NFC East Wrap: Cowboys Dominate, Eagles Prevail, Commanders Sputter

Week 8 of the NFC East saw heartbreaks for the New York Giants and Washington Commanders, both of whom at one point held leads over the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles, respectively. Meanwhile, the Dallas Cowboys, fresh off a bye, had no problem rolling over the Los Angeles Rams.

Here's the Week 8 division recap. 

Cowboys 43, Rams 20

It was utter domination for the Dallas Cowboys, who blew out the Los Angeles Rams in Arlington, 43-20.

The Cowboys were up 33-3 before the Rams scored a meaningless touchdown before halftime, and all of Los Angeles’ points from that point on were basically in garbage time. Dallas racked up 387 yards while allowing just 280.

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott led the charge by completing 25 of his 31 passes for 304 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception, finishing the game with a 133.7 passer rating; he would later be relieved by backup Cooper Rush once the game turned into a rout. Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was sensational, catching 12 passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was knocked out of the game in the third quarter with a thumb injury. He was thoroughly beaten up by Dallas’s defense, completing 13 of 22 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown while throwing a pick-six to the Cowboys’ DaRon Bland. Backup Brett Rypien (the nephew of former Washington quarterback Mark Rypien) completed 5 of 10 passes for 42 yards in relief of Stafford.

This game was over by halftime. Dallas began the game with a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that ended with Prescott’s 18-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jake Ferguson.

Both teams traded field goals on the next two drives, but on the Rams’ next two possessions, the Cowboys’ defense scored eight points. First, Bland intercepted a pass from Stafford and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown, and after the Rams went three-and-out, Sam Williams blocked Ethan Evans’s punt, and the ball bounced out of the end zone for a safety. Dallas’s offense scored just two plays after the safety on Prescott’s 10-yard touchdown to Lamb, and the rout was on.

Prescott was intercepted deep in Rams territory on the Cowboys’ next drive, but he quickly made up for his mistake on the next drive with a 22-yard touchdown pass to Lamb. Now down 33-3, the Rams finally responded with a 1-yard touchdown run by Royce Freeman, making the score 33-9 at halftime.

The Rams also scored on the opening possession of the second half on Stafford’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Ben Skowronek. Still, any chance of a comeback was ruined when Stafford injured his thumb on the ensuing two-point conversion (which succeeded). All that laid ahead for the Rams was a meaningless field goal, while Dallas added ten more points before the end of the game, which included a highlight-reel 25-yard touchdown catch by Brandin Cooks.

Giants Let Game Slip Away to Jets, Falling 13-10 in Overtime

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Giants Let Game Slip Away to Jets, Falling 13-10 in Overtime

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Eagles 38, Commanders 31

The Philadelphia Eagles rallied back from a 14-3 first-half deficit to defeat the Washington Commanders on the road, 38-31.

The Eagles orchestrated their comeback by forcing three key turnovers on downs despite being outgained in total yards 472-374. Quarterback Jalen Hurts had a phenomenal game by completing 29 of his 38 passes for 319 yards and four touchdowns while posting a 135.7 passer rating. 

Wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith had huge games; Brown had eight catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns, while Smith had seven catches for 99 yards and a touchdown. Brown also had his sixth straight game with at least 125 receiving yards, setting an NFL record.

Commanders quarterback Sam Howell had a strong game as well, completing 39 of a whopping 52 passes for 397 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception, finishing with a 114.0 passer rating. Receivers Jahan Dotson and Jamison Crowder each scored a touchdown; Dotson had eight catches for 108 yards, while Crowder had seven for 95 yards.

After both teams punted on their first possessions, Washington drew first blood with Howell’s 26-yard touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin. The Eagles responded with a five-minute drive that ended with Jake Elliott’s 51-yard field goal, but the Commanders struck right back by driving 75 yards in nine plays before Howell threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Dotson.

The Commanders appeared to be in prime position to rout the Eagles after a huge red zone turnover, as Kamren Curl forced a fumble from running back Kenneth Gainwell that Phidarian Mathis recovered. However, they eventually faced 4th-and-1 at the Philadelphia 35-yard line and turned the ball over on downs when Howell’s pass to McLaurin was incomplete. 

The Eagles then got back in the game by moving 65 yards in seven plays, concluding with Hurts’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Brown. The Commanders, however, tacked on three more points before halftime, as inconsistent kicker Joey Slye drilled a long 61-yard field goal in the waning seconds of the second quarter.

The Eagles were victimized by another red zone fumble on the opening drive of the second half, this one by Hurts (recovered by Kendall Fuller). But again, the Commanders failed to capitalize and were ultimately forced to punt.

This would set off three consecutive touchdown drives, two by Philadelphia and one by Washington. Philadelphia initially tied the game at 17 thanks to a highlight-reel 25-yard touchdown catch from Brown. 

Washington responded with a massive 14-play, 75-yard drive that took over seven minutes and retook the lead with Howell’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Logan Thomas. But the Eagles tied the game again, as Hurts launched a 38-yard bomb to Smith that knotted things up at 24.

Washington would make a fatal mistake on their next drive, as Howell threw an interception to Reed Blankenship that gave the Eagles the ball at the Commanders’ 7-yard line. Two plays later, Philadelphia took their first lead on Hurts’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Julio Jones, his first in an Eagles uniform.

The Commanders’ next two drives ended on failed fourth down conversions, the second coming deep in their territory when Hassan Reddick recorded the Eagles’ only sack of the game. 

Philadelphia then put the game away with D’Andre Swift’s 7-yard touchdown run to make it 38-24; the Commanders desperately attempted a comeback by scoring on Crowder’s 26-yard touchdown catch less than a minute later, but the Eagles quashed all hope when Smith recovered Slye’s onside kick attempt.

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