More Sports:

September 05, 2025

The pivotal plays from the Eagles' eventful opening win over the Cowboys

The Eagles' quest for a repeat starts off 1-0, but it took a whole lot to power through.

NickTricome.jpg
By Nick Tricome
PhillyVoice Staff
Eagles NFL
EaglesvCowboys-Jalen-Hurts-touchdown-0904 Colleen Claggett/For PhillyVoice

Jalen Hurts runs in for a touchdown during the first half of the Eagles' season opener against the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field.

It was a memorable opener for the Eagles, but in ways few could've ever accounted for. 

A key player was ejected just seconds in, flags flew heavily and often through the first half, and thunderstorms stepped in the way. 

But in the end, the Eagles' signatures pulled through. 

Jalen Hurts was a constant threat on the ground, the defense bent but never broke and got stops when it needed them most, special teams came up clutch, and when it came time to manage the clock, the offense took all the time away.

The Eagles beat the rival Cowboys, 24-20, at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday night to begin their journey for a repeat 1-0. 

It wasn't pretty, but they got the job done. Here's how...

Spit take

The first major moment of Thursday night wasn't even a play. In fact, a play hadn't even happened yet. 

The Eagles and Cowboys were in their huddles as trainers were tending to fullback Ben VanSumeren, who went down while fielding the opening kickoff and eventually needed to be carted off. 

As that was happening, Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter stepped toward the Cowboys' offense. Quarterback Dak Prescott walked up to meet him, and then the flags flew. 

Carter was issued an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that moved Dallas up 15 yards, but far more severe and to the shock of the Lincoln Financial Field crowd, he was also ejected. 

Upon the replay on the NBC broadcast, though, it became obvious why.

Carter, appearing to trash-talk at Prescott, took it a step too far and spat on the Dallas quarterback's jersey. An official was right there to see it and had no patience for it. 

Carter's night was done before even playing a snap, and the Eagles were suddenly down their best defensive player in the trenches, which altered the makeup and strength of the entire personnel in an instant. 

Dallas immediately capitalized with a 53-yard touchdown drive to take an early 7-0 lead.

Catch him if you can

Once the Eagles had the ball, they were quick to test the Cowboys' defense, and that massive hole left by the Micah Parsons trade, on the ground. 

It wasn't Saquon Barkley carving up Dallas, though, at least not at that point in the game. It was Jalen Hurts keeping it himself. 

The Super Bowl MVP marched the Eagles down the field, then ran their first score in four yards with plenty of room to do so. 

On Philadelphia's second possession, and well inside Dallas territory, Hurts settled into the pocket with the Cowboys only rushing four, but couldn't find an outlet.

So he stepped up and took off, weaving through several would-be tacklers for 15 yards into goal-to-go distance. 

Two plays later, Hurts kept it one more time, sprinting then diving toward the left pylon for the eight yards left to collect his second rushing touchdown and to keep the Eagles at pace with Dallas, 14-14.

By the time that series was done, Hurts had already racked up 43 rushing yards and was 6-for-6 on his pass attempts, which gained him firm control over the game's tempo. 

Dallas' defense couldn't ignore A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, and of course, Barkley, but now they were on their heels with the added threat of Hurts being able to run for significant yardage at any time. 

And soon enough, that opened up the field for other big plays as a result, like a huge 51-yard completion downfield to Jahan Dotson (with a perfectly placed throw from Hurts)...

And then a 10-yard touchdown run up the seam from Barkley that gave the Eagles the lead late in the first half, 21-14.

The elite offensive line and Barkley's star power take up a lot of the spotlight for the strength of the Eagles' run game, to the point where it gets lost in translation, sometimes too often, that Hurts is a highly impactful runner all his own. He isn't just the Tush Push.

The Chiefs found out the hard way in February when Hurts ran for 72 yards on them as they were getting pummeled in the Super Bowl. 

The Cowboys got a reminder on Thursday night, which was crucial for the Eagles because on the other side of the ball, Dallas got a massive lift offensively with no Jalen Carter to deal with. 

This game is easily a different story if Hurts doesn't take charge on the ground to help his team keep up.

Busy whistles

Discipline became a factor for the Eagles' defense.

Obviously, Carter's ejection set the precedent, but then they got hit with some notable flags after that kept pushing the Cowboys' offense forward while keeping the Birds' defense on the field. 

Quinyon Mitchell got tagged for pass interference on a deep throw to receiver George Pickens that moved Dallas 34 yards to the Philadelphia 12, which set up the Cowboys' second touchdown; Nolan Smith was charged with a taunting call that flipped a tackle for no gain on Miles Sanders into 15 free yards and a reset of downs, then he got flagged for roughing the passer later on when his hand hit Prescott in the face while rushing in, which went for another 15. 

Both calls were during sequences that led to Dallas field goals before the end of the first half, along with another pass interference from new cornerback Jakorian Bennett on star receiver CeeDee Lamb that cost an additional nine yards. 

A potentially disastrous penalty struck late in the third quarter with the Cowboys just outside the red zone. 

Prescott dropped back then tossed a pass to the end zone over the middle for his tight end Jake Ferguson. 

