Eagles pay back Cowboys
Eagles 30, Cowboys 27
Eagles pay back Cowboys
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
ARLINGTON, Texas -- You get embarrassed twice in 6 days by the same team and you are shaken as a franchise. That was where the Eagles were when they walked out of Cowboys Stadium 11 months ago.
Manhandled, just physically whipped by the Cowboys in consecutive games, they went about the business of self-assessment -- and their process was brutally honest. They did some underrated things, like re-working their strength program, and they did some publicly-seismic things, like trading away their franchise quarterback.
Half of the defense changed, the average age of the entire team plummeted, and while there are remaining issues -- especially on that defense -- the organizational belief was that, with Michael Vick leading them, they had reached the why-not-us? stage of the conversation.
But they needed this one.
They needed to prove that it was true.
Which they did, with an emphatic flourish. On a night when Vick was again physically clobbered by the opposing defense, a night when the defense again turned a halftime lead into a third-quarter deficit, DeSean Jackson absolutely exploded. He caught a 60-yard pass on the first play of the game and broke a 20-20 tie in the fourth quarter with a 91-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown.
If he ended it by showing up the Cowboys and showboating into the end zone with an unnecessary backward splashdown -- which he did, and for which he was penalized -- Jackson nevertheless took this game and made it his. In the process, he turned a page that needed turning for this franchise.
Yes, yes, it is true: next Sunday at the New Meadowlands Stadium will determine who holds first place in the NFC East with two games left to play. That is true whatever happens tonight in the snow-delayed, geographically-relocated game between the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings at Detroit’s Ford Field. That is true regardless of whatever happened here last night.
But this one was symbolic.
This one was for affirmation.
And in the process of their 30-27 victory over the Cowboys, and as this season digs into its climactic final month, all manner of emotions have begun to surface.
Over the years, we have seen Andy Reid act smart at times and clumsy at others. We have seen him be smug, silent, protective, wistful, exultant, sarcastic and monosyllabic, depending upon his mood.
In a dozen seasons, though, we might never have seen irate like we saw it last night. Pure, unadulterated fury: that was Reid, the man who has so successfully hidden his personality over the years.
Barking, gesticulating, raging at the officials after a borderline hit on Vick was not flagged for a penalty in the second quarter, Reid erupted in a manner that mimicked what was happening in front of hundreds of thousands of Philadelphia television sets at the exact same moment.
He is letting it show more. After the Eagles’ loss 2 weeks ago at Chicago, Reid could not hide his anger at a post-game press conference in which he bit off every response to every manner of inquiry. Now, this.
Why the change? Why the public displays of irritation?
It might be because, after all of this time, after all of the close calls, after all of the years of the never-let-them-see-you-sweat mind-meld concocted by Reid and Donovan McNabb, that the coach knows he has something special going on this season, something different, something that is equal parts precious and tenuous.
The wrong hit on Vick could spell disaster. One unfocused loss in a highly competitive conference could change everything. Reid knows it and he seems to want everyone else to know it, especially the young players on this roster.
With that, and with this page now turned, it is on to the game of the year.
Kevin's All-American, boyish good looks clearly won this game. Vick should be grateful.
Hats off to Marty Mornhinweg on the play call. Shady gutted the Dallas D when it mattered most. Great O-line play late in the game, I hope somebody takes them out for dinner, they earned it.— hallux
DESEAN come here I want to GIVE YOU A BIG HUG... YOU BEAT THOSE COW TURDS !!! and YOU DID IT DESEAN...THANKS SO...johnnyu
So now they can drive Vick through the bench on a cheap hit and there's still no flag, they can tear Cole's head off with a facemask penalty without a flag but they WILL throw a 15 yard flag for excessive celebration BEFORE the guy even crosses the goal line? Yeah, I get it...and this really is Kolb's last half season.— tpizza- Desean Jackson got the penalty **FOR SPIKING THE BALL**, not for falling backwards into the endzone.
Nevertheless, fantastic win for the birds!! Howard Eskin must be sulking like the true COWBOYS COCKROACH he is!!! :) :)— PhilllyJohn - hey cowboys- you just got beat by the Eagles on national TV- what are you going to do- ask Vick for his autograph!— notch44
- Hey Phillyboyin NYC... are you out there?? so, you guys dodged a bullet tonight... don't get used to it you're not that good. By the way... learn some history... Haven't made steel in the Burgh for 20 years just another industry the unions have destroyed... air is as pure as mothers milk... Pens won't roll over on Tuesday like the hapless Cowboys... Pens coming to town to take a couple of points... get ready.... GO PENS!!!— soulchild
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- S-W-E-E-T. What a great win. Now I don't have to listen to those Cowboys homers. In the past, with "Done"ovan M at the wheel, and us trading after 3, it was over. Not anymore. Tonight's and Texan's games are cases in point. And McNabb - 0-4 bringing the Redskins back from a 4Q deficit. We are fun to watch. Unbelievably stupid at times. But we are in a position to win the NFC East and who thought that was possible at the season's start? Fly Eagles Fly!— DallasEagle
- Should never have been a penalty on the Jackson TD. He hadn't scored yet when he went to the ground. Either way, typically can't stand that garbage, but against the Cowgirls, I'm good with it.— jonnyb0916
- Cowboys lose "their Superbowl" in "their house" to "our Eagles!"
- Philly John, there is no penalty for spiking the ball. The ref's call was "going to the ground in celebration".— jonnyb0916
People are trying to compare Vick to Brady as far as MVP.....the NFC East is a much tougher conference than what they play in. The MVP doesn't matter. The SB does— elijah29- Aristotle, Pointing out Jackson's foolish behavior is not "hating" on him. Those 15 yards could have been crucial in a tight game like this.
Hopefully Andy will ream him out over that juvenile bahavior.— Stoshie - If the defensive lineman from Detroit that was fined for pushing a QB down in bounds was looking at this game he's calling his lawyer right now planning a lawsuit against the NFL. There were a lot worse hits on Vick tonight, out of bounds, helmet to helmet, after the ball has been released.— gditty
