It was supposed to be a fight for the NFC East title. The rematch of the Thanksgiving slaughter, in which the Philadelphia Eagles dominated the Dallas Cowboys 33-10, turned out to be a bit less than that. The Thanksgiving game saw the Eagles catch the Cowboys on a very short week and Tony Romo still experiencing severe pain in his back.
He reportedly did not have his usual injection that week which would have aided in his playing. He looked stiff and slow. Last night however, Romo was the opposite. The Cowboys had an extra few days to prepare, the result of playing last Thursday. Romo had his injection and was in fine form, throwing three touchdown passes to Dez Bryant.
The game began on a bad note for the Eagles and just got worse from there. They muffed the opening kickoff, which Dallas recovered and turned into a quick score. The opening kick was either intentionally short or it got caught up in the wind. Either way, it fooled the Eagles and return man Josh Huff had to race from the end zone to try and catch it. The ball bounced in front of him and he and a Dallas player got to the ball at the same time and Dallas recovered.
Things just got worse for the Eagles, who once again struggled to generate any offense with Mark Sanchez. The team committed four more turnovers to lead the league in that category. The defense struggled to pressure Romo and he was allowed plenty of time to find his receivers. The Eagles secondary, which is considered the weakest part of the defense, had no answer for Dez Bryant as he dominated. They were able to contain DeMarco Murray even though he ran for two touchdowns.
Dallas jumped out to 21-0 lead and went to halftime up 21-10. The Eagles played much better in the third quarter, taking a 24-21 lead until Dallas scored again in the final minute. This gave the Cowboys the lead for good as they began the fourth quarter with a 28-24 lead. The final score of 38-27 really flattered the Eagles as they really could not get anything going on either side of the ball, much like last week’s loss to Seattle. The Cowboys are now in first place at 10-4 while the Eagles fall to 9-5 and are currently out of the playoffs. The Eagles need to win their final games, both on the road, at Washington and the New York Giants. They will then need a lot of help to make the playoffs.