Once again, the Philadelphia Eagles put a licking on the ‘Boys from Dallas. We have had some very memorable wins versus Dallas during the regular season at home, especially at Veteran’s Stadium. The most infamous 2 games were: the fourth-and-1 play (twice) called by that idiotic Barry Switzer where the Eagles defense stopped Emmitt Smith on both plays in his tracks; the other being the infamous “Ice Bowl”, where the stadium maintenance crews forgot to remove all the snow. Hence, Jimmy Johnson and the rest of the Cowboys were targets for the many, including the now Gov. Ed Rendell. My favorite happened back in 1992 with both teams entering the game at 4-0 on a nationally televised Monday night game. Randall Cunningham and Reggie White helped lead a thumping on Dallas that night, 31-7, one that I witnessed live. Yesterday, the Eagles once and for all christened the new dig with burying the Dallas Cowboys 36-10. Once again, I was there. The win clinched a playoff berth for the Birds and essentially making almost impossible for Dallas to overtake us for the East crown. Andy Reid is now 5-0 at home against the Cowboys with 3+ games with margin of victories of 22 or more points. At a very cold and windy Lincoln Financial Field, the Eagles proved that they are indeed the team to beat in the NFC. They spanked the Cowboys, out-gaining them 403 to 225 yards. The Birds accomplished this against the NFL’s best-ranked defense. Philly now has 8 straight victories in a row. The last time the Eagles won 8 consecutive games was back during their march to Super Bowl XV, in 1980. Maybe this is the year that the Philadelphia Eagles finally get over that last hump and go to the Super Bowl.

The game started out with both defenses playing solid throughout the first half. It was clear that Bill Parcells was determined to run the ball and keep the pressure off of QB Quincy Carter. It worked until the start of the second half. In fact, Troy Hambrick ran the ball for Dallas on their first 7 plays. On the Cowboys second possession, Carter moved the Dallas into FG position, where John Cundiff connected from 29 yards out. Eagles QB Donovan McNabb quickly took the Eagles downfield on the ensuing kickoff and if not for a LJ Smith holding call probably would have score a TD. Instead, David Akers kicked a shot 22-yard chip shot and the score was tied. It would have been a longer FG if not for the spectacular run by McNabb who was flushed from the pocket on third-and-long and was forced out at the 4-yard line. Late in the second quarter, the Cowboys were not as lucky as McNabb drove the Birds on a 7-play, 79-yard TD drive, keyed by 2 long passes. The first was to Freddie Mitchell, aka “First Down Freddie” for a 22-yard gain and the other was 24-yard catch to Correll Buckhalter. Those setup another highlight play by Brian Westbrook, who took a short screen pass and through like 6 tackles from 16 yards out. That gave the Eagles a 10-3 lead. Dallas struck right back on 3 quick plays and tied the game at 10 just before the half. Hambrick ran 13 times for 58 yards in the first, but had only 17 yards in the second. Defensive coordinator Jim Johnson fired up the defense with a talk about being more aggressive stopping the run.

The Eagles defense completely shut down the Dallas offense in second half. In fact, the top 3 Cowboys’ receivers of Joey Galloway, Terry Glenn and Antonio Bryant had zero receptions and yards during the entire game. The big “ZERO”! The Eagles out-scored Dallas 26-0 in the second half. The defensive line chased Quincy Carter from the pocket on many occasions forcing many incompletions, 2 INT’s and sacking him 3 times. The feeding frenzy began when Sheldon Brown intercepted Carter on the 2nd play in the third quarter. That setup a short 5-yard shovel pass to Duce Staley for a 17-10 lead. The crowd and the defense went crazy thereafter. Later in the third quarter, the crowd was directly responsible for a bad snap on third and long at the Cowboys own 5-yard line. The snap went into the end zone, as Quincy Carter was looking the other way. Darwin Walker was there then to force Carter to kick the ball out of the end zone for a safety. The Eagles continued their frenzy, when Bobby Taylor intercepted another pass from Quincy Carter at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Soon afterwards, McNabb hit LJ Smith with a short end route pass for a 56-yard TD catch. It was his first in the NFL. Donovan McNabb completed 19 of 35 passes and 248 yards with 3 TD’s and 0 INT’s during the game. His QB rating over the past 4 games is now 105.4. Correll Buckhalter completed the Eagles romp with a 64-yard TD rush straight up the middle in the closing minutes, making the score 36-10.

The final score read 36-10, but felt more like 60-10 for Dallas. The Cowboys claimed before the game that McNabb dissed them withy some early season remarks that the NFC East Title still goes through Philly after the Eagles lost to Dallas the first time. After this game, McNabb said, “If a comment that had to be made 2 months ago needs to motivate you, you shouldn’t be playing the game”. If the Eagles were to get the home field advantage, this new field could become a place of horrors for opposing teams to play in come January. For the Birds, only a trophy named after the greatest coach ever in the NFL would suffice right this season. For now, though the Eagles must focus on the next week against the Miami Dolphins, who now have an 8-5 record. There is a rumor that next week could be a home game for the Eagles, even though it is in South Florida. It is said that over 20,000 Eagle fans will be in attendance. The Eagles could show the world that our fans are the best on the first play by running Duce Staley straight up the gut with chants of “Duuucceee” resound throughout Pro Player Park.