Dallas' Big D Stifles Philadelphia Potent Offense; Rematch In Playoffs

NFL News - January 4th, 2010 - Written by Bryan

Last year, with the NFC East title on the line during the last week of the season, the Philadelphia Eagles downed the Dallas Cowboys', eliminating them from the postseason. Yesterday, same scenario, different venue, Dallas Cowboys righted recent history and pulled off a crucial victory over the Philadelphia Eagles 24-0 in the regular season finale.

In beating Philadelphia, the win gives the Cowboys the NFC East division championship. Dallas secures the three-seed in the NFC playoffs earning them a rematch with the Eagles on Wild Card Saturday in Dallas.

Coming into Sunday's matchup, Dallas was a three-point favorite to defeat Philadelphia. When it was all said and done, Dallas completely dominated the Eagles, easily covering the spread. The over/under for the contest was set at 47 1/2 points but with the Eagles failing to score, the game went the under with Dallas scoring 24 points and earning them a spot in the 2009 NFL Playoffs.

Cowboys' QB Tony Romo spearheaded the dominant performance, tallying 311-yards passing on 24 of 34 attempts and two touchdowns.

"This ballclub has done a good job of putting its best foot forward when it has to," Romo said to the AP in the post-game interview. "We haven't arrived and we haven't accomplished anything. This is a step in the process to continue to get to where we want to go. It's a positive one, definitely, but we still need to keep improving. There's hopefully a lot of season left."

If the Cowboys play anything like they did against Philadelphia this Sunday, Romo will have a lot of season left.

The Dallas defense stymied all attempts by the Eagles offense to create plays. For the second consecutive week, the Cowboys did not allow a single point. Not since 2000 has a team recorded back-to-back shutouts.

Dallas held Philadelphia to only 10 total first downs and 228 total yards on offense. The time of possession was just as lopsided as the score. Dallas controlled the ball for 40:23 compared to 19:37 by Philadelphia.

The Cowboys have matched-up against the leagues highest-scoring offenses in three of the last four weeks of the season. In each of those games, the Cowboys held all of those teams to their lowest offensive outputs of the season. With the Dallas defense playing as well as they are, Dallas could be poised to make a deep playoff run.

On the other sideline, Philadelphia is left searching for answers, but will get another chance at Dallas next week in the wild-card playoff match-up. With the loss, the Eagles went from securing the NFC playoffs' two seed, which comes with a first round bye, to a sixth seed and another trip to big D.

Coming into the Week 17 game, Philadelphia was averaging over 31 ppg during a streak which saw the Eagles win six consecutive games. That streak is no more.

"We're going to go back to the drawing board," Eagles head coach Andy Reid said after the game.

The Eagles will have to figure out a way to run the ball against Dallas. Philadelphia accumulated just 37 yards rushing and were made to be one dimensional. RB Brian Westbrook was held to just 17 yards on five carries, leading the team.

The playoff game is slated for Saturday night, January 9th, 2010. The Dallas crowd will surely be amped up as the Cowboys are looking to win their first playoff game in 10 years.