Eagles Win A Stressful Game Vs The Cowboys To Take Huge NFC East Lead

Take a deep breath Philadelphia. It may not be possible for a win to be more stressful than that was. The Eagles threw away multiple chances to put the game away, leaving the Cowboys with a wide-open window to win it at the end of the game. Near fumbles, bad penalties, and wide-open receivers put the Cowboys in the Red Zone with a chance to take a late lead. But the defense buckled up, got a few timely sacks, and shut the door on the Cowboys. They walk into the bye week 8-1 after beating the Cowboys 28-23.

And all of that stress pays off in a big way. The Eagles now have a somewhat commanding 2.5-game lead in the NFC East. Since they have a win over the Cowboys, they also currently have the tie breaker, pending the game in Dallas.

You may be thinking, what about the Eagles' tough schedule? And it is true, Chiefs, Bills, Niners, Cowboys, and Seahawks make for a tough stretch over the next 5 games. But it is not like the Cowboys have a cakewalk the rest of the way. Yea, they get the Giants, Panthers, and Commanders coming up. But then they get the Seahawks, Eagles again, Bills in Buffalo, and Dolphins in Miami. The Eagles can feasibly go just 2-3, then beat the Cardinals and the Giants twice, and still go 13-4. Cowboys need to go 3-1 in that tough stretch to match that.

So yes the Eagles have a tough schedule. But them going 8-1 to start the season makes this tough schedule way more palatable. Meanwhile, the Cowboys are already in a hole and a tough road of their own. The same can be said about the 49ers who are also at 3 losses. They still have to play the Jaguars, the Ravens, the Eagles, and the Seahawks twice. The Lions are the only NFC contender who you could say has it somewhat easy the rest of the way.

For all the issues they have had, the Eagles are alone at the top of the NFC East, the NFC, and the NFL. And they are in a great position to hold onto all 3 as long as they can just survive this 5 game stretch, and get at least two wins out of it.

The Eagles have not been perfect this season. Everyone on that team would probably tell you that. And if you have listened to us, you would have heard hosts and callers alike complaining a lot about how ugly they were winning. But now in week 9, they are at the top of the NFL. The Eagles are the only remaining team with just 1 loss. The Chiefs took their 2nd loss in a sloppy game vs the Broncos, the 49ers have lost 3 straight, the Bills have been up and down all season long, and the Cowboys have two losses as well.

Week 8 was not exactly pretty for the Eagles. The Commanders gave them another tough game, as they tend to do. But there are a lot of teams who would trade their ugly loss for an ugly win. The 49ers' defense got torn apart by the Bengals the week after it got torn apart by the Vikings. And their savior Brock Purdy now has looked bad 3 weeks in a row. They would love it if in some of these last 3 games, they managed to pull out a win despite their struggles. The same goes for the Billa and their 3 losses. So while it may be another "ugly win", it is still a win. And they are the only team with 7 of those so far.

Something we tend to do in Philly sports is laser focus on our problems, and ignore the fact every other team has imperfections as well. And while it is fair to point out things the Eagles need to be better at, we should also acknowledge they are still one of the elite NFL teams. But does the National Media agree? Does the Eagles having the best record in the NFL mean they are also being called the best team in the NFL?

There have been growing pains for Hurts in this new system. That much is clear. But as Tim McManus pointed out here, he has also been great at points. The second half of the game vs the Commanders is a prime example of that. I don’t think he is a concern at all going forward.

ESPN Power Rankings

AJ Brown may go down as the best trade Howie Roseman has ever made. He was a great WR before the trade, but pairing him with Jalen Hurts has made him elite. He just accomplished something no one else in NFL history has done, topping a record set by Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson.

NFL's Power Rankings

Not sure what else to say about AJ Brown, so I'm just going to share another angle of that crazy catch he made on Sunday.

The Athletic's Power Rankings

The Eagles have a real chance to establish themselves in not just the NFC East this Sunday, but the NFC in general. The 49ers have 3 losses and are going into their bye week. If the Eagles win, the Cowboys will have 3 losses. The Seahawks and Lions could both still be at just 2 losses, but otherwise, the Eagles will have a nice gap between them and their NFC competition.

CBS Sports Power Rankings

I dont have a third angle of that great TD catch. But I can share a highlight of a different great TD catch he made against the Commanders.

Pro Football Talk's Power Rankings

One of the most impressive things the Eagles did last year was score with very little time left on the clock consistently. There was a point where every week they were going down the field to get at least a field goal before the half. And this is now the 2nd time this Eagles team has pulled off a late first-half drive to score a TD. The Eagles are a rare team that can work both. When they need to speed it up and put together a quick drive, they can. But they can also slow it down and waste time when they have to.

Sports Illustrated Power Rankings

The Eagles defense has had two bad games in the past 5 games. Washington and Washington. In between those games, they pretty much shut down the Rams, Jets, and Dolphins. Shutting down the Jets is no feat. But at the time, Matthew Stafford had the second most passing yards, and the Dolphins were far and away the best offense in the league. So I am not concerned. It seems Washington just has their number a bit.

Yahoo Sports Power Rankings

Again, the defense has been good in almost every week they didn't play the Commanders. I can't say the defense has issues when two weeks ago they shut down the Dolphins.

USA Today Power Rankings