It was time for the Eagles to impose their will.
“I think about Michael Jordan when he said ‘Put them away, MJ.’ You want to put them away,” Jalen Hurts said. “You want to put them away.”
That’s what the Eagles did.
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Again.
For the second straight week, the Eagles had a marathon drive in the fourth quarter to put away their opponent. This time, the Eagles went 75 yards on 13 plays in 7:37 to seal their 26-17 win over the Cowboys, heading into the bye week with a perfect 6-0 record.
The drive came at the perfect time.
The Eagles got up 20-0 on the Cowboys on Sunday night but Dallas scored the next 17 points to make it a close game early in the fourth quarter. The Cowboys were coming off a 93-yard touchdown drive when the Eagles got the ball back with 14:39 left in the fourth quarter. Their first two possessions of the second half gained just 6 yards on nine plays.
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So what did the Eagles do?
Even without Lane Johnson, who was out with a concussion, they leaned on their offensive line and marched down the field.
“You lean on what your strength is in that scenario to get you out of ruts,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. “I've been taught that from the very beginning. You're in a rut, get it to your playmakers. Our playmaker in that scenario was our offensive line.”
Miles Sanders got the drive going with a quick 13-yard run, but all three running backs and Hurts played a role on the drive with their legs. The Eagles converted three 3rd-downs on the drive. And after 10 of the first 11 plays were runs, Hurts hit A.J. Brown for a 22-yard gain and then came right back to DeVonta Smith for the 7-yard touchdown.
Just like that, the Eagles had pushed their lead to two scores and had killed 7:37 in the process.
On that drive, they wore down a very good Dallas defense and they knew it.
“Ohh yeah. You can see it too,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said. “It gasses me up. ‘Alright, I hope the next call is going to be a run.’ And then it’s a run and I’m like ‘Yes!’ You can just feel it. … Toward the end there, they were just tired.”
That doesn’t mean those drives are easy. When asked what those drives feel like for him, Mailata said, “Hell.” But it’s an even worse Hell for a defense once they get on the ropes.
Sometimes it just comes down to toughness.
“It’s huge,” Dallas Goedert said. “The last two weeks, we’ve put together a big long drive in the fourth quarter when we need them. It just goes to show it matters who’s toughest longest. Lately, we’ve been tougher longer. That’s a credit to the O-line up front.”
The phrase “who’s toughest longest” has become a rallying cry of sorts for the 2022 Eagles. They’re a tough team with tough coaches and tough leaders. The Eagles are very aware of situational football and know what to do in a four-minute drill. We saw that last week on their 7:58 drive against the Cardinals and we saw it Sunday in their 7:37 drive against the Cowboys.
In some ways, grinding out nearly 8-minute drives at the end of a football games serves as a microcosm for the NFL season.
“I think the reality is you need to realize this is a marathon, man,” Jason Kelce said. “This is not a 100-meter dash. This is a 17-game season, plus playoff games. The teams that are the best at the end of the season are the ones that go the furthest and go the distance. This is an ongoing journey for our team. Who can be mentally tougher longer, who can keep growing, what teams can keep coming together and keep overcoming adversity. Those are the teams that end up doing really, really well.”
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