If you’re wondering what it was like to watch Lane Johnson make the final drive of the Cowboys’ run at the Linc on Sunday afternoon, know that it wasn’t all that different from your experience in bed.
nervous.
“I tried not to look at it,” Johnson said. “I was coming back. I was hitting (Jason) Kelce in the head, I was hitting Julio (Jones) in the head, I was hitting Connor (Barvin) in the head. Yeah, we’re old in dog years. I entered the game at 33 (years old), but I’m 42 now. May be.
Briefly about it.
The Eagles beat the Cowboys 28-23 on Sunday night. The tally ticks into the win column, but it was a little too close for comfort.
Thanks to some stuck-in-the-mud active drives late in this game, the Eagles needed some big defensive stops late in this divisional matchup. They got them.
But the entire game hung in the balance in the final moments, with broken plays, injuries, penalties and plenty of Eagles fans holding their breath.
“Football is such an incredible game,” head coach Nick Siriani said. “There are highs. There are lows. Sometimes it brings tears of joy. Sometimes it brings tears to your eyes. It was the plays before that that ultimately led to that frustration. Great job by our defensive line to get pressure at the end of the game.
On the Cowboys second-last drive, the Eagles got two big sacks from Brandon Graham and Jalen Carter and managed to force a turnover with 1:17 left in the game.
But after the Eagles had their third straight 3-and-out in the fourth quarter, the Cowboys got the ball back at their own 14-yard line. They were down five points on a failed 2-point conversion with 46 seconds left. It couldn’t have been easier.
On that final drive, Darius Slay and James Bradberry both had to leave briefly with injuries, leaving the Eagles with Eli Riggs, Josh Jobe and Sidney Brown at cornerback. Cowherds were driving.
“Sh—, that was crazy,” Slay said. “I saw JP go out and next thing you know, I had to go out for two plays. Got hit by the hand of God. … I had to rush and come back. We had to handle it.”
When he went into the blue medical tent to get his leg checked, Bradberry said he couldn’t see the action but could hear the fans. He knew that as long as the fans were engaged, the Eagles were in a good position to win.
“It’s a serious push,” Bradberry said. “It was almost like a playoff game. I was just looking forward to it.”
The biggest play of the series was when Josh Sweat sacked Prescott for an 11-yard loss after the Cowboys got the ball to the Eagles’ 11-yard line.
Sweat is now up to 6 1/2 sacks on the season, but nothing much bigger than this.
“No surprise, to be honest. No surprise,” Jordan Mailata said. “Sweat is not recognized enough, he’s not talked about enough. They can start talking about him after this game and put him in the mix with Micah Parsons and Myles Garrett. Those guys are a premier edge rusher.
Sweat also has a primary sack celebration. He did that celebration — wiping sweat from his forehead — as Nick Siriani and the rest of the coaching staff yelled for him to get back in the lineup.
The clock was still running and the game was up for grabs.
“I had to get a celebration. I had to get it,” Swett said. “Everybody was like, ‘We’ve got to go, we’ve got to go!’
After Swett’s sack, there were 11 seconds left and the Cowboys had the ball at the Eagles’ 22-yard line. Prescott missed a completion on the next play. Then there was a delay in the game.
With 5 seconds left, the final pass was completed to CeeDee Lamb, who was stopped by Slay and Brown at the 4-yard line. The ball actually got free and Reid Blankenship, who had a big goal line tackle earlier in the fourth, fell on top of it to seal the win.
Bu.
Prescott threw for 374 yards with 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Lamb caught 11 passes for 191 yards. The Cowboys had 406 yards of offense and 27 first downs.
But when should the Eagles get some stops? They did.
“At halftime, I thought I needed treatment. Then at fulltime, I needed treatment,” Mailata said. “The defense did a great job. When we needed them, they made plays. They made plays, man. Shout out to the defense.”
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