By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer
PHILADELPHIA — Jalen Hurts rushed for two touchdowns for the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, who lost their hot-tempered star defender for spitting on Dak Prescott, then withstood a rare weather delay and needed a late stop to beat the Dallas Cowboys, 24-20, in a wild start to the NFL season on Thursday night.
The Eagles led 24-20 with 4:44 left in the third quarter when the game was delayed 65 minutes because of lightning in the area around Lincoln Financial Field. The game ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.
Prescott threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-3 with 1:54 left to end Dallas’ last-gasp rally. He passed for 188 yards.
Hurts wore out a defense without Micah Parsons on touchdown runs of 4 and 8 yards – no legal tush push needed. Saquon Barkley also ran for a 10-yard score, even if his final rushing total of 60 yards was minuscule compared to the last season when he topped 2,000 yards.
Hurts punctuated one score by chucking the ball into the stands and shrugging his shoulders much like his friend and mentor, Michael Jordan, who received a nice ovation when he was shown on the big screen.
Hurts, Barkley and the rest of the Eagles spent a pregame ceremony where the team raised their 2024 championship banner inside the locker room, per the wishes of Coach Nick Sirianni.
Defensive lineman Jalen Carter headed right back inside only moments after the banner was raised.
Prescott and Carter exchanged words after the opening kickoff, and Carter spit on Prescott’s jersey before backing away. Prescott quickly motioned to a nearby official who threw the flag and sent Carter packing. Fans booed as Carter walked off slowly, the standout defensive tackle holding his helmet in his hands behind his back.
Social media detectives broke down the play to see if Prescott, indeed, did spit first.
Either way, Carter could be headed toward a hefty financial penalty, if not worse, in the first major test of the NFL’s increased emphasis this season on sportsmanship.
Still one of the NFL’s nastiest division rivalries, the game was full of skirmishes and a near-costly unnecessary roughness penalty late in the third against the Eagles that put the Cowboys in position to take the lead.
Dallas running back Miles Sanders, though, fumbled the ball at the 10-yard line and the Super Bowl champions recovered. Prescott made a touchdown-saving diving tackle on the play.
It would be a while until the Eagles got the ball back, with the game stopped with 4:44 left in the third quarter because of lightning.
The scores by Hurts and Barkley made the Eagles the first defending Super Bowl champions to score touchdown on the first three drives of the season since Green Bay in 2011. Jake Elliott put the finishing touches on the scoring with a 58-yard field goal.
Javonte Williams had a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs – the first on the opening driving after Carter was ejected – and Brandon Aubrey kicked field goals of 41 and 53 yards.
More to come on this story.
INJURIES
Eagles offensive lineman Landon Dickerson left with a back injury.
UP NEXT
Dallas plays its home opener against the Giants.
Did someone say Super Bowl rematch? The Eagles head to Kansas City seven months after their 40-22 dismantling of the Chiefs in New Orleans.
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