THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
IRVING, Texas - They spliced together all the highlight reels, handed out whoopee cushions, greased the pigs, and said goodbye to Monday Night Football at Texas Stadium last night.
Sure there was a full moon. It must have been hung on orders from the network executives. In this rivalry, in this stadium, where placekicks have been muffed, fumbles have bounced the wrong way, bodies have been bagged, and unforgettable games have been unfurled by both sides, this one was an apt coda to that discordant 30-year symphony. You halfway expected to see Randall Cunningham wobble in from the sideline just one more time to replace Rodney Peete, a firm grasp on the football and absolutely none on the playbook.
From the very first series, when Andy Reid didn't challenge DeSean Jackson's first fumble of the night - not his most memorable, mind you, but his first - when there appeared to be no risk in doing so, it was clearly going to be a night of questionable decisions, small turning points, big plays, and a total eclipse of the expected.
By the end, when the two teams had combined for 78 points - the last 10 of which were scored by the Cowboys in the 41-37 win - there were more good things than bad to say about the Eagles. They are a good football team, not because they beat the headlights out of the St. Louis Rams, but because they held their own in a high-level shoot-out against Dallas. They didn't win, but they could have won, and there are only a handful of teams in the entire league that would have gone into Texas Stadium last night and come out saying the same thing.
Maybe that's not enough for you this morning, but it's what you've got.
Early on, it didn't look promising for the Eagles when Drew Rosenhaus' favorite receiver-cornerback tandem of Terrell Owens and Lito Sheppard hooked up on the first Dallas possession, and Owens lost Sheppard with a stutter move on a pump fake and pulled in a 72-yard touchdown pass. It was client-on-client crime, but it gave the Cowboys a lead, and they extended it when Felix Jones ran a kickoff back 98 yards for another touchdown.
That was mere prelude to the madness, though. Neither side was going to run away from the other this time. The officials got into the fun, too, forgetting to call face-mask penalties and messing up other rulings, but it was all in the spirit of the night.
The two teams sparred a bit. The Eagles remembered how to put points on the scoreboard with their defense, something they neglected to do during the entire 2007 season. They did forget to stop the Cowboys on occasion, however, and the Eagles trailed by 21-20 when the most memorable moment in a memorable game arrived.
Yes, that would be the other DeSean Jackson fumble.
Even though it isn't technically classified as a fumble.
Because it happened when play was dead.
When the official signaled "touchdown" at the end of a long Donovan McNabb-to-Jackson completion.
Except Jackson coolly flipped the football back toward the chasing defenders without waiting to cross the goal line.
Oops.
Fortunately for Jackson, the rule says the ball is dead in that case, and the Eagles retained possession on the 1-yard line. Brian Westbrook leaped over the pile on the next play and they were back in front.
The play by Jackson was typical of the game, and maybe of the season to come for the team. The Eagles are able to do great things on the field, and they are also capable of head-scratching mistakes. The rookie is unbelievably talented, and he can also make rookie mistakes, although the showboat flip was a bad one even by rookie standards.
The second half was almost normal by comparison to the first half. No one forgot the rules, and the teams just played football. The game might have turned when Westbrook and McNabb fumbled an exchange that ended a drive in Dallas territory and the Cowboys took the ball and drove for the final score.
It was a tough way to lose, but there wasn't going to be an easy way on this night.
Put it like this. If the Eagles are going to be as entertaining all season, you will have to live with the understanding that tightrope walkers hit the ground occasionally. In the 2004 regular season, on their way to the Super Bowl, the Eagles didn't have a game that was as interesting or as much fun to watch as last night's. So hold on tight and remember there's only one full moon a month and only two Dallas games all season.
