GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NFL: DALLAS (6-1) at PHILADELPHIA (3-4)

By Vince DiGregorio
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer


PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- With the season hanging in the balance,the Philadelphia Eagles had little margin for error.Unfortunately, that margin was erased in the first half.

Tony Romo completed 20-of-25 passes for 324 yards and threetouchdowns as the Dallas Cowboys took advantage of two turnoversby Donovan McNabb to post a 38-17 victory over the Eagles.

Dallas (7-1) moved a game ahead of the idle New York Giants inthe NFC East, while Philadelphia (3-5) suffered a serious blowto its postseason hopes.


With the theme song from the movie "Rocky" being played prior tothe kickoff at Lincoln Financial Field, the Eagles took a punchto the gut on the first play from scrimmage.


McNabb was hit by Marcus Spears and fumbled the ball, which wasrecovered by linebacker Bradie James at the Philadelphia 37-yardline.


Six plays later, Julius Jones ran it in from two yards out togive Dallas a quick 7-0 lead. During the drive, Romo foundTerrell Owens for a 23-yard completion on third-and-six to setup the score.


Philadelphia tied it on its next possession when Brian Westbrookscored on a 3-yard TD run after McNabb completed a 45-yard passto Reggie Brown.


The Cowboys answered on their ensuing possession when Romocapped a 9-play, 72-yard scoring drive with a 1-yard toss toTony Curtis that gave Dallas a 14-7 advantage after one quarter.

Dallas was stopped late in the second quarter when Lito Sheppardintercepted a Romo pass deep in Eagles territory, but safetyKen Hamlin then intercepted McNabb and returned it 14 yards tothe Philadelphia 14.


Marion Barber followed with a 5-yard touchdown run that gave theCowboys a 21-7 halftime advantage.


Dallas put the game away in the third quarter with twotouchdowns sandwiched around a David Akers' 36-yard field goalfor Philadelphia, to take a commanding 35-10 lead.

Romo connected with Owens on a 45-yard scoring strike just overtwo minutes into the period. Only happy when the attention isdirected his way, Owens couldn't resist mocking his old team,flapping his arms to mimic an eagle following his TD reception.

After Akers' field goal, Romo then hooked up with Jason Wittenfor a 20-yard scoring strike to increase the margin to 25points.

 

NFL: DALLAS at PHILADELPHIA

<div class="pre">NFL FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
DALLAS 14 7 14 3 38
PHILADELPHIA 7 0 3 7 17 FINAL

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST QUARTER:

3:47 DAL - TD, JULIUS JONES 2 YD RUN (NICHOLAS FOLK KICK).
Drive: 6 plays, 37 yards in 3:29.
Key plays: Romo 23-yard pass to Owens on 3rd-and-6 to Philadelphia
10. DALLAS 7-0.
7:22 PHI - TD, BRIAN WESTBROOK 3 YD RUN (DAVID AKERS KICK).
Drive: 8 plays, 75 yards in 3:35.
Key plays: McNabb 10-yard pass to R Brown on 3rd-and-6 to
Philadelphia 39; Westbrook 10-yard run to Philadelphia 49; McNabb 45-yard
pass to R Brown to Dallas 3. DALLAS 7-7.
12:46 DAL - TD, TONY CURTIS 1 YD PASS FROM TONY ROMO (NICHOLAS FOLK KICK).
Drive: 9 plays, 72 yards in 5:24.
Key plays: J Jones 3-yard run on 3rd-and-3 to Dallas 38; Romo
22-yard pass to Barber on 3rd-and 1 to Philadelphia 31; Romo 14-yard pass
to Barber to Philadelphia 17; Barber 16-yard run to Philadelphia 1.
DALLAS 14-7.

2ND QUARTER:

14:16 DAL - TD, MARION BARBER III 5 YD RUN (NICHOLAS FOLK KICK).
Drive: 3 plays, 14 yards in 0:49.
Key plays: Cowboys' Hamlin 14-yard interception return to
Philadelphia 14. DALLAS 21-7.

