THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
IRVING, Texas - It was a play Drew Rosenhaus probably won't mention as the blustery agent tries to wrangle a better deal for his client - Eagles cornerback Lito Sheppard.
Sheppard has a history of playing his best against the Dallas Cowboys, especially at Texas Stadium. And the last time the Birds were here late last season, Sheppard had the kind of lockdown performance on Terrell Owens that few defensive backs have had, holding him to two catches for 37 yards in a 10-6 Eagles win.
But Sheppard is in a different role this season. He lost his job as starting left cornerback when the Eagles gave Asante Samuel a contract worth $57.1 million and had him replace Sheppard.
Yet, it didn't take long before Sheppard was matched against T.O.
In the first quarter, Sheppard came in as the third cornerback. On second-and-12, quarterback Tony Romo had plenty of time to find a receiver, and he found Owens for a 72-yard TD that gave Dallas a 7-3 lead. T.O. mocked the Eagles with a flapping-his-wings motion.
In the second quarter of the wildly entertaining game, Owens scored his second TD on a short slant. He cut inside Brian Dawkins for a 4-yard TD that gave the Cowboys a 21-20 edge. It ran Owens' number of TD catches from Romo to 28, the most of any passing tandem in the league since 2006.
It appeared that Owens was headed for a huge night when he got behind Sheldon Brown on a stop-and-go for a 54-yard completion. But the play was called back because of a penalty.
Meantime, Samuel had his moment with a second-quarter interception that led to a 6-yard TD from Donovan McNabb to Brian Westbrook, which made the score 14-13 in the second quarter.
Owens finished the first half with three catches for 89 yards. But as the highest-scoring game in Eagles-Cowboys history evolved, he became one of a long list of players making big plays. Rookie Felix Jones upstaged him with a 98-yard kickoff return for a TD and 247 total kick return yards. Marion Barber softened the Birds' defense with tough runs. Romo started looking more toward tight end Jason Witten (seven catches, 110 yards), but the quarterback looked jittery whenever the Eagles applied pressure on him. Nobody was stopping anybody on this night.
For the most part, Owens became Samuel's problem. But Samuel more than held his own, and the two exchanged words on a play in the fourth quarter. Samuel was all over Owens in the end zone when Romo tried for a TD. Interference was called on Samuel. Then there was no penalty because the ball was supposedly tipped at the line of scrimmage. Then it was ruled there was no tip and the interference call held up. Barber plowed in from the 1-yard line for the eventual winning TD in the 41-37 Cowboys victory.
In the end, it turned out that the T.O. show ended early with his two first-half TDs. Mostly because of Samuel, he didn't catch a pass in the second half, but he got what he wanted - a win over his former team.
