ARLINGTON, Texas — There was plenty of criticism to go around in this one, and it was pointed toward the Dallas Cowboys after they overcame a 21-point deficit to stun the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles 24-21 Sunday night at AT&T Stadium. Dak Prescott passed for 354 yards and led three consecutive scoring drives, before Brandon Aubrey’s 42-yard field goal as time expired provided the stunning climax to one of the most dramatic Eagles vs Cowboys stories in about decade, Nov. 23, 2025.
Prescott, defense fuel historic comeback
The night started with a breakdown for Dallas. Jalen Hurts had already muscled the Eagles to a 21-0 lead less than 18 minutes into the game, rushing for two touchdowns and throwing for another one to A.J. Brown, who in all picked up 110 yards on five catches. Years of penalties, a missed field goal and early turnovers had the Cowboys appearing overmatched against a Philadelphia team that was trying to maintain both its N.F.C. East lead and its newfound Super Bowl crown.
Prescott finally had a moment getting carved up by the Eagles down 21-0 late in the first half, when he zipped a touchdown pass to George Pickens with 21 seconds left before intermission to trim their deficit to 21-7 and inject life into his sideline. As the Dallas defense stiffened in the second half, Hurts (who led Philadelphia with 82 rushing yards) and his team were shut out, allowing Prescott to add an 8-yard, flip-into-the-end-zone touchdown run of his own before leading another scoring drive that evened things at 21-21 early in the fourth quarter.
Given one last opportunity following an Osa Odighizuwa sack of Hurts, Prescott took over at his own 27 with 1:35 left and calmly found Jake Ferguson for 19 yards and Pickens for 24 more to get into range. Aubrey, whose left earlier_kcked a 51-yarder left to end the victory at 42 versus time Aubrey had drilled winner as Essex half kickedJesus Draga scoring at halftime. “To come back the way we did, finish it with a field goal, it’s just exciting,” Aubrey said.
The win moved Dallas to 5-5-1 and dropped Philadelphia to 8-3, making a division race that had been shaping up as an Eagles runaway — with Dallas struggling with injuries and failing to find its legs under the new head coach Mike McCarthy — far closer. Prescott said the rally yesterday will show his teammates they “have the team, the brotherhood, the connection” necessary to come from behind again in future games.
Instant classic writes new chapter in Eagles vs Cowboys rivalry
The 134th meeting between the NFC East rivals pits a resurgent Eagles team against an equally embattled Cowboys side, and it instantly qualifies for the list of turning-point games in this rivalry. The Cowboys’ series lead, including a 4nd postseason victory, is 75-59 in a rivalry that has shaped the division since 1960. Those stakes and storylines are painstakingly captured in the official Cowboys–Eagles rivalry history.
This comeback, meanwhile, will join other teasers of greatness that inflected how Eagles vs Cowboys games would be remembered. A showdown in Arlington, post featuring Dallas shutting out Philadelphia there 24-0 in a 2010 regular-season finale to win the NFC East, is among several de facto division title games played between them and revisited as part of look back at recent NFC East deciders.
Prescott’s most recent comeback also mirrors what he had been done vs. Philadelphia earlier. In 2018, he found Amari Cooper with a walk-off touchdown in overtime to edge the Eagles, 29-23, a victory that sent Dallas toward another division crown and that still lingers in team mythology, retold recently as part of an overtime thriller in 2018.
The bitterness stretches back decades. From the infamous “Pickle Juice Game” in 2000 to draft-day trolling and playoff showdowns, the rivalry has flourished as they have taken turns being good enough to trade stretches of dominance. A 2016 feature detailed how the courses of the two teams in the late 1960s set up this prolonged enmity, as well as how those franchises developed into perennial contenders and arch enemies, which was further explored in a 2016 long read on how this rivalry became what it is today.
What the comeback means for each team
For Dallas, matching the franchise mark for largest comeback is a carryover on a season once on wobbly legs and belief into a locker room that came in with a slow start and also the recent loss of teammate Marshawn Kneeland. Owner Jerry Jones praised the “grit” of a team that had every reason to fold but instead clawed its way back into the N.F.C. playoff picture.
For Philadelphia, losing a 21-0 lead to a division rival weeks after winning the Lombardi Trophy is an abrupt reminder of how fickle standing atop the conference can be. The Eagles, who actually lost to the Cowboys with Jalen Carter getting tossed early in a chippy 24-20 season-opener marred by an early ejection of, now have some quick regrouping to do if that wasn’t already being called a meltdown back home as they try to hold onto their seeding.
And for everybody else, this most recent Eagles vs Cowboys showdown was a reminder of why the rivalry is must-watch football: star quarterbacks slugging it out, defending champions crumbling under pressure, and a storied franchise getting to celebrate a 21-point comeback that will be played back in Texas for years — one evening that fit right alongside the long and bruising history between midnight green and silver and blue as reflected in ESPN’s game recap or over time on databases such as Football Database’s head-to-head page
