PHILADELPHIA — Rodney McLeod had nothing but green in front of him, but he was afraid that if he turned around, he would see yellow.
McLeod iced the Eagles' 23-9 win over the Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday night when he returned a fumble by Dallas quarterback Ben DiNucci for a 53-yard touchdown with 5 minutes left in the game. The score put Philadelphia up by two scores, and given how the defense was playing, it was going to be enough.
But he was worried that once he reached the north end zone at the Linc that he would have to trek back to the other side of the field to defend the Cowboys offense. That was because linebacker Duke Riley appeared to step offside when Dallas snapped the ball, which would have drawn a 5-yard penalty and negated the wild play that ended in McLeod’s second career touchdown.
“The ball was there, I scooped it up, I’m running,” McLeod said postgame. “I’m honestly thinking, we’re probably gonna have to come back and defend them in the red zone, but I looked and I see touchdown. Man, I just — yeah, it was just my time. Right place, right time.”
Dallas had a third-and-6 at the Philadelphia 21 with around five-and-a-half minutes left in the game, and the Eagles were nursing a six-point lead. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz brought seven men, including McLeod darting up from his safety spot, to pressure DiNucci, and linebacker T.J. Edwards got home and knocked the ball from the rookie’s hands.
The ball disappeared under a pile that included Riley and Eagles defensive end Vinny Curry, along with Cowboys offensive linemen Connor Williams and Terence Steele. Curry appeared to have possession of the ball, but he tussled with Williams, and suddenly, the ball squirted out the back of the play. Steele accidentally kicked it back toward midfield. McLeod snatched it.
“I actually got up from the tackle and was almost looking at the sideline for the next call just because I thought the ball was down already and we picked it up,” Edwards said. “And then I see it get kicked around and Rod picked it up, and it was honestly kind of crazy.”
Read more: Eagles 23, Cowboys 9: Timely defensive plays lift Eagles past NFC East rivals in another ugly outing
On the replay, Edwards does turn his head away from the play and back toward the Eagles sideline before ball knocked off Steele’s foot and McLeod made his dash.
“First things first, I was looking for a flag, just in case they called that, but after looking at the replay, you saw Duke get back,” Edwards said. “But I think we were all just happy that we could score on defense and kind of put that thing away at the end, so it was a great play, just guys getting to the ball and finishing the snap out.”
The offense once again struggled mightily Sunday, and the defense stepped up in the right spot to seal the victory. Quarterback Carson Wentz turned the ball over four times and was just 15 of 27 for 123 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions and a 61.9 passer rating.
When Edwards was in the huddle for the ensuing kickoff, Wentz walked over to him and clapped him on the helmet.
“That was a huge play by T.J. … and then Rodney getting in the end zone there,” Wentz said. “Offensively, we struggled. I gotta be better, but the defense bailed us out. That was a huge, huge play in the game to really kind of not fully seal the deal, but obviously put us in a great situation there at the end of the game, and that was just a huge play, so I was pretty fired up about it.”
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Edwards was making his first appearance since the Week 4 win at the 49ers. He missed the past three games while on injured reserve with a hamstring injury, and he was activated Saturday. He had a heavy workload, and he finished with a game-high 12 tackles, a sack, a quarterback hit, a tackle for loss and the forced fumble.
The second-year pro made the team as an undrafted free agent out of Wisconsin last year, and Sunday marked his largest impact in a game. It was a crucial juncture, as the win pushed the Eagles record to 3-4-1 and puts them securely in first place in the NFC East entering their bye.
McLeod, meanwhile, finished with just one tackle, but he broke up two passes in the secondary, as the defense held DiNucci to 21 of 40 passing for 180 yards and a 64.6 passer rating.
And when McLeod saw the ball bounce out toward midfield with no one between it and the Cowboys end zone, he was, as he said, in the right place at the right time. It turned out Riley was, too.
“I was surprised,” McLeod said. “It was just secure the bag, you know what I’m saying, pick it up, make sure you get possession and after that, get to the end zone. I’m glad … one of those guys got back onsides, and man, I appreciate it because we got that touchdown.”
Daniel Gallen covers the Philadelphia Eagles for PennLive. He can be reached at dgallen@pennlive.com. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Follow PennLive’s Philadelphia Eagles coverage on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
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‘Right place, right time’: Rodney McLeod, T.J. Edwards help Eagles seal win over Cowboys on wild defensive to - PennLive
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