Ferguson bobbled the ball, and as he was falling in an effort to secure it, safety Reed Blankenship's momentum carried him through and leveled the unaware player. 

Flags flew again, and half the distance to the goal was granted to the Cowboys. 

It was not a good position for the Eagles to be in, but then rookie Jihaad Campbell knocked the ball loose from Sanders on the very next play, and Mitchell recovered the fumble to get the Eagles the ball back and render the hurt from Blankenship's penalty null and void before incoming thunderstorms sent the game into a weather delay. 

Now, the validity of some of those calls can be debatable, and no doubt will fans have their opinions on those in the coming days. 

But with all that said, the Eagles had eight penalties called against them by the time the game was sent into a delay late into the third quarter. It cost them a combined 105 yards.

The Eagles can't afford that. No team can.

Suppressors

The Eagles' defense didn't have the smoothest night overall, but there were a few clean, solid plays that added up to make a difference. 

With the game tied at 14 late in the first, Prescott went looking for Pickens deep again on third down with Mitchell still covering him. 

The pass sailed down the left sideline to the back corner of the end zone, but it was high and Mitchell's coverage had Pickens tied up with no flags to force an incompletion. 

The play held the Cowboys to just a field goal and a 17-14 lead that wouldn't last long.

Campbell made his first big play as an Eagle when he got his hands up to break up a pass over the middle as Dallas was driving their way downfield in the third quarter...

Then Zack Baun saved a touchdown on that same series, catching up to Sanders after he slipped through a gap on a 49-yard run...

In isolation, that's a big play for Dallas, but it was followed by an unnecessary roughness call on Pickens that knocked the Cowboys back 15 yards, then Blankenship's penalty that moved them back up, and then the fumble forced by Campbell that lost them the football. 

Baun also had a nice pass breakup in between there.

Look, it was an odd possession, but one that the Eagles' defense ended up walking away on the good side of. 

Hurts and the offense just couldn't make good on it coming back from the delay and had to punt it away.

Pin 'em back

The Cowboys couldn't get anything going either, punting away the following series as the game moved into the fourth quarter. 

With the Eagles leading by four, Hurts and co. tried to start shifting into their signature clock-killing mode. 

They took their time, they broke the Tush Push back out to the roar of the crowd and the same near-unstoppable effect, and Barkley did this:

But they got stopped with more than seven minutes left and holding on to a narrow lead. 

Every yard mattered the rest of the way, and Braden Mann made sure Dallas would need every last one. 

Mann booted a 44-yard punt that spotted the Cowboys back at their own 11, and the Eagles' defense generated enough pressure to earn a stop without them moving too far to get it back. 

An Eagles 3-and-out followed with 3:09 to go, so out came Mann again, sailing the next punt 51 yards to the Cowboys' 18 in what would prove to be the game's make-or-break possession. 

Prescott tried to force passes into double coverage to no luck until the Cowboys were left to go for it on fourth down. 

Pressure barreled down on the snap, Prescott tried to air it out for Lamb, but he couldn't get it. 

Eagles ball with only 1:54 to kill. One more Hurts run on third down sealed the deal.

But clutch punts again and again set the stage for all of it.

Back to automatic?

Jake Elliott struggled last year on field goals from 50-plus yards out, going 1-for-7 during the regular season. 

It was out of character compared to the rest of his career, where he seemed to be near automatic the further out the ball was placed for him.

Thursday night, his first field-goal attempt of 2025 was from 58 yards out in the third quarter, at the edge of the midfield logo. He nailed it. 

SIGN UP HERE to receive the PhillyVoice Sports newsletter

Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick

Follow Nick on Bluesky: @itssnick

Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports

NickTricome.jpg

Nick Tricome
PhillyVoice Staff

nick@phillyvoice.com

Read more Eagles NFL Philadelphia Dallas Cowboys CeeDee Lamb Quinyon Mitchell Jalen Carter Jihaad Campbell Reed Blankenship Jake Elliott Saquon Barkley George Pickens Jalen Hurts

Videos

Featured

Holidays-at-Willow-Creek-Winery-4.jpg

New Jersey's Can't Miss Christmas Towns
Limited - Hello Harford Winter Wonderland

Holidays shine bright in Harford County, Maryland

Just In

Must Read

Investigations

Juvenile charged for swatting call at Bucks County school

Bucks County Swatting

Sponsored

Lessons from Philadelphia’s Turn the Key program: How we can make affordable homeownership a reality

Purchased - Aerial shot of Philadelphia 2

Children's Health

Pediatric cancer treatments are saving kids' lives, but more research funding is needed to improve them, report says

Pediatric Cancer Lianna Munir

Shopping

Eagles Super Bowl LIX ring goes up for auction

Eagles Super Bowl ring

East Kensington

Haunted Christmas brings spooky and festive fun to Philadelphia Brewing Co. on Dec. 13

East Kensington Arts Committee Haunted Christmas

Eagles

Eagles-Chargers Week 14 injury report, with analysis

120325JoeAlt

© 2025 WWB Holdings, LLC. All rights reserved