Eagles Back in First

What a game! The eagles came into Sunday with a record 7-7 looking to take first place of the NFC East and be in control of their destiny for what seems to be, the first time all season.

The Eagles came out firing in front of an almost sold-out game on a very cold December night. Their first drive proved promising as they would go down the field starting from their own 25. But that just ended with a Jake Elliot 36 yard field goal. The defense would step up early in the game and especially in the first quarter by holding Dallas to 0 points all quarter.

The offense would then step up with Wentz throwing his only touchdown pass to Dallas Goedert.

The second quarter was where Dallas was able to get points back and make its a 10-6 game with another field goal from Kai Forbath. Both defenses throughout the first half turned it up and made plays to keep each offense in check and for the Cowboys, they responded by keeping the Eagles to 0 points in the second quarter.

The Eagles defense started off very strong in the second half thanks to Fletcher Cox who forced a fumble and Malcolm Jenkins recovering the ball on Dallas’ very first possession of the half.

The offense wouldn’t be able to click until late in the 3rd quarter when Myles Sanders would run in for a one-yard touchdown. Sanders would finish the game with a great stat line (20 attempts for 79 yards and one touchdown).

Myles Sanders scores a 1-yard touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys. December 22, 2019

The game would stay fairly even throughout the rest of the half. Although Dallas would get three points back on an impressive 49-yard field goal from Forbath, who would finish the game 3/3. But the defining play of the night would be when Sydney Jones breaks up Dak Prescott’s pass on 4th down with 1:21 left to seal the victory for the Eagles.

There were a few players who really stood out tonight and others who had finally stepped up.

Wentz obviously did what he had to do and then some by going 31/40 for 319 yards, 1 touchdown pass and having a rating of 108.2 for the game.

Myles Sanders was the leading runner for today’s game but in the receiving game, he helped with a solid 77 yards on 5 catches.

Greg Ward finally proved that he could take on a slightly larger workload with 4 catches for 71 yards.

Dallas Goedert finished with team-leading 9 catches and 91 yards with also 1 touchdown.

On the defensive side, Vinny Curry and Josh Sweat each recorded a sack against Dallas’ remarkable offensive line. While Cox got the forced fumble and Jenkins recovered it.

Jalen Mills would lead the team with 8 tackles for the game.

The Eagles walked away with an impressive win in front of screaming fans who were absolutely cold. Next week they will battle with the Giants in MetLife Stadium for a chance to win the NFC East officially. The Giants just beat the Washington Redskins 41-35 to improve to a 4-11 record.

They certainly want to keep the momentum rolling just like the Eagles. The NFL also just announced the game will be flexed to a 4 pm kickoff instead of 1 pm because of how important this game is.

Scenes of the Eagles game. December 22, 2019

Eric Williamson

Eric Williamson is the host of the Union podcast Full Time Philly and also contrinutes to many of the Union coverage. He is a huge fan of all the 4 major Philly teams on top of music too.