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Revisiting the 2004 Eagles: Game 9

Terrell Owens and Nicollette Sheridan stole the show when the Eagles demolished the Cowboys, 49-21.

TEN YEARS ago, the Eagles were in the middle of one of the best seasons in recent team history, a year that ended with a Super Bowl appearance. Each corresponding week this year, the Daily News will look back at the 2004 season.

Game 9: Eagles 49, Cowboys 21

Date: Monday, Nov. 15, 2004

Site: Texas Stadium

Vegas Vic's lines: Eagles -6 1/2 Over/under: 42

The setup: The Eagles were coming off a loss at Pittsburgh that ended their franchise-best 7-0 start to the season. This was not a very good Cowboys team, which entered the game 3-5 and finished the season 6-10.

Vinny Testaverde, 41, was Dallas' starting quarterback. He threw 17 TDs and 20 interceptions that season.

Skit storm: The insanity started before the opening kickoff as ABC created a firestorm with a controversial introduction to the broadcast that featured actress Nicollette Sheridan dropping her bath towel in front of stunned Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens. The skit was a promotion for the network's show "Desperate Housewives." Though Sheridan was not shown being nude, the suggestion was obvious enough and made for some uncomfortable conversations between parents and children just hoping to watch a football game. That it involved an interracial couple only added to the controversy.

NFL not happy: "ABC's opening was inappropriate and unsuitable for our 'Monday Night Football' audience," league spokesman Greg Aiello said. "While ABC may have gained attention for one of its other shows, the NFL and its fans lost." The network also apologized for the stunt.

Did you know? According to Daily News Eagles beat writer Les Bowen, the scene needed some 40 takes and took 2 1/2 hours to shoot. Owens was not paid and Sheridan wasn't actually nude. The skit lives on on YouTube . . . "Desperate Housewives" ran until 2012; Sheridan's character was killed off in 2009. Owens' character (at least as an Eagle) was whacked in 2005 . . . Sheridan was 40 at the time the promo was filmed. She was born in England in 1963, the day before JFK was assassinated.

OK, game stuff: The Eagles blew out the Cowboys on the strength of Donovan McNabb's arm (and legs) and Owens' three touchdown catches . . . The Birds held a 35-14 advantage at half and the 28 points scored in the second quarter still stands as a team record for a road game . . . The 49 points was the most the Cowboys ever allowed at Texas Stadium (1971-2008) and was the most ever allowed at home until last year's 51-48 loss to Peyton Manning and the Broncos.

Play of the night: Donovan McNabb scrambled around for 14.1 seconds before heaving a 60-yard completion to Freddie Mitchell. Daily News columnist Rich Hofmann said it was right there with Randall Cunningham's acrobatic touchdown pass to Jimmie Giles in 1988 for greatest play in Eagles history on "Monday Night Football."

A pro's prose: "Because this was the escape of all escapes," Hofmann wrote, "Houdini somehow raised to a higher power [and wearing shoulder pads]. This was McNabb doing what few people in the world other than McNabb can do, eluding the pressure of the Dallas Cowboys' pass rush and buying time, and then more time, and then more time - eat a sandwich time; answer an e-mail time - before throwing a 60-yard rainbow to Mitchell."

Stat leaders: McNabb threw for 345 yards and four TDs . . . Brian Westbrook, who had been battling a rib injury, had his best game in weeks with 118 total yards and a touchdown . . . Second-year tight end Jason Witten had nine catches for 133 yards and two TDs for Dallas. It was just the second 100-yard game of Witten's career (he now has 20) and the first of five 100-yard games Witten would post so far against the Eagles.

Observation of the day: "With McNabb, the play is never over," Mitchell said. "It was forever. It was killing me. It felt like it was forever . . . I really needed some oxygen."