Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) runs the ball as Dallas Cowboys’ Damone Clark (18) and Kenny Clark (95) attempt to make the stop in the first half of an NFL football game Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
On Thursday night, the Philadelphia Eagles showed off some new Super Bowl laundry and won the home opener despite an hour-long storm delay and the ejection of a big chunk of their defense.
By Chris Murray
For the Philadelphia Sunday Sun
After the the pomp and circumstance of unfurling the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl LIX banner, the team’s defense of the Super Bowl title got off to a shaky start on Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
It started with Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter being ejected from the game before the Cowboys first play for spitting on quarterback Dak Prescott. This was followed by the Cowboys moving 53 yards in six plays, allowing running back Javonte Williams to score the game’s first touchdown on a one-yard run.
But despite Carter’s ejection and a 56-minute weather delay because of lightning late in the third quarter, the Eagles somehow managed to leave Linc with a 24-20 win.
During his post-game press conference, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said that he wants his team to play with tenacity, but within the rules of the game. He would not comment on any conversation that he had with Carter.
“I’m going to keep all our conversations and all my disciplinary things in-house,” Sirianni said. “(Carter) knows that we needed him out there today and he wasn’t out there against a really good offense.”
In the first half, the Cowboys offense scored 20 points on their first four possessions on drives of 53, 88, and 46 yards that resulted in two touchdowns and two field goals.
On an evening when the Eagles offense wasn’t the juggernaut on both sides of the football it was during last season’s run to the Super Bowl title, it was good enough to score 24 points on its first four possessions.
“What’s pretty? If you score on your first four possessions? In the NFL that’s hard to do. You want to come out and have a fast start and we did that,” said Barkley, who gained 60 yards on 18 carries that included a 10-yard touchdown. “Did we have the best second half? No. But our defense came alive.”
But getting in position to score wasn’t easy. It came down to quarterback Jalen Hurts making plays with his arm and legs to keep the Eagles drives alive on several third downplays. His two rushing touchdowns came on third down runs when there was nothing open in the passing game.
“It is just finding a way to win and advance the ball,” Hurts said. “It’s about efficiency. It’s about finding a way to win that’s my mentality with the game.”
Hurts accounted for 214 of the Eagles 302 yards of total offense. Sirianni said Hurts performance against the Cowboys was reason the Birds came away with the win.
“Jalen played really efficiently and really [well] from what I saw and made plays with his legs, his mind, and with his arm,” Sirianni said during his postgame press conference.
After both offenses combined to score 41 points in the first half, they struggled to get anything going in the second half. The Eagles managed to get at 58-yard field goal by Jake Ellliot and despite the absence of Carter, shut the Cowboys out in the second half.
The biggest play of the game occurred shortly before the weather delay. On the ensuing possession, the Cowboys got a big 49-yard run by former Eagles running Miles Sanders that took Dallas to the Birds 11-yard line.
But four plays later, Eagles rookie linebacker Jihad Campbell and Byron Young jarred the ball loose from Sanders, cornerback Quinyon Mitchell recovered the fumble, and went on to return it to the Eagles 16-yard line.
Dallas would not come that close to scoring again.
Next week, it’s a repeat of Super Bowl LIX as the Eagles travel to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs, who lost their opening game to the Los Angeles Chargers in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Friday. Gametime is 4:25p.m. and you can catch the game on Fox 29.
Related Posts
Leave a Comment