Monday night shoot out
Cowboys outlast Eagles in wild, wacky game
Tuesday, September 16, 2008 11:44 AM PDT
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| Jose Yau | Associated Press
Dallas Cowboy’s Marion Barber (24) celebrates his touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game in Irving, Texas, Monday. Looking on for Dallas is Jason Witten (right). |
IRVING, Texas (AP) — The Dallas Cowboys gave up two touchdowns in a 14-second span. Terrell Owens didn’t catch a pass after halftime, Jason Witten spent time in the locker room tending to a separated shoulder and Roy Williams broke his arm.
Meanwhile, Brian Westbrook scored three TDs, a healthy Donovan McNabb made plays with his legs and his arm.
Yet, somehow Dallas managed a 41-37 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in a wild, wacky game between NFC East rivals in the last home opener at Texas Stadium for the Cowboys.
“It was fun — once we won,” quarterback Tony Romo said.
“Well, it is one in the bank for us,” coach Wade Phillips said. “You never know when one of these will come back to mean a lot.”
Not until the Cowboys (2-0) snuffed out a double-lateral play on a fourth-down pass near midfield with 37 seconds left, after sacking McNabb on two of the previous three plays, was the victory secured.
Westbrook’s final TD was a 1-yard run, with a second-effort surge over the goal line, that put the Eagles up 37-31 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. That was the sixth lead change of the game, but not the last.
After Nick Folk kicked a 47-yard field goal to get Dallas within 37-34, Westbrook fumbled on the next possession. The Cowboys went 67 yards, 32 of that on Witten’s catch to the 5, with Marion Barber shuffling through the right side from a yard out with 4:35 left. Barber also had a 17-yard TD catch in the third quarter.
Philadelphia (1-1), coming off an impressive romp in its opener, went from trailing 14-6 to leading 30-21 just before halftime.
“These were two great teams going at it,” McNabb said. “There are a lot of positives we can take from this game. But that’s not important right now. What we need to do is focus on working on the negatives. That’s going to make us a better team.”
Witten was back on the field before halftime, after leaving for X-rays, and had a 42-yard catch down the middle of the field to set up Folk’s 51-yard field goal just before the break. The Pro Bowl tight end finished with seven catches for 110 yards.
Owens had 89 yards on three catches, including a 4-yard score and a 72-yard touchdown on Dallas’ first series that he punctuated with the kind of arm-flapping celebration he used to do for Philadelphia. His first TD moved him into second place on the NFL’s career receiving touchdown list; he finished at 132, still well behind Jerry Rice’s record of 197.
Williams, the five-time Pro Bowl safety, fractured his right forearm while making a tackle on a kickoff return in the third quarter. He could miss at least three games.
McNabb was 25-of-37 for 281 yards with a touchdown, matching Ron Jaworski’s club mark of 175 career TD passes. He also was sacked four times, including those two on the final series.
Jackson caught six passes for 110 yards, becoming only the second player in NFL history to open his career with consecutive 100-yard games. The other was Don Looney, also for Philadelphia, in 1940.
Cowboys rookie Felix Jones returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, but Romo’s miscues allowed Philadelphia to go ahead.
