Walker Opens Things Up for Eagles : NFC: He gains 115 yards and Cunningham throws three touchdown passes against Cardinals.

The return of Randall Cunningham and the addition of Herschel Walker are making a big difference for the Philadelphia Eagles.

“He sure makes my life easier. He just adds a lot to the offense,” Cunningham said after throwing three touchdown passes and then using Walker as a battering ram to wear down the Phoenix Cardinals in a 31-14 victory Sunday night.

Cunningham threw for two scores in the first half, then connected with Fred Barnett with a 71-yarder as the Eagles won their second in a row and dropped the Cardinals to 0-2. Phoenix has lost 10 consecutive games since last season.

Barnett, whose 17-yard catch gave the Eagles a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter, had eight catches for a career-high 193 yards, capitalizing on the loose defense Phoenix was forced to play because of Walker.

“We’re just looking to take advantage,” Barnett said. “They were coming at us with a nine-man front and playing man-to-man coverage with a safety in the middle.”

Walker had his second consecutive 100-yard game for the first time since 1987. He finished with 115 yards in 28 carries after wearing down the clock and the Cardinals in the fourth quarter with six runs in a row on his team’s first possession of the period.

“The only thing I ask is to play football, and I asked Minnesota to do that,” said Walker, who signed with the Eagles on June 22. “And these guys have let me do that.”

Cunningham’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Williams with 15 seconds to go before halftime was a key in deflating the Cardinals, who had come back for a 14-10 lead after starting quarterback Timm Rosenbach was knocked out by a sack by Clyde Simmons and sustained a separated right shoulder.

“We’re struggling right now,” Phoenix Coach Joe Bugel said. “We’ve got to find reasons to stop people and how to do it.”