense that had me thinking in the first half, Come on, no way, not again, shaking my head in somewhat disbelief. On the Eagles' first three plays, McKee dumps a pass off to Saquon Barkley for 12 yards and a first down; then Barkley runs for 29 yards and a first down; and next McKee, in just his eighth NFL game, finds rookie Makai Lemons for 21 more yards and a first. Good gosh, three plays, 62 yards, the Eagles on their way to a four-play, 75-yard drive for a touchdown to wipe away that brief Cowboys 3-0 lead in just 2 minutes, 1 second. That marked the Eagles' first opening-drive touchdown of the season.
Shades of the past two weeks.
Want further oh, no, not again? The next time the Eagles touched the ball, now trailing 10-7, they go 13 plays, 76 yards, eating up 7:07 to take a 14-10 lead. And by the time the Eagles' first possession of the third quarter had been completed, they had wiped out a 20-14 Cowboys halftime lead, having driven this time – with a backup quarterback, remember – 84 yards in a seemingly preposterous 17-play drive, milking the first 9:19 out of the third quarter for a 21-20 lead.
By then, the Eagles had scored 21 points – emphasizing again with a backup QB and no Smith at wideout – gained 238 yards, 17 first downs, off nine third-down conversions, with four of those 17 thanks to Cowboys penalties. And they now had a 22:06 time of possession with one and a half quarters still to play.
Dang, if it were not the same deal, next week.
But maybe thanks to this indomitable Cowboys offense we've come to expect, maybe, just maybe, the defensive worm then began to turn. Stars began to emerge.
The Eagles would score nary a point the rest of the way. The Cowboys would deliver their only two sacks of the game, giving this defense now eight in the past four games, at least encouraging. This defense would record two of their three QB hits, four of their five TFLs.
And as if the 10th Wonder of the World, grabbed an interception of all things, the second in two games after not a one in the first five.
Hello, DeMarvion Overshown, a severe hamstring strain in the season opener sidelining him the past five games. Well, welcome back.
DeMo ends a Philly drive with a beauty of an interception, diving in front of Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert in man coverage, just his second interception of his now fourth-year NFL career.
Not only that, playing mostly on passing downs and on a pitch count, Overshown finished with six tackles in the second half to tie for the team lead, had a tackle for a loss and two pass breakups to go with his interception. And on top of all that, defensive coordinator Christian Parker started sending DeMo on blitzes from his linebacker position, utilizing his athletic ability.
And as if a tag-team performance, Quinnen Williams made his presence known, finishing with four tackles, one sack, three TFLs and a QB hit.
All totaled in the second half, the Cowboys gave up seven points and came up with four fourth-quarter stops, including one on a fourth-downer to set up the Cowboys' final, game-sealing touchdown when needing to cover just 16 yards. Finally, some complementary football.
Great, a much-needed win.
But here goes yet another blip on this unreasonable first-eight-week schedule, this time the NFL scheduling the Cowboys to play a Monday night game on the East Coast, meaning a 3:30 a.m. arrival at DFW, and right, it's already Tuesday. And now they must play the Arizona Cardinals at noon Sunday in a short week, yet another one likely without a padded practice and hard-pressed to get in two full practices while playing two games in seven days. They don't even get the benefit of starting the second game like three hours later, but at least it's at AT&T.
That is why, from the head coach to the quarterback to the four-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle, already before the Cowboys left The Linc, it was on to the Cardinals. But at least with a season-high 38 points in tow, a shutout of a fourth quarter, that much-needed third win under their belt and another chance for their first back-to-back wins of the season, and this one, too, another "need" to accomplish.
Oh, and with a bit of a defiant attitude, Dak fully understood where his head coach's mood was coming from.
"Definitely a hungry, pissed-off version of Schotty," Dak deduced. "It's not like he's naive. It's not like he hadn't heard some noise about him, whether it's the call in the games or whatever doubt that's been out there, but we've got his back. He knows that. He's a guy that takes a lot of pride in his job, a lot of pride in his team.
"Everybody handles everything different, so I don't blame him to an extent. We've got his back. More importantly, it's just about us going out there and executing on Sundays."
Good on him, good on them.
