Monday, December 15, 2014

Cowboys change the ending on Eagles

PHILADELPHIA - We have seen this movie before.

An epic December collapse was unfolding in Philadelphia on national television for the Dallas Cowboys when a funny thing happened, Tony Romo righted the ship and led his team to a startling 38-27 win over the Eagles.

The NFC East slugfest has all the markings of a laugher early when Dallas jumped out to a 21-0 advantage but Philadelphia never wavered and answered with 24 consecutive points, capped by a Darren Sproles 1-yard touchdown run with just under six minutes to go in the third quarter.

The Sproles' sweep capped a diminutive 14-yard drive after an egregious Romo fumble, made even worse by the fact left guard Ronald Leary had plenty of time to cover it up but was unaware it was on the turf.

It was the typical boneheaded Cowboys play that would surely cost them a playoff berth except it didn't.

Romo and Co. immediately answered with a monster eight-play, 78-yard drive capped by a 2-yard DeMarco Murray TD plunge and the Cowboys never trailed again, scoring 17 of the game's final 20 points to seize sole possession of the NFC East lead with just two games left in the regular season.

The loss drops the Eagles to 9-5 with two games left against the Washington Redskins and New York Giants. Dallas improves to 10-4, with Indianapolis at home next week, and finishing on the road
against Washington.

The outcome was a stark contrast from the Thanksgiving Day meeting between the two clubs just over two weeks ago in North Texas -- a lopsided 33-10 Eagles victory that ended with Dez Bryant champing at the bit for the rematch.

The star receiver delivered punishing Eagles' cornerback Bradley Fletcher and catching all three of Romo's touchdown passes on the night. Bryant finished with 114 yards on six catches and a permanent starring role in Fletcher's nightmares from this point forward.

Murray carried the ball 31 times for 81 yards and two scores as he surpassed the 400-touch mark on the season, while Romo completed 22-of-31 passes for 265 yards.

The Eagles, meanwhile, have dropped consecutive games for the first time all season after losing to the Seahawks at home last week. They turned it over four times and only held the ball for only 18 minutes.

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