IF YOU'RE still looking for a good explanation for that fourth-down spot that turned Sunday night's game around, an explanation beyond the silly stuff like official blindness, bias or some sort of massive conspiracy involving Freemasonry and Tom Hanks, I got nothing for ya.

In fact, I have worse than nothing - an "official" explanation that is conclusively contradicted by video evidence.

"The only thing I can tell you is that they mentioned to me that [Donovan McNabb's] elbow was down at that spot," coach Andy Reid said at his day-after news conference. "Whatever spot that is, that's where they marked it, and that's what I know."

The NFL rules read: "When a runner is contacted by a defensive player and he touches the ground with any part of his body except his hands or his feet, the ball shall be declared dead immediately."

This sounds entirely reasonable, until you go to NFL.com and run the Eagles-Cowboys highlights, this time watching the critical play for McNabb's elbows. His left elbow is nowhere near the ground, as he slides to the right and forward, across the backs of Cowboys defenders. His right elbow, initially up in the air, finally comes to rest on the ground, at the end of his slide forward, well beyond the point needed for a first down - at the Eagle beak painted on the field, as TV analyst Cris Collinsworth helpfully points out. Somehow, the ball does not get placed there, even after Reid's challenge, which is the most puzzling part.

As McNabb noted, if you look at the measurement from LeSean McCoy's third-and-1 attempt (probably also a first down, by the way, if you freeze the video marking his forward progress), you'll see that Coleman's crew actually determined that McNabb lost a few inches on his sneak. That is just not what the video shows, from any angle.

If anybody out there understands this, if there's something we've overlooked, please drop us an e-mail. We'd love to be able to provide a better rationale.

It's true that bad calls happen, and that replay often doesn't seem to show the referee what it seems to be showing the layman. It's true that the Eagles got a break near the end of the first half, when Asante Samuel obviously held Roy Williams' left arm in the end zone, with the ball on the way. But this was much later in the game, and the effect on momentum was much greater than it would have been if Dallas had gotten a TD instead of a field goal at the end of the first half.

The Eagles had the better of the play the second half, from their opening drive. If the sneak is ruled correctly, they almost certainly retake the lead, on a touchdown or a field goal (remember, David Akers hit from 52 in that end a few minutes later), and go from there.

Instead, we get to read postgame quotes from the Dallas locker room about the incredible defensive stand that changed the game for the Cowboys and for Mr. November, Tony Romo. Heartwarming stuff, like much great fiction.

Developing story lines

 

* I wasn't surprised by those Michael Vick quotes about not wanting to come back here to be a "Wildcat guy." First, there's no chance he plays here next year, really never was. This is a way station to prepare Vick for a real quarterbacking opportunity. Second, when people envisioned Vick being a Wildcat weapon for the Birds, the danger they saw him posing was that he might throw the ball or run it from the formation. Too often, the Eagles' idea has been to send Vick in to run some sort of half-baked delay between the tackles. Even at his peak, Vick was not a between-the-tackles runner. The fact that he has not regained his elusiveness complicates matters, and further frustrates Vick. I talked to him a few days after the Redskins game, when he was heartened someone noticed his best play that night was a conventional shotgun throw over the middle to Brent Celek. Thing is, the Eagles have two other guys to do that.

* I count 130 return yards wasted Sunday night because Moise Fokou can't stop taking penalties, between Ellis Hobbs' 96-yard kickoff return and Sheldon Brown's 54-yard interception return, measuring from where the ball ended up. "Some of them are young-player penalties, grabbing when you're getting knocked backwards as opposed to just letting go, or cut blocking on an interception; these are things that you don't see the veteran players doing," Andy Reid said. "He'll learn. He's a smart kid." Well, that's nice.

* The Cowboys converted seven of 15 third downs Sunday. Five of the seven conversions were third-and-6 or longer. Twice they converted third-and-14, once for a Miles Austin touchdown, the other to set up a field goal.

Who knew?

 

That the Cowboys could redeem last season's 44-6 postseason-berth-blowing finale by winning Game 8 the next season? Wonder who they'll play now in the playoffs? (Just reflecting on the tone of coverage in Dallas.)

Obscure stat

 

Counting Sunday night's game, under Andy Reid, the Eagles are 6-5 in the first game each year against Dallas, 8-2 in the second.

Extra point

 

Once again, the Eagles are a team that needs to dominate to win. Five victories this season, average margin 20 points. Two four-point games, both losses. Andy Reid was asked yesterday about his team being 1-8-1 in its last 10 games decided by six points or fewer.

"That's a pretty good stat, so there probably is some form of a link," Reid said. "I'm not sure what that link is . . . we have to do better in those situations."

Here are some possible links: The Eagles, with their big-play offense, lack confidence in their ability to grind out a drive when the chips are down. Their quarterback must be wearing the heaviest flak jacket in America, or he's aged 10 years since training camp; Donovan McNabb seems uncomfortable and out of sync when hurried, which is going to be the case late in a close game. Gone are the days when McNabb could jump-start a sputtering drive with a ramble.

The defense also plays much better from a dominant position, when it can lay back its ears, knowing the opposing QB has to throw. Its secondary is big on high-stepping interceptions, not so big on denying Jason Witten on third-and-4.

This has been the default personality for a while now.

What was it that Joe Banner said about the definition of insanity?