It took a while to get going after a shaky start, but in the end the Eagles did exactly what they had to do, beating the Cowboys 34-6 on Sunday in Dallas.

Overcame some early mistakes, built a big lead, extended it in the second half, won for the first time in seven years at AT&T Stadium and cruised home a 7-2 win over Philly with a five-game winning streak underway to their battle for first place. take place on Thursday evening in the Linc with the commanders.

Only four Eagles entered this game knowing what it felt like to beat the North Texas Cowboys in an Eagles uniform: Brandon Graham, Lane Johnson, Jake Elliott and Rick Lovato.

Now they all do that.

The Eagles are rolling.

1. For me, this game was all about that touchdown drive at the end of the first half. Jalen Hurts had just thrown an interception in the end zone and fumbled deep in Cowboys territory. The Eagles were up 7-3, but offensive mistakes (penalties, turnovers, sacks) kept Dallas in a game they had nothing to do with. Hurts had been sacked five times in 12 dropbacks – including three in a row – and after a penalty, the Eagles found themselves on 1st and 10 at their own 16 with 1:43 before halftime. And Saquon Barkley was on the sideline having his left arm examined. Yes. All Hurts did on that next drive was go 5-for-6 for 60 yards with a touchdown pass to Dallas Goedert, along with a nice 24-yard scramble, his longest since a 28-yarder in the Super Bowl. The last four games have been clean for Hurts, but that won’t always be the case. And when things aren’t clean, Hurts’ ability to collect himself and right the ship is tremendous when things get hairy. He did that in a big way on Sunday. That drive took all the fight out of the Cowboys.

2. What the Eagles are doing defensively right now is almost unprecedented. Take a look at the last five games: 10 points allowed per game, 201 yards allowed per game, 126 passing yards allowed, and only four total touchdowns. There’s something special going on with this group, and Zack Baun is right in the middle of it. That guy is having a Pro Bowl season. This is their best five-game streak in terms of yards and points allowed since 1954. That was 70 years ago. And this is the youngest defense in the NFL. They will only get better. Incredible.

3. And get this: The Eagles’ last three road games have been wins by 25 points over the Giants, 20 points over the Bengals and 28 points over the Cowboys. This is the first time they have won three consecutive road games by 20 or more points since 1949, when they defeated the Steelers by 31 points at Forbes Field, Washington by 23 points at Griffith Stadium and the Giants by 21 points at the Polo Grounds. That’s absolutely insane. That was 75 years ago. And yes, that team won the NFL championship.

4. Perhaps the biggest difference in this defense in recent weeks has been the takeaways, and the Eagles didn’t get those at all early in the season and it’s not easy to win that way. The Eagles had just two points in the first six games of the season — both were interceptions of Reed Blankenship — and entering the game against Cincinnati, they had just 12 in their previous 21 games, going back to Week 4 of last year . Since then? Ten points from the last three games, including five on Sunday in Dallas. Those are the key takeaways in the span of three games since 2009. This defense is playing so well in all phases, and the combination of guys understanding their roles better, playing more physically, adjusting to a new coach and a new scheme has given the defense a boosted and it appears at the takeaways.

5. The Eagles entered with the sixth-ranked defense in the red zone and had two big stops deep in Dallas territory on consecutive possessions that potentially saved 11 points when the game was still close. The first came with the Eagles up 7-3 late in the third quarter when Zack Baun forced an Ezekiel Elliott fumble at the 4-yard line that Cooper DeJean recovered in the end zone. The second was Jalen Carter’s huge stop on Rico Dowdell for a two-yard loss when the Cowboys had a 3rd-and-3 at the 3-yard line just before halftime. The Cowboys got a short field goal there to make it 7-6, but not getting a touchdown on consecutive possessions inside the 5 had to be crushing because of that Dallas offense and basically the entire team. This was the first game in at least 30 years — as far back as Stathead keeps track of turnover lines — in which the Eagles were two points within five in the same game. This defense is playing at an extraordinary level right now and there is nothing they are not doing at a high level.

6. Let’s talk about Baun. This is the best linebacker play we’ve seen in these parts since: who, Trott? All Baun did Sunday in Dallas was force two fumbles – the first on Zeke inside the 5-yard line – recover a fumble and add a tackle for loss and eight tackles. The guy is all over the field making plays. Through nine games, 87 tackles, an interception, two sacks, three forced fumbles, four tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. This is what a Pro Bowl linebacker looks like. This is what the Eagles’ defensive MVP looks like. And I can’t say enough how brilliant Vic Fangio was when he saw a handful of his off-ball plays for the Saints and determined he could be a key to this defense. Now it’s up to Howie Roseman to sign Baun. The Eagles can’t lose him. Can’t.

7. You look at the final score and see a 28 point win, but this was a one possession game going into the second half and after that Jaguars game and almost a 22-0 lead it was huge to see the Eagles get a team finished out. In the second half, the Eagles outscored the Cowboys 20-0 and outscored them 160-46, forcing turnovers on three straight drives. The last time the Eagles held a team scoreless in the second half while scoring at least 20 points? In Dallas in 2017, the last time the Eagles won in North Texas. Really a similar game. The Cowboys led 9-7 at halftime, but the Eagles outscored them 30-0 after halftime. To be a great team you have to be able to finish. The Eagles didn’t do it last week, but they got away with it. They did that in style on Sunday. They took away the Cowboys’ hopes with that TD drive at the end of the first half and then just did whatever they wanted on both sides of the ball in the second half.

8. Even with that interception, Hurts had another great Sunday. The INT was just a really good play by Trevon Diggs, but Hurts was almost perfect after that, and that’s what you get from Hurts. Every quarterback is going to experience adversity, that’s the nature of the position, but Hurts is so good at shaking those things off and going back out there and playing smart, aggressive and efficient, and we saw that on Sunday. His first pass after the INT was a 27-yarder to Jahan Dotson. Shrug. Hurts finished 14-of-20 for 202 yards, two passing touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns and a passer rating of 115.0. He is only the sixth quarterback in history with five straight games at 115 or higher, a list that also includes Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers, Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan and Patrick Mahomes. And four consecutive games of 70 percent or higher. And then there was 7-for-56 rushing, including a dynamic 24-yard scramble on that huge TD drive before halftime. Hurts isn’t being asked to do much right now, but what he does, he does at a very high level… even with the interception and fumble stuff.

9. It took a while for the running game to get going – the Eagles had 13 carries in the first half against a stacked box – but once they built a lead and started pounding the rock, the Cowboys couldn’t stop them. In the second half the Eagles ran 25 times, and they finished with 38 rushes for 187 yards and that’s with Saquon Barkley getting just 14 carries for 66 yards with a long gainer of 11 yards. That’s 204 carries, 970 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground during the five-game winning streak, and you just don’t get that kind of running game production in the modern NFL, but here we are. They’re just the second NFL team since 1952 with 200 carries, 970 rushing yards and eight TDs in a five-game span, the first since Washington in 1983. But they’re still making plenty of big plays in the passing game, too. to keep the defense honest. Maybe someone out there can stop the Eagles’ game. No one lately.

10. Here’s a look at all of Cooper Rush’s pass attempts: 4 yards, minus-1 yard, incomplete, 6 yards, incomplete, incomplete, 0 yards, 3 yards, incomplete, incomplete, 9 yards, incomplete, 10 yards, 5 yards, 1 yard, 1 yard, 2 yards, 3 yards, incomplete. He threw 22 passes and only two were longer than six yards.

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