Eagles Offense Found Itself In Second Half
ARLINGTON, TX – The Philadelphia Eagles offense looked out of sync and sloppy in the first half of Sunday’s 37-9 win over the Dallas Cowboys. They failed to convert a third down throughout the first half and rushed for just 35 yards in the first 30 minutes of the game.
The second half was a much different story. The Eagles scored 30 unanswered points to turn a 9-7 halftime deficit into a lopsided victory. Everything started clicking. The Eagles rushed for 180 yards in the second half. Carson Wentz also completed seven of nine passes in the second half for 88 yards and two touchdowns.
The Eagles say the second half success had nothing to do with halftime adjustments. Instead, it had everything to do with execution.
“The thing was staying with the game plan,” Wentz stated. “We just stayed with what we knew we could do and had to execute better.”
“We were fine,” Head Coach Doug Pederson said. “Let’s just get back to basics and no one panic. The first half, we just missed on a few things. This team is a resilient group. They didn’t let the first half waiver at all and did a nice job in the second half.”
To the Eagles credit, nobody did panic. The defense bent but never broke in the first half by keeping the Cowboys out of the endzone. That continued in the second half as the defense pitched a shutout and finished the game by forcing four turnovers.
The offense got away from the run in the first half and got a little pass happy. It was obvious that the running game needed to get going and the players knew it.
“I thought we just had to run the ball,” Offensive Tackle Lane Johnson stated. “That’s all it boils down to. You saw the second half what we can do when we run. That was it.”
“We just decided to stay disciplined and were determined to get the run game started,” Running Back Jay Ajayi said after carrying the ball seven times for 91 yards. “We woke up in the second half and got into our run game. We dominated after that.”
The Eagles have scored 25 or more points in eight straight games. They have also scored 30 or more points in four straight games. After dominating the Cowboys in the second half, the Eagles feel there is still room for improvement.
Wentz said the offense has yet to reach its potential, “Without a doubt. Especially the way we left a lot of plays out there in the first half. We definitely have our best game ahead of us.”
“The message is basically we haven’t done anything,” Pederson told the team after the game. “We beat a good football team. We’ve still got to play them again. We haven’t clinched anything. It’s one game at a time and we’ll get back to work on Tuesday. The guys are ready to get back to Philly, watch the tape and get on to the next one.”
The next one features a lopsided matchup as the 9-1 Eagles host the 3-7 Chicago Bears Sunday afternoon.
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