3RD QUARTER:

2:16 DAL - TD, TERRELL OWENS 45 YD PASS FROM TONY ROMO (NICHOLAS FOLK KICK).
Drive: 4 plays, 64 yards in 2:16.
Key plays: Crayton 35-yard kickoff return to Dallas 36; Barber
10-yard run on 3rd-and-1 to Philadelphia 45. DALLAS 28-7.
7:17 PHI - FG, DAVID AKERS 36 YD.
Drive: 10 plays, 53 yards in 5:01.
Key plays: Westbrook 11-yard run to Philadelphia 40; McNabb 23-yard
pass to Smith on 3rd-and-1 to Dallas 28. DALLAS 28-10.
10:32 DAL - TD, JASON WITTEN 20 YD PASS FROM TONY ROMO (NICHOLAS FOLK KICK).
Drive: 6 plays, 78 yards in 3:15.
Key plays: Jones 13-yard rush to Dallas 37; Romo 11-yard pass to
Owens to Philadelphia 48; Romo 11-yard pass to Barber plus 15-yard
personal foul on Eagles Ramsey to Philadelphia 22. DALLAS 35-10.

4TH QUARTER:

5:20 DAL - FG, NICHOLAS FOLK 28 YD.
Drive: 10 plays, 85 yards in 5:50.
Key plays: Romo 23-yard pass to Owens on 3rd-and-4 to Dallas 40;
Romo 53-yard pass to Witten to Philadelphia 6. DALLAS 38-10.
9:09 PHI - TD, HANK BASKETT 10 YD PASS FROM DONOVAN MCNABB (DAVID AKERS KICK).
Drive: 13 plays, 71 yards in 4:06.
Key plays: McNabb 18-yard pass to Curtis to Philadelphia 47; McNabb
9-yard pass to Baskett on 3rd-and-6 to Dallas 40; McNabb 5 yard pass to
Westbrook on 4-and-5 to Dallas 17. DALLAS 38-17.

DALLAS - PHILADELPHIA Final Statistics

TEAM STATISTICS DALLAS PHILADELPHIA

FIRST DOWNS 24 21
Rushing 7 6
Passing 15 13
Penalty 2 2
THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 8-12-67% 6-15-40%
FOURTH DOWN EFFICIENCY 0-0-0% 3-3-100%
TOTAL NET YARDS 434 316
Total offensive plays 57 68
Average gain per play 7.6 4.6
NET YARDS RUSHING 110 66
Rushing attempts 32 19
Average gain per rush 3.4 3.5
Tackles for loss-yards 3-4 0-0
NET YARDS PASSING 324 250
Times sacked: Number-Yards 0-0 3-14
Gross passing yards 324 264
PASS ATTEMPTS-COMPLETIONS-HAD INTERCEPTED 25-20-1 46-27-2
Avg gain per pass play 13.0 5.1
KICKOFFS: Number-In End Zone-Touchbacks 7-0-0 4-0-0
PUNTS: Number and Average 2-42.5 3-37.7
Had blocked 0 0
Net punting average 42.5 35.0
TOTAL RETURN YARDAGE (Not including kickoffs) 15 17
Number-Yards: Punt Returns 0-0 1-8
Number-Yards: Kickoff Returns 3-78 7-147
Number-Yards: Interception Returns 2-15 1-9
PENALTIES: Number-Yards 3-35 5-35
FUMBLES: Number-Lost 0-0 2-1
TOUCHDOWNS 5 2
Rushing 2 1
Passing 3 1
Interceptions 0 0
Other (blocked kicks, etc.) 0 0
EXTRA POINTS: Made-Attempts 5-5 2-2
Kicking: Made-Attempts 5-5 2-2
Passing: Made-Attempts 0-0 0-0
Rushing: Made-Attempts 0-0 0-0
FIELD GOALS: Made-Attempts 1-1 1-1
FGs - PATs had blocked 0-0 0-0
RED ZONE EFFICIENCY 3-4-75% 2-3-67%
GOAL TO GO EFFICIENCY 2-3-67% 1-1-100%
SAFETIES 0 0
TIME OF POSSESSION 32:19 27:41


INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

DALLAS PHILADELPHIA

RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LG TD RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LG TD
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
J JONES 13 57 4.4 15 1 B WESTBROO 16 65 4.1 11 1
M BARBER I 16 56 3.5 16 1 D MCNABB 1 1 1.0 1 0
B JOHNSON 3 -3 -1.0 0 0 C BUCKHALT 2 0 0.0 0 0

PASSING CM-AT-YDS IN TD LG PASSING CM-AT-YDS IN TD LG
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
T ROMO 20-25-324 1 3 53 D MCNABB 27-46-264 2 1 45

Sacked-Yards Lost: None Sacked-Yards Lost: D MCNABB 3-14.

