EAGLES NEWS

What a night it almost was. With about 10 minutes to play and the Eagles leading 37-34 and in Cowboy's territory following a long kick return by Quintin Demps, it appeared as if tonight might just go down in Eagles' lore as one of the greatest moments in team history and the best Monday night football game of all time. Instead on an apparent trick play with a receiver in the backfield, Donovan Mcnabb botched a hand off to Brian Westbrook, and Dallas recovered the fumble. Tony Blomo er, Romo then drove his team to the eventual winning score in a 41-37 heartbreaker. Mcnabb had a brilliant night with several vintage great escapes, while completing 25-37 passes for 281 yds and a TD. Brian WestBrook shown equally bright with 102 all purpose yards and all 3 Eagles' TDs. Finally Desean Jackson had another superb night with 6 catches for 110 yards. Defensively, it was not a good night for the Birds, as although they limited the Dallas running game and held T.O to just 3 catches for 89 yards, they could not get to Romo often enough as he threw for 312 yards and 3 TD, mostly to Jason Witten who hauled in 7 catches for 110 yards. The Eagles got it all started with a long drive that resulted in an Akers' field goal after Jackson dropped a pass that would have given the Eagles a 1st and goal. Three minutes later Romo hooked up with T.O for a 72 yard TD pass and a 7-3 lead. The Eagles responded with another long drive but again settled for a an Aker's field goal cutting the lead to 7-6. On the ensuing kickoff Felix Jones ran 98 yards untouched for a TD and a 14-6 lead. After a defensive stop, it looked as though Dallas would put it away early in the 2nd quarter but Romo threw wildly into the arms of Asante Samuel. A few plays later Westbrook plunged in from 6 yards out to cut the lead to 14-13. Just seconds later on the next Dallas drive Romo fumbled into the endzone and Chris Gocong recovered it for a 20-13 Eagles lead. The ensuing Dallas drive resulted in a 4 yd TD pass from Romo to T.O for a 21-20 Dallas lead. A few minutes later Mcnabb appeared to throw a 70 + yard td pass of his own to Jackson, but in his joy Jackson threw the ball over his shoulder at the 1. Fortunately no Dallas players picked it up and the Eagles got it at the 1 and a play later Westbrook went over the top for a 27-21 lead. Another long Eagles' drive at the end the half, capped off by another spectacular Mcnabb first down run, resulted in another Aker's field goal for a 30-21 lead, not bad for halftime. However Dallas had other ideas and after a 42 yard completion to Witten, Nick Folk booted a 51 yard field goal to cut the halftime lead to 30-24. In the 2nd half Dallas struck first late in the 3rd quarter on a 17 yd TD pass from Romo to Marion Barber for a 31-30 lead. The Eagles responded with another long drive capped off by a WestBrook TD run for a 37-31 lead. A few minutes later Nick Folk capped off a Dallas drive with a 47 yard field goal to cut the lead to 37-34. Then Demps unloaded a return to the Dallas 40 and the Eagles appeared poised for victory, until the fumble that will live in infamy occurred. From there Romo marched Dallas down to the 1 where Barber plunged in for a 41-37 lead. The Eagles had a couple opportunities to rally to victory from there. First Mcnabb fired just a little too high to a wide open Westbrook on 3rd and long deep in their own territory. Then with about 2 minutes 30 seconds to play, they got it back for a final stand. After driving to midfield, a couple sacks of Mcnabb left them with 4th and 17 just inside the 40 and only a minute and 10 seconds to play. Instead of going deep Mcnabb threw short as the Eagles attempted a hook and lateral that failed miserably, allowing Dallas to run out the clock. So the Birds are 1-1 with a lot of season left, and after a performance like this against a team like Dallas , they should be considered one of the top teams in the NFC.