The Philadelphia Eagles used the formula that had allowed them to win their first five games of the 2022 NFL season in Game No. 6 against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night – the defense throttled the opposing offense in the first half while quarterback Jalen Hurts and the Eagles’ offense exploded in the second quarter.

Philadelphia scored 20 points in the second quarter on Sunday night to give the Eagles 112 points in the period in 2022 – the most points that a team has scored in any quarter six games into a season in NFL history and more points than 11 teams have scored this season.

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But Dallas didn’t stick to the Philadelphia’s script and, 21 seconds into the fourth quarter, trailed by three points.

That’s when the Eagles went on a 13-play, 75-yard series that took 7:37 off the clock and ended on Hurts’ 7-yard touchdown pass to former Alabama teammate DeVonta Smith to set the final score at 26-17.

“Who’s toughest the longest?” Hurts said after the game. “Who can control what they can the longest? Who can stay the course? Who can truly stay the course? I think this football team, today we played together. Circumstances in the game changed. We had momentum change in the game. We had a lot of different things going on in the game, but we didn’t waver from what we wanted to accomplish. We trusted in each other.

“You get in a situation like that, you kind of started off really hot, OK, ballgame’s 20-17. Don’t flinch. Take your head strong and keep going. I think that was a great display of controlling what we could and playing together and trusting each other on that drive. That was a big-time drive for this win today.”

On the fourth-quarter TD drive, Philadelphia used four ball-carriers to gain 45 yards on 10 rushing attempts, including three by Hurts that gained 10 yards, and the Eagles QB completed his three passes for 30 yards.

Philadelphia converted three third-down snaps on the series, including with a 5-yard run by Hurts on third-and-4 and a 2-yard run by Hurts on third-and-1.

“Big-time leadership,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said during his postgame press conference. “This guy’s not fazed by things. He’s got a great demeanor that you see in great quarterbacks. There’re so many big games in the NFL. This was a huge game, right? Sunday Night Football, division rival, both at the top of the division, and he’s unfazed by things. That’s what I love about him, is that he just goes and he plays the next play.

“And he made a big play on third-and-4, I think, when we didn’t have anybody open and made a play with his legs. He controlled the offense. He used the clock. I’ve said this before: He was in complete control, communicating what our message was to the offensive line, or the running backs in that scenario.

“It was Quarterback 101 right there for Jalen.”

Hurts completed 15-of-25 passes for 155 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions and ran nine times for 27 yards at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday night.

His first touchdown pass went to wide receiver AJ Brown, who finished the 15-yard scoring play with a sprint to the end zone as Philadelphia took a 14-0 lead with 10:40 left in the first half.

While the Eagles entered Sunday night’s game as the NFL’s only unbeaten team, Dallas had won its past four games to boost its record to 4-1, adding a showdown quality to the first of the teams’ two meetings as NFC East rivals this season.

In college, Hurts spent three seasons at Alabama and one season at Oklahoma, so he’s well-versed on rivalries.

“Every rivalry individually has something to it that makes it uniquely special,” Hurts said. “Alabama-Auburn, Alabama versus everybody, really. You have the Oklahoma-Texas game, a pretty big game, and the Okie State-Oklahoma game.

“And here, you see the passion surrounding this game. It’s rivalry football. That’s how it is at every level, so I’m just happy we got it done today.”

Hurts faced Dallas once last season, his first full year as the Eagles’ No. 1 QB. In the third game of the 2021 campaign, Hurts passed for 326 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw two interceptions in a 41-21 loss.

“I try to treat every game individually,” Hurts said. “But you’d be naïve to think I hadn’t remembered that. I try to find value in all my experiences, and that was a valuable experience for me. …

“I think this team was hungry for it. Eager to come out here and play in a big-time game.”

Philadelphia has a 6-0 record for the first time since the 2004 season, which ended in a 24-21 loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX.

The Eagles won’t go for Win No. 7 until Oct. 30. Philadelphia has an open date for Week 7 of the 2022 NFL season. The Eagles will return to the field against the Pittsburgh Steelers at noon CDT Oct. 30 in Philadelphia.

“I think we have a long way to go as a football team in terms of our growth, our development, everything,” Hurts said. “But I think the beautiful part about this football team is regardless of the circumstance, regardless of how it looks, we stick together, and we’ve shown that throughout this first six-week stint. We just want to continue to grow together. It’s not going to be easy. It’s a climb, and the higher you get in that climb, it gets more treacherous.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.