Philadelphia Eagles’ loss opens door for Dallas Cowboys to win NFC East
The Dallas Cowboys got a belated Christmas gift Sunday, thanks to former Allen High School star Kyler Murray.
Murray led the Arizona Cardinals to a 34-31 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles, putting the Cowboys within one win of the NFC East title and No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs.
The Cowboys and the Eagles are tied with 11-5 records.
The two teams split their match-ups in the regular season. But the Eagles’ loss to the Cardinals gives the Cowboys the edge in terms of the conference record tiebreaker if both teams win their final game.
It would be in keeping an NFC East trend as no team has repeated as division champions since 2004.
The Cowboys would have the No. 2 seed If they win at Washington on Sunday, thus gain the opportunity to play two playoff games at AT&T Stadium, where they are 8-0 this season.
The Cowboys would also have the tiebreaker edge over the Detroit Lions (11-5), the champs of the NFC North, by virtue of their 20-19 victory Saturday night.
If the Cowboys lose and the Eagles beat the the New York Giants, then the Eagles would win the NFC East. The Giants-Eagles and Cowboys-Commanders games start at 3:25 p.m. on Sunday.
The San Francisco 49ers have clinched the No. 1 seed and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
Eagles fall to Cardinals
James Conner rushed for a 2-yard touchdown with 32 seconds to play and the Arizona Cardinals stunned the host Philadelphia Eagles 35-31 on Sunday to leave the NFC playoff picture in disarray.
Needing a stop to halt their December slide, the Eagles’ defense fell flat, allowing touchdowns on all four second-half possessions to permit 29 points.
Kyler Murray was rarely pressured after a first-half interception and completed 25 of 31 passes for 232 yards and three TDs for Arizona (4-12). Conner had 26 carries for 128 yards and Greg Dortch caught a game-high seven passes for 82 yards.
Murray hit Dortch for a 36-yard gain to the Eagles 5 and a first-and-goal with 41 ticks left.
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles had only 275 total yards to Arizona’s 449. The Cardinals dominated time of possession behind Conner (39:39 to 20:21).
Hurts set the Eagles up for a go-ahead field goal with a short completion to Kenneth Gainwell to the Arizona 25. The Cardinals called timeout before Jake Elliott’s 43-yarder sailed through the uprights with 2:33 on the clock. Murray had the Cardinals at the Arizona 43 at the two-minute warning and at Philadelphia’s 41 just 34 seconds later.
Murray’s third touchdown pass of the second half, a 5-yard connection with Michael Wilson, tied the game at 28 with 5:26 remaining.
Arizona’s furious second-half comeback from a 21-6 deficit began with Murray’s 6-yard scoring toss to running back Michael Carter before Murray and Conner hooked up from 5 yards out just over six minutes later. Wilson snagged a two-point pass from Murray to tie the game at 21.
Field Level Media contributed to this story.
This story was originally published December 31, 2023 at 3:47 PM.