There are times when a team has to gut out a victory with everything going against it.
So when it mattered most, the Eagles embarked on a drive that took up 7 minutes, 58 seconds of the fourth quarter, consisting of 17 plays. They ran the ball 14 times and passed only three times.
But the drive stalled at the Cardinals’ 5 yard line with 1:48 left when Jalen Hurts threw incomplete, trying for Quez Watkins in the end zone.
Fittingly, it came down to a kicker who was elevated from the practice squad on Saturday and had never kicked in an NFL game. Yet Cameron Dicker calmly drilled a 23-yard field goal with 1:45 left.
But the 20-17 win wasn’t secured until Cardinals’ kicker Matt Ammendola missed a 43-yard field goal with 17 seconds left, forced by Kyler Murray’s mistake two plays earlier. On 2nd-and-10 from the Eagles’ 34, Murray ran up the middle and slid. Thinking he had the first down, Murray then spiked the ball.
Murray was ruled 1 yard short, however, so when he spiked the ball with 22 seconds and no timeouts left, it was fourth down and the Cardinals had to try the field goal.
When Ammendola, like Dicker promoted from the practice squad for the game, missed, the Eagles celebrated as they remained the NFL’s only undefeated team at 5-0.
So much was going against the Eagles.
Their early 14-point lead had disappeared when Murray led the Cardinals down the field in the fourth quarter, culminating in Eno Benjamin’s 11-yard run with 9:43 left, tying the game at 17-17.
The Eagles’ defense was gassed. On offense, two key offensive linemen in Jason Kelce and Landon Dickerson left in the first half with leg injuries. Kelce returned to start the second half, Dickerson late in the third quarter.
Then the Eagles rode the offensive line down the field behind Miles Sanders, Jalen Hurts and even three key carries from Kenny Gainwell.
All of which was enough, barely, for the Eagles to win at State Farm Stadium, a place they have never won in during five previous tries.
Hurts was 26-for-36 passing for 239 yards. He also ran for 61 yards on 15 carries. Sanders had 58 yards on 15 carries.
The Eagles got off to the fast start they were hoping for, grabbing a two touchdown lead early in the second quarter.
But it came with a price as two offensive linemen left the game with injuries in Kelce and Dickerson. That was in addition to left tackle Jordan Mailata, who was ruled out before the game with a shoulder injury.
And by the time halftime arrived, the Eagles’ lead was down to 14-10 as the offense seemed to bog down with three backup linemen in the game. Sua Opeta replaced Dickerson at left guard after Dickerson left with a leg injury on the Eagles’ first drive.
Rookie Cam Jurgens made his NFL debut after Kelce left with about 4 minutes left in the half. Jack Driscoll started in place of Mailata.
Kelce, however, returned to start the second half, and Dickerson returned later in the third quarter.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, scored 10 straight points to finish the first half, including Ammendola’s 20-yard field goal as time expired.
Early on, the Eagles continued their M.O. through the first four games of taking early leads.
Hurts methodically led the Eagles down the field on the opening drive, completing 2 passes to A.J. Brown and 3 more to Dallas Goedert before running the ball in himself from the 1.
The Eagles made it 14-0 on another Hurts 1-yard TD run.
But the Eagles couldn’t keep it going. Murray led the Cardinals down the field, capping the drive with a 25-yard TD to Marquise Brown to halve the Eagles’ lead with 5:24 left.
Still, the Eagles have outscored their opponents 106-45 in the first half this season. The discrepancy is even larger in the second quarter as they have outscored opponents 92-24.
The Eagles have only scored 26 points in the second half. Some of that is because the Eagles have had leads of at least 15 points in the second half of each game.
That changed Sunday.
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“We talked a lot about our identity as a football team and what we’re continuing to build,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “One thing we talk about is physicality, and that was kind of like our identity last year. We really felt like we’re mean, we’re tough, we’re nasty, we’re physical.”
Dicker the kicker comes through
Cameron Dicker, in his NFL debut as a kicker, made his first two extra points in the first half. But the Eagles didn’t give him a chance to try a field goal. That is, until the third quarter as the Eagles’ opening drive of the second half stalled at the Cardinals’ 24 yard line.
Dicker came on and nailed a 42-yard field goal with 9:57 left in the third quarter to give the Eagles a 17-10 lead. Dicker is replacing Jake Elliott, who suffered an ankle injury last week. Dicker was given the practice squad elevation for the game, an indication that Elliott’s injury isn’t a long-term one.
He saved the best for last.
Spreading it around
In the first half, four different receivers had at least two catches. Brown caught 3 passes for 32 yards on the first drive and Smith had 2 catches for 42 yards on the third drive. Smith had 5 catches for 58 yards at halftime, Goedert had 5 for 37. Quez Watkins had 2 catches for 13 yards.
No one else caught a pass.
Eagles inactives
In addition to Mailata, cornerback Avonte Maddox and kicker Jake Elliott were among those not on the game-day roster. Maddox is missing his second straight game with an ankle injury. Josiah Scott is starting for the second straight game at the Maddox’s nickel pot.
And Elliott is sitting out with an ankle injury after getting hit there on a field-goal attempt last Sunday. In addition, LB Patrick Johnson (concussion) and RB Boston Scott (ribs) are also sitting out. Scott was listed as questionable on Friday’s injury report. RB Trey Sermon will replace Scott on the game-day roster.
The other players sitting out were QB Ian Book and DE Janarius Robinson.
Ertz’s reunion
Former Eagles tight end Zach Ertz had 6 catches for 48 yards in his first game against his former team. Ertz was the Eagles’ 2nd-round pick in 2013 by the Eagles. He is second in team history in receptions with 579, 10 short of Harold Carmichael’s record.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
