WoodysGirl
11-12-2012, 10:17 AM
Nov 11
9:48
PM ET
By Dan Graziano (http://search.espn.go.com/dan-graziano/) | ESPN.com
PHILADELPHIA -- It was a happy bunch of Dallas Cowboys (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/dal/dallas-cowboys) who filed off the Lincoln Financial Field and into the tiny visitors locker room. They'd scored in every way imaginable in a 38-23 victory (http://espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=321111021) over the Philadelphia Eagles (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/phi/philadelphia-eagles), and to hear the chatter and chirp from the time the game ended until they got on the bus, you'd never have known they were still a game under .500.
"The importance of this game," quarterback Tony Romo (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/5209/tony-romo) said, "was at the highest of levels."
And not just because they didn't want to be 3-6, as the Eagles now are. The biggest reason this game mattered was the result of an early-afternoon game 580 miles west of here in which the NFC East-leading New York Giants (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyg/new-york-giants) got their big blue heads handed to them by the Cincinnati Bengals (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/cin/cincinnati-bengals). That game dropped the Giants, who two weeks ago were in position to run away with this division, to 6-4. The Cowboys, despite being under .500, are a game and a half out of first place. And if they can beat the 2-7 Browns at home next week with the Giants on their bye, the Cowboys will be one game out with six to play.
What this means is opportunity -- and the Cowboys are well aware of this. Neither their victory, with its 13 penalties, nor the Giants' loss suddenly erases all of the Cowboys' problems or makes them a top NFC team. But that confluence of events creates an opportunity for the Cowboys to get back into a division race that has a chance to be as halting and uninspiring as last year's was.
Read the rest: http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/45545/astoundingly-a-race-in-the-nfc-east
9:48
PM ET
By Dan Graziano (http://search.espn.go.com/dan-graziano/) | ESPN.com
PHILADELPHIA -- It was a happy bunch of Dallas Cowboys (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/dal/dallas-cowboys) who filed off the Lincoln Financial Field and into the tiny visitors locker room. They'd scored in every way imaginable in a 38-23 victory (http://espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=321111021) over the Philadelphia Eagles (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/phi/philadelphia-eagles), and to hear the chatter and chirp from the time the game ended until they got on the bus, you'd never have known they were still a game under .500.
"The importance of this game," quarterback Tony Romo (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/5209/tony-romo) said, "was at the highest of levels."
And not just because they didn't want to be 3-6, as the Eagles now are. The biggest reason this game mattered was the result of an early-afternoon game 580 miles west of here in which the NFC East-leading New York Giants (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyg/new-york-giants) got their big blue heads handed to them by the Cincinnati Bengals (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/cin/cincinnati-bengals). That game dropped the Giants, who two weeks ago were in position to run away with this division, to 6-4. The Cowboys, despite being under .500, are a game and a half out of first place. And if they can beat the 2-7 Browns at home next week with the Giants on their bye, the Cowboys will be one game out with six to play.
What this means is opportunity -- and the Cowboys are well aware of this. Neither their victory, with its 13 penalties, nor the Giants' loss suddenly erases all of the Cowboys' problems or makes them a top NFC team. But that confluence of events creates an opportunity for the Cowboys to get back into a division race that has a chance to be as halting and uninspiring as last year's was.
Read the rest: http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/45545/astoundingly-a-race-in-the-nfc-east