PHILADELPHIA: Dak Prescott threw for 212 yards and three touchdowns, and Javonte Williams ran for a career-high 155 yards, as the Dallas Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-21 on Monday Night Football at Lincoln Financial Field.
The win was the Cowboys’ first in four primetime games this season. It moved Dallas to 3-4 and kept them in the race for the NFC East title, while the Eagles fell to 2-5 and lost their fifth game in a row.
Dallas did not turn the ball over all night. The Cowboys scored on seven of their nine possessions and finished with a season-high 416 yards of total offense.
Dallas finds its run game
The Cowboys came into the game last in the NFL in carries per game, and their running game had been their weakest part all season. On Monday night, that changed completely.
Dallas rushed 38 times for 204 yards, a season high. Williams carried the ball 25 times for 155 yards, the most by a Cowboys running back since Ezekiel Elliott gained 159 yards against Tampa Bay in 2016.
Williams capped his night with a two-yard touchdown run with 2:21 left in the game. It was the first 150-yard rushing game by a Dallas player since Elliott in 2018.
The offensive line did the heavy work. Dallas averaged 5.4 yards per carry, well above its season mark of 3.7 yards, and the running game kept the Eagles defence on the field for long stretches.
Prescott was sharp too. He completed 15 of 27 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions, for a passer rating of 118.1. Two of his touchdown passes went to CeeDee Lamb, and one went to George Pickens.
Prescott also passed Tony Romo for the most multi-touchdown games in franchise history, with 80.
Eagles lead, then fade
Philadelphia started well and briefly led in the third quarter. The Eagles scored first on an eight-yard touchdown run by Saquon Barkley, their first opening-drive points of the season.
Barkley had missed two games with a hamstring injury, and he was used carefully. He turned nine touches into 71 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown.
Dallas answered with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Prescott to Lamb, and the teams traded scores through the first half. Brandon Aubrey kicked field goals of 55, 27 and 24 yards for Dallas.
Backup quarterback Tanner McKee started for Philadelphia in place of Jalen Hurts, who is out for the season with blood clots in his lungs. McKee opened the second half with a 17-play, 84-yard drive that took 9:16 off the clock.
He finished the drive with a four-yard touchdown pass to rookie Makai Lemon, giving the Eagles a 21-20 lead. It was the first Eagles touchdown drive in the third quarter all season.
It was all Dallas after that. Prescott floated a 16-yard touchdown pass to Lamb in the corner of the end zone, then ran in the two-point conversion himself to put the Cowboys ahead 28-21. It was the sixth lead change of the game.
Aubrey’s 24-yard field goal made it 31-21, and Williams finished the scoring late in the fourth quarter. The Eagles did not score again.
Hurts absence hangs over Philadelphia
The Eagles have now lost five games in a row for the first time since 2016. One week after learning that Hurts would miss the rest of the season, they put up a fight early but faded badly in the second half.
McKee, making his fourth NFL start, threw for 211 yards with a touchdown to Lemon and one interception. The interception came late in the fourth quarter, when linebacker DeMarvion Overshown picked off a pass.
Overshown tied for the team lead with six tackles for Dallas, and he also added a tackle for loss and two passes defensed. Cornerback Cobie Durant also returned from a hamstring injury, and the Dallas defence continued to improve.
The Eagles allowed 18 unanswered points after taking the lead in the third quarter. Their season is now in serious trouble, and they are running out of time to save it.
What it means
The win keeps Dallas in contention in the NFC East. The New York Giants lead the division at 4-2-1, and the Cowboys sit second at 3-4. Dallas return home next week to face the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
For Philadelphia, the problems are piling up. A team that started the season with hopes of a deep playoff run is now 2-5, and it is playing without its starting quarterback.
The Cowboys will take confidence from the way they won. They ran the ball with power, they protected it, and their quarterback played clean football. If they can repeat that balance, they will be hard to stop in the weeks ahead.
