Running game gets Birds back on track in the second half
Another Eagles game, another costly injury, this time a concussion suffered by kicker Jake Elliott. But you know the script. It would not be a problem.
The Eagles simply turned to the run game in the second half, and the result was a runaway 37-9 victory over the spirited but less functional Dallas Cowboys Sunday night at AT&T Stadium.
The Eagles outscored the Cowboys, 30-0, in the second half. They rushed for 215 yards and two touchdowns, Jay Ajayi leading the way with 91 yards.
The Philly defense registered three interceptions of Dak Prescott, who had just four picks over his previous nine games.
Carson Wentz threw a couple of touchdown passes and linebacker Kamu GrugierHill performed like anything but the emergency kicker on some fairly deep kickoffs. The Eagles went 3-for-4 on twopoint conversions.
“I can’t recall being on a team with the amount of injuries and things we’ve had to overcome,” Doug Pederso said. “It’s the guys in the locker room. It’s just a tribute and a credit to the guys. They’ll do whatever it will take to win the game.”
The Eagles looked sharp early in the game. On their first possession Wentz completed five straight passes for 71 yards, including a 22-yarder to Kenjon Barner, to fuel an eight-play, 75yard scoring march. Barner capped it with a four-yard run giving the Birds a 7-3 lead.
But Wentz was incomplete on his next six attempts, the fourth of which landed him in the medical tent for evaluation as he was kneed in the head in the pocket by DeMarcus Lawrence. After the big start Wentz completed just one of his next seven attempts for seven yards.
Wentz didn’t seem right the rest of the half. The same could be said for his offensive skills players as Nelson Agholor, Torrey Smith and Alshon Jeffery all dropped passes.
Wentz was 7 of 18 for 80 yards and a 38.9 passer rating at the half.
The ineffectiveness prevented the Eagles from capitalizing on two Prescott interceptions. Rodney McLeod hauled in a tipped pass and Ronald Darby, making his first start since the opener, had the other.
Prescott was 10 of 19 for 69 yards and a 21.5 rating in the first half.
Worse than all of that, the Eagles lost Elliott to a concussion. That done, they came out in the second half and pounded the ball down the throats of the Cowboys, who had no answers.
Rookie running back Corey Clement got it started on the first possession of the second half with an eightyard run for his team-leading fourth rushing score of the season. Clement set up the score with an 11-yard run and caught the two-point conversion pass for a 15-9 Eagles lead.
Special teams standout Grugier-Hill, who grew up playing soccer, drilled the ensuing kickoff to the goal line.
Then it was Jay Ajayi busting a 71-yard run up the middle on a trap play featuring a stellar block by Hal Vaitai.
A few plays later Wentz’s 24th TD pass of the season went to Smith and the Eagles converted another twopointer, making them 5-for-5 on the season. That gave the Eagles a 23-9 lead.
Nigel Bradham would add a 37-yard fumble return for a score, and the Eagles’ magic number to clinch a playoff spot fell to three.
The Eagles still need seven wins to get the first or second seed, and a first-round bye.
It’s early. Not too early, however, for the schedule breakdown of the Eagles and their challengers in the battle for postseason seeding.
The two teams with the top records get a first-round bye:
■ Eagles (9-1): Bears (3-7) at Seahawks (6-3), at Rams (73), at Giants (2-8), Raiders (46), Cowboys (5-5). A division title and bye is theirs for the taking.
■ Saints (8-2): at Rams (73), Panthers (7-3), Jets (4-6), Falcons (5-4), at Bucs (4-6). The Saints are the first team in the Super Bowl era to win eight straight games after starting 0-2.
■ Vikings (8-2): at Falcons (5-4), at Panthers (73), Bengals (3-6), at Packers (5-5), Bears (3-7). Case Keenum and the Vikings crushed the Rams, 24-7, snapping their visitors’ four-game win streak.
■ Rams (7-3): at Cardinals (4-6), Eagles (9-1), at Seahawks (6-3), at Titans (64), 49ers (1-9). Three of their next four opponents are playoff caliber.
■ Panthers (7-3): at Saints (8-2), Vikings (8-2), Packers (55), Bucs (4-6), at Falcons (5-4). The Panthers have won three straight and should be fairly healthy after their bye.
■ Seahawks (6-3): Falcons (5-4), Eagles (9-1), at Jaguars (7-3), Rams (7-3), at Cowboys (5-5), Cardinals (4-6). Just how depleted are the Seahawks? Three-fourths of the Legion of Boom is on IR. A huge home game Monday night game with the Falcons.
■ Lions (6-4): Vikings (82), at Bucs (4-6), Bears (3-7), at Bengals (3-6), Packers (55). The Lions have won three straight.
■ Falcons (5-4): at Seahawks (6-3), Vikings 8-2), Saints (8-2), at Bucs (4-6), at Saints (8-2), Panthers (7-3). The Falcons have been fading since they blew that big lead in the Super Bowl.
Did you see … ■ Wentz go into the medical tent in the first quarter? The big guy was kneed in the helmet by DeMarcus Lawrence on the way to the ground after taking a shot in the pocket. Wentz didn’t miss a snap. After a rocky second quarter he was back on track in the second half, throwing his 24th and 25th TD passes.
■ Bradham roll into the end zone with a fumble from 37 yards out for the Eagles’ third defensive score of the season? Rookie Derek Barnett set it up by grabbing Prescott’s arm.
■ Eagles guard Stefen Wisniewski grab and whip Kenjon Barner into the end zone from the one-yard line for the first points of the game? It was like roller derby.
■ Jake Elliott get dinged? Neither did we. In retrospect, Elliott was concussed from a helmet-to-helmet collision tackling Ryan Switzer after a 61-yard run on the opening kickoff. Grugier-Hill did a solid job filling in on the kickoffs. Elliott made a PAT after the concussion but missed a 34-yard field goal attempt that was like an extra point.
■ Referee Bill Vinovich mistakenly announce that Lane Johnson was guilty of a false start, then change the call just minutes later to offside on DeMarcus Lawrence? It set the tone for another weird night of officiating.