ARLINGTON, Texas _ The Eagles learned Sunday night how listless a crowd of 93,247 can become. It didn't matter that the rival Dallas Cowboys were desperate or had home-field advantage. The Eagles fans could be heard by the end of a 37-9 win at AT&T Stadium, as their team outscored the Cowboys by 30 points in a second half that silenced anyone in blue and fortified the Eagles' position as the best team in the NFL.
Don't put a ceiling on the Eagles, who appear only stronger after their bye week. With a 9-1 record and a four-game lead in the NFC East after 11 weeks, the Eagles look as if they'll cruise to a division title. Wentz outplayed fellow second-year quarterback Dak Prescott, showing why he's a bona fide MVP candidate in front of a national TV audience that should agree the Eagles are Super Bowl contenders.
Wentz went 14 of 27 for 168 yards and two touchdowns while Prescott was held to 145 yards and threw a career-high three interceptions. The Eagles topped 200 yards on the ground, and the defense embarrassed the Cowboys to drop them to 5-5.
The Eagles turned a 9-7 halftime deficit into a rout during the third quarter when coach Doug Pederson turned to the running game to bully the Cowboys defense and Wentz made key conversions that have become standard this season. Jim Schwartz's defense dominated Dallas, with four forced turnovers and four sacks.
Pederson regrouped his lackluster offense at halftime. It started with an eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive in which the Eagles called five running plays, including Corey Clement's 11-yard touchdown, to take a 15-9 lead. The Eagles went for two-point conversions in the second half because kicker Jake Elliott had exited the game with a concussion.
When the Cowboys tried pinning the Eagles on a fourth down at the Eagles' 39-yard line, the offense quickly changed fields. Jay Ajayi rushed for 71 yards around left tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai for a career-long run in front of family and friends in his hometown. Ajayi's role continued to grow in his second game with the Eagles, but Pederson still involved all the active running backs. The Cowboys needed to stop the Eagles on third down in the red zone to force the Eagles into a difficult fourth down without injured kicker Elliott, but few teams have been able to stop Wentz on third down this year. He found Torrey Smith for an 11-yard touchdown to build a 23-8 lead.
Wentz connected with Alshon Jeffery for a fourth-down touchdown in the fourth quarter for the receiver's fourth score in three games. Rookie Derek Barnett's second sack of the game also included a forced fumble on the next possession, with Nigel Bradham scooping up the ball and running it into the end zone.
The game was already decided by that point, but the Eagles defense wanted to keep Dallas out of the end zone. Malcolm Jenkins' late fourth-quarter interception ensured that would happen, and the Cowboys turned to their backup quarterback to end a miserable second half.
The opening kickoff doesn't usually produce suspense, but it did Sunday. Ryan Switzer returned Elliott's kick 61 yards, with Elliott the one who tackled him. Elliott's helmet appeared to collide with Switzer's on the play, and he later left the game with a concussion. That left the Eagles without a kicker for three quarters; linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill took over kickoffs. The Cowboys showed Switzer's return on their enormous video screen during the fourth quarter as the play of the game, which shows what kind of game it was for Dallas.
The defense forced the Cowboys to settle for a field goal after the long kickoff return, a big stop for an Eagles defense that didn't allow a Cowboys touchdown all game.
When the Eagles drove downfield to score on their first possession with a 4-yard touchdown run by Kenjon Barner, it appeared the offense would have its way against a Cowboys defense playing without star linebacker Sean Lee. Except the offense went quiet for the rest of the first the half, failing to score after Prescott threw two interceptions.
One was by cornerback Ronald Darby, who returned after a nine-week absence appearing to be the No. 1 cornerback the Eagles sought when they traded for him during the preseason. Rodney McLeod also had an interception _ his third in as many games.
The Cowboys settled for three field goals in the first half, entering halftime with the 9-7 lead. They failed to take advantage of five three-and-outs by the Eagles, and that's when they needed to strike. Because the Eagles scored 30 points in the second half and enter Thanksgiving week giving their fans much to be thankful for, including the NFL's best record and a home game against the 3-7 Chicago Bears next week.
