ARLINTGTON, Texas — Less than 30 minutes into the game, the Eagles were trying to give the game away. Less than 15 minutes later, the game was effectively over.

Jalen Hurts continued his smooth play of the past four games through the first quarter, but then he committed a pair of unforgivable turnovers after a four-game streak without any. But defensive tackle Jalen Carter minimized the damage of the second, Hurts regained his composure, and the Eagles ended a six-game losing streak at AT&T Stadium, where Jerry’s world continued to crumble after a 34-6 loss.

Carter and the Eagles’ defense remained stingy. It has allowed fewer than 11 points per game (not counting a fumble return and a special-teams TD) since the bye. It forced five turnovers Sunday, but did so against a toothless, leaderless offense. It was a rather pathetic showing from the hosts, who couldn’t capitalize on Hurts’ worst moments in months.

You almost pitied the Cowboys, a franchise whose self-aggrandizement has, for almost 30 years, far outstripped its self-competence.

You almost felt sorry for them.

Almost.

As the Eagles surged to 7-2 and first place in the NFC East with a fifth straight win, the Cowboys, the preseason division favorites, fell to 3-6 with a fifth straight loss and no help in sight. Dak Prescott, their $240 million quarterback, has a torn hamstring and Sunday missed the first of what might be eight games — or, for all intents and purposes, the rest of the season; his replacement, Cooper Rush, remains a poor substitute. Other injuries and deficiencies to the Cowboys and the garbage barge that is the New York Giants, now 2-8, have made the East a two-team race. The upstart Commanders lost Sunday and fell to 7-3, so Thursday Night Football in Philly now carries far more weight than schedulers anticipated when they made it a throwaway game on Amazon Prime.

What ended as the springboard for more questions about the future of Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy, who should have been fired both months ago, began with a series of Eagles catastrophes, authored mainly by Hurts.

On the first play of the second quarter, Hurts threw an end-zone interception toward Dallas Goedert, who wasn’t open and who was running into double coverage. He seemed to enter a haze of confusion.

On the ensuing drive he took two bad sacks and, in between, burned a timeout to avoid a delay-of-game penalty. The Birds punted, but Ezekiel Elliott fumbled into the end zone, which gave the Birds the ball back deep in their own territory, but Hurts remained hesitant.

Micah Parsons strip-sacked Hurts, who’d failed to tuck the ball away when contact was imminent, which gave the Cowboys the ball at the Eagles’ 6. A TD seemed inevitable.

Then, two plays later, on third-and-goal from the 3, Carter showed up.

Carter grabbed guard Cooper Beebe by the “5″ and “6″ on his jersey, threw him aside like a trash bag, and drove straight into Rico Dowdle for a 2-yard loss and forced a field goal that preserved a 7-6 lead.

The Eagles’ offense got the ball back with 1 minute, 43 seconds to play, and Hurts found himself again.

Hurts feathered a 14-yard out pattern to A.J. Brown on the right sideline, hit DeVonta Smith on a 5-yard quickie in the same direction, then underthrew Smith on a blitz-buster deep pass. No worries.

On third-and-5, again facing a blitz, Hurts, waited an extra beat for Brown to cross his face, right-to-left, over the middle; 18 yards. The Cowboys called off the dogs and Hurts scrambled for 24, dumped a hesitation route to third-down back Kenneth Gainwell that made it second-and-1 at the Cowboys’ 14. They blitzed again, but Hurts saw it, evaded (and maybe even baited) linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, rolled right and hit tight end Goedert at the goal line for a 14-6 halftime lead.

A conservative three-and-out and a 31-yard punt return from Cooper DeJean in the third quarter set up a cool, seven-play, 37-yard TD drive, punctuated by a 5-yard touchdown pass to Johnny Wilson, on which Hurts had seven unmolested seconds to throw.

Hurts hit A.J. Brown for 44 yards to start the next drive and ended it with an 8-yard QB TD keeper, and, at 28-6, everybody in Arlington began planning the rest of their evening.

Hurts played one more series before Kenny Pickett replaced him. Hurts finished 14-for-20 for 202 passing yards with two touchdowns and an interception, and a 115.0 passer rating, his fifth straight game over 100; he had none in the first four games of the season, when the team was 2-2.

Similarly, Carter added a half-sack to his three others this season, hit Rush twice, and had the tackle for loss. With the retirement of Fletcher Cox, Carter, in his second season, remains the defense’s most significant player.

The Cowboys have no one to match him. They have no one to match Hurts, either.

Sad.

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