RECEIVING NO YDS AVG LG TD RECEIVING NO YDS AVG LG TD
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
T OWENS 10 174 17.4 45 1 B WESTBROO 14 90 6.4 19 0
J WITTEN 3 77 25.7 53 1 K CURTIS 5 51 10.2 18 0
M BARBER I 3 50 16.7 22 0 H BASKETT 3 28 9.3 10 1
J JONES 3 22 7.3 11 0 R BROWN 2 55 27.5 45 0
T CURTIS 1 1 1.0 1 1 L SMITH 2 34 17.0 23 0
B CELEK 1 6 6.0 6 0

INTERCEPTIONS NO YDS AVG LG TD INTERCEPTIONS NO YDS AVG LG TD
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
K HAMLIN 1 14 14.0 14 0 L SHEPPARD 1 9 9.0 9 0
A HENRY 1 1 1.0 1 0

PUNTING NO YDS AVG T I LG PUNTING NO YDS AVG T I LG
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
M MCBRIAR 2 85 42.5 1 1 46 S ROCCA 3 113 37.7 1 2 51

T = Touchbacks, I = Inside 20

PUNT RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD PUNT RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
R MAHE 1 8 8.0 8 0

KICKOFF RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD KICKOFF RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
I STANBACK 3 78 26.0 35 0 C BUCKHALTER 7 147 21.0 28 0

KICKING XP/XPA FG/FGA KICKING XP/XPA FG/FGA
---------------------------------- ----------------------------------
N FOLK 5/5 1/1 D AKERS 2/2 1/1
Dist.: 28 Dist.: 36

O-D O-D
FUMBLES NO LOST FF REC FUMBLES NO LOST FF REC
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------
M SPEARS 0 0 1 0-0 D MCNABB 1 1 0 0-0
B JAMES 0 0 0 0-1 C BUCKHALTER 1 0 0 0-0
B CELEK 0 0 0 1-0

DEFENSE TK SO AS SK-YD DEFENSE TK SO AS SK-YD
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------
D WARE 8 7 11.5-7.5 M PATTERSON 8 7 1 0-0
T NEWMAN 6 5 1 0-0 Q MIKELL 8 2 6 0-0
R WILLIAMS 6 5 1 0-0 O GAITHER 5 4 1 0-0
B JAMES 5 4 1 0-0 T COLE 4 3 1 0-0
K BURNETT 4 4 0 0-0 L SHEPPARD 3 3 0 0-0
A AYODELE 4 2 2 0-0 B BUNKLEY 3 3 0 0-0
A HENRY 3 3 0 0-0 J HANSON 3 2 1 0-0
J REEVES 3 3 0 0-0 S CONSIDINE 3 2 1 0-0
C CANTY 2 2 0 0-0 J THOMAS 3 1 2 0-0
K HAMLIN 2 2 0 0-0 T SPIKES 3 1 2 0-0
G ELLIS 2 1 1 1-6 B DAWKINS 2 2 0 0-0
K DAVIS 1 1 0 0-0 C GOCONG 2 2 0 0-0
S BOWEN 1 1 0 0-0 S BROWN 1 1 0 0-0
J RATLIFF 1 1 0 0-0
M SPEARS 1 0 1 .5-.5
A SPENCER 1 0 1 0-0
J HATCHER 1 0 1 0-0

Att: 67,688</div>

 

By Vince DiGregorio
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer


PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) - With the season hanging in the balance,the Philadelphia Eagles had little margin for error.Unfortunately, that margin was erased in the first half.

Tony Romo completed 20-of-25 passes for 324 yards and threetouchdowns as the Dallas Cowboys took advantage of threeturnovers by Donovan McNabb to post a 38-17 victory over theEagles.


