The Cowboys got their signature win. Now they’re on top of the NFC East.

This was the Cowboys’ validation, their 33-13 triumph over the Eagles before 93,752 generally delighted witnesses at AT&T Stadium and a national television audience on NBC.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has said his team is capable of winning the Super Bowl this season. He just might be right.

“This game is additive,” Jones said late Sunday night outside the Cowboys’ locker room. “There’s no question that everybody feels better about their ability to compete than we did three hours ago because of the nature of our opponent. And the opponent brought that out in us.”

“I have to pinch myself right now to just realize that we won this game,” Jones added. “I still have that kind of respect for Philadelphia and for what is at stake and how it addresses perception. Perception is real. It’s very real.”

The Cowboys last reached the Super Bowl in the 1995 season. They have made a habit of being good enough to raise the Super Bowl hopes of their players, coaches and fans — not to mention those of Jones — but not good enough to deliver on such promise. And they seemed destined to be that sort of team again this season when they lost, 28-23, at Philadelphia on Nov. 5.

But they have run off five straight victories since. Quarterback Dak Prescott has played his way into the league MVP conversation, providing balance to a team that already possesses one of the NFL’s top defenses. And now the Cowboys no longer are merely a team that has spent the season beating up on poor to mediocre teams.

“It was big,” Prescott said. “We needed it. Let’s not sugarcoat that. We needed that. Obviously I’ve talked about it before … about grabbing a huge chunk of confidence and moving forward. Being able to do that against a team like that here at home, a place that we’ve had a lot of success at over the last two years, puts us in front of the division, right?”

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The Cowboys’ nine previous wins this season came over teams that currently have losing records. They beat the New York Giants twice, and they defeated the New York Jets, New England Patriots, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, Carolina Panthers, Washington Commanders and Seattle Seahawks once each. They lost to the 49ers and Eagles, along with a puzzling defeat to the Arizona Cardinals.

But now, the Cowboys have a signature victory. And, at 10-3, they have the same record as the 49ers and Eagles. They lead the Eagles in the NFC East by virtue of their 4-1 record against divisional opponents, a half-game better than Philadelphia’s 3-1 mark. The Niners, based on tiebreakers, are in position for the NFC’s No. 1 seed. But the Cowboys increasingly appear to be a team that must be reckoned with in January.

They extended their home winning streak to 15 games. Coach Mike McCarthy was on the sideline four days after undergoing surgery for appendicitis, and star pass rusher Micah Parsons played after being a late addition to the injury report Sunday because of an illness.

Prescott threw touchdown passes to wide receivers CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup in a 24-for-39, 271-yard passing performance. He has 18 touchdown passes and only one interception over the past six games.

Running back Rico Dowdle provided a rushing touchdown, aided by a successful instant-replay challenge by McCarthy after the officials originally had ruled Dowdle down by contact short of the goal line. Rookie kicker Brandon Aubrey connected on long-distance field goals of 60 and 59 yards. He became the first player in NFL history with two field goals of at least 59 yards in the same game. He added 45- and 50-yarders in the fourth quarter and is 30 for 30 on field goal tries this season.

Jones called it the most satisfying triumph during McCarthy’s tenure as the Cowboys’ coach.

“Yeah,” he said, “and it has to do with the fact that he came up off the operating table to not even wince and stand there and fight it all night and call it and coach it.”

The defense did its part, keeping the Philadelphia offense out of the end zone. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith each lost a fumble. The Eagles’ lone touchdown came on a 42-yard dash to the end zone in the third quarter by rookie defensive tackle Jalen Carter after he scooped up the ball on a fumble Prescott lost on a sack. The Cowboys led, 24-6, at halftime and barely were threatened thereafter.

The Eagles, the defending NFC champs, suddenly look vulnerable, with two straight losses following their 10-1 start to the season. The 49ers overwhelmed them, 42-19, a week earlier in the rematch of last season’s NFC championship game. And Philadelphia could not keep pace Sunday night with the Cowboys.

“I have to do a better job of protecting the ball and creating that energy for us,” Hurts said.

It had been a tumultuous week for the Eagles. The NFL prohibited their top security staffer, Dom DiSandro, from being on their sideline Sunday night because of his involvement in the incident during the 49ers game that led to the ejection of Niners linebacker Dre Greenlaw. The NFL’s review of that sideline episode continues, leaving open the possibility that the league will take disciplinary action against the Eagles and DiSandro.

Former NFL quarterback David Carr, now a studio analyst for the league-owned NFL Network, said on the air last week that the Eagles should bench Hurts in favor of backup Marcus Mariota until Hurts is fully healthy.

In truth, the Eagles just may be a weary team. This defeat concluded a rugged five-game stretch that began with games against the Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills. The Eagles won those three games, then lost to the 49ers and Cowboys.

They still have a chance to regroup. Their schedule turns decidedly more forgiving from here, with matchups with the Seahawks, Giants, Cardinals and Giants again to close the regular season.

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In his wide-ranging postgame comments, Jones called it “a monumental game” for Prescott. He said that Prescott “is a player that is qualified in every way to have a Super Bowl in his career.” He called the team’s failure to win a championship in the 2007 season, when it went 13-3 during the regular season with Tony Romo at quarterback, his “biggest disappointment since I’ve been with the Cowboys.” He acknowledged this season represents the Cowboys’ best Super Bowl opportunity since then. He even referenced El Cid, a medieval Spanish national hero, when discussing McCarthy’s return to the sideline Sunday.

Amid all that, he did not dismiss the Eagles.

“I think the Eagles are formidable,” Jones said. “They’re a good team. And you don’t have that record without it. We know they’re a good team. … But we’ve got a good team, too. We’ll hopefully see them [again]. I told [Eagles owner] Jeff Lurie before the game, ‘God, I hope we get to play again past tonight.’ ”