Eagles Top Cowboys

The Cooper Rush magic ran out for the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night in their NFC East showdown at Lincoln Financial Field.

And that actually will make for a smooth, no-second-thoughts transition back to Dak Prescott at quarterback.

Rush threw his first three interceptions of the season and had his four-game winning streak as the Cowboys’ fill-in quarterback ended by the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys fell two games behind the still-unbeaten Eagles by losing, 26-17.

“Turnovers kill,” tailback Ezekiel Elliott said as the Cowboys began to file out of the visitors’ locker room late Sunday night. “We lost the turnover battle, minus-three. We’ve got to protect the football better.”

Rush made his fifth straight start in place of Prescott, who continues to work his way back from the fractured right thumb he suffered in a season-opening defeat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Prescott was listed as a limited participant in two Cowboys practices last week, and he threw on the field before this game. But he was on the game-day inactive list.

“We’ve had success over the last month,” Elliott said. “But this one hurts. We really wanted this one… big game, big division game. But yeah, we get Dak back hopefully next week or the week after that. We have to figure out what went on today and learn from today and get better.”

Prescott said he plans to return for the Cowboys’ game next Sunday against the Detroit Lions in Arlington, Tex.

The Cowboys will be better when he’s back. And now there won’t be any further discussion on the network pregame shows as to whether the Cowboys should stick with Rush and avoid messing with success.

“We’ve just got to play cleaner. … Sometimes [when] you’re playing ball, things happen,” Rush said.

Rush threw a pair of interceptions during a first half in which he had a passer rating of 1.0. The Cowboys also failed on a fourth-down attempt from their own 34-yard line while the Eagles raced to a 20-0 lead in the second quarter. Tailback Miles Sanders ran for a touchdown for the Eagles, and quarterback Jalen Hurts threw a touchdown pass to wide receiver A.J. Brown.

“We know what we’re capable of,” Rush said. “Sometimes it’s going to be ugly. It’s the NFL. They’ve got good players, too.”

The Cowboys scored 17 straight points, getting a third-quarter touchdown run by Elliott and Rush’s touchdown pass to rookie tight end Jake Ferguson in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.

But the Eagles steadied themselves with Hurts’s touchdown pass to wide receiver DeVonta Smith midway through the fourth quarter. Rush followed by throwing his third interception of the night. The Cowboys’ last-gasp comeback bid ended when kicker Brett Maher missed a 59-yard field goal attempt with 1:08 to play.

So the Eagles rolled on.

The early-season revival of the NFC East was given the national spotlight Sunday night. And the Eagles remained at the forefront of it. They stayed perfect as the NFL’s lone undefeated team, improving to 6-0 entering their bye week.

They’re a game ahead of the New York Giants, who are 5-1 after winning at home earlier Sunday over the Baltimore Ravens. The Cowboys dropped to 4-2.

“I don’t feel like we should hang our [heads] on a game like this, knowing that we played tough,” Cowboys pass rusher Demarcus Lawrence said. “We learned from our mistakes, came in here… at halftime and got better.”