Dallas (7-1) moved a game ahead of the idle New York Giants inthe NFC East, while Philadelphia (3-5) suffered a serious blowto its postseason hopes.


"Philadelphia is last in the division right now," Cowboys coachWade Phillips said. "When a team like Philadelphia is in lastplace, it shows you that it's really a strong division."

"To have a game like this was really surprising," Cowboys ownerJerry Jones said. "I think our guys were up to the challenge."

Dallas wide receiver Terrell Owens finished with 10 receptionsfor 174 yards and a touchdown, while running backs Julius Jonesand Marion Barber combined for 19 carries and 113 yards witheach scoring a TD.


"It was gratifying, but the most important thing was we camehere and got a win," Owens said. "What we're doing now is whatwe were capable of doing last year.


"These guys look to me for some guidance. Sometimes, they lookfor me to create a spark here and there."


With the theme song from the movie "Rocky" being played prior tothe kickoff at Lincoln Financial Field, the Eagles took a punchto the gut on the first play from scrimmage.


McNabb was hit by Marcus Spears and fumbled the ball, which wasrecovered by linebacker Bradie James at the Philadelphia 37-yardline.


"I just tried to find an open lane to run," McNabb said. "Ireally didn't see (Spears) behind me. He did an excellent job oftomahawking and knocking it out of my hands."


Six plays later, Jones ran it in from two yards out to giveDallas a quick 7-0 lead. During the drive, Romo found Owens fora 23-yard completion on third-and-six to set up the score.

"I thought Tony did a nice job of moving in the pocket andmaking plays," Eagles coach Andy Reid said. "There were someplays where T.O. was the primary receiver. The more Tony movedaround in the pocket, the more open (Owens) got."


Philadelphia tied it on its next possession when Brian Westbrookscored on a 3-yard TD run after McNabb completed a 45-yard passto Reggie Brown.


Westbrook had a combined 155 yards from scrimmage. He rushed 16times for 65 yards and caught 14 passes for an additional 90yards.


The Cowboys answered on their ensuing possession when Romocapped a 9-play, 72-yard scoring drive with a 1-yard toss toTony Curtis that gave Dallas a 14-7 advantage after one quarter.

Dallas was stopped late in the second quarter when Lito Sheppardintercepted a Romo pass deep in Eagles territory, but safetyKen Hamlin then intercepted McNabb and returned it 14 yards tothe Philadelphia 14.


Barber followed with a 5-yard touchdown run that gave theCowboys a 21-7 halftime advantage.


"We have to keep them out of the end zone and we did not dothat," said Eagles safety Brian Dawkins, who was playing for thefirst time in six games. "Even if the offense does turn theball over, it's our job to make them kick field goals andinstead of 21-7, it's 9-7. We made too many mistakes and allowedthem to capitalize on the mistakes we made."


Dallas put the game away in the third quarter with twotouchdowns sandwiched around a David Akers' 36-yard field goal<div class="pre">for Philadelphia, to take a commanding 35-10 lead.</div>

"That's what you say in the dressing room - 'Let's get the ball,take it in and take control of the game'," Phillips said. "Wesaid that, but more importantly, we went out and did it."

Romo connected with Owens on a 45-yard scoring strike just overtwo minutes into the period. Only happy when the attention isdirected his way, Owens couldn't resist mocking his old team,flapping his arms to mimic an eagle following his TD reception.

"(The celebration) was spontaneous," Owens said. "These fanslove me here."


"(If Philadelphia blitzes), there's no one on the field that cantake T.O.," Romo said. "Right at the snap, I start screamingT.O.'s name and he heard me. So he kind of looks and boom, Ithrow him thE ball and there's no one there. (Forty-five) yardslater, it was really neat."


After Akers' field goal, Romo then hooked up with Jason Wittenfor a 20-yard scoring strike to increase the margin to 25points.


Dallas kicker Nick Folk added a 22-yard field goal to make it38-10, before McNabb completed the scoring with a 10-yard TDpass to Hank Baskett.


McNabb finished 27-of-46 passing for 264 yards and a touchdown,but threw two interceptions in addition to the lost fumble.