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Over the next several weeks before training camp, let's relive some of Tony Romo's best comeback stories. This one will be great to re-live as it one of three times the Cowboys beat the Eagles in one season.
[In the ten seasons that Tony Romo has been the starting quarterback, he's engineered some great fourth-quarter heroics to bring the Cowboys to victories. Since 2006, no quarterback has had more fourth-quarter comeback victories, 25 to be exact, than Tony Romo. His passer rating in the final quarter of football is an astounding 102.9, five points higher than the number two guy (Aaron Rodgers). Romo also holds the mantle of most game-winning drives among active quarterbacks (29) as well as passer rating in the final two minutes (93.1).
Over the next several weeks before the team heads out to Oxnard and starts it all up again, I thought we could take some time to look back at Mr. Clutch Quarterback himself. We're going to rank all of his comeback tales from good to great, from awesome to completely amazing. Here's looking at you, Mr. Romo.]
14. Romo Roasts Some Birds At The Linc (Nov. 8, 2009)
This is a particular favorite of mine, not because it was some huge comeback (three-point deficit at the start of 4th quarter) but because it was a year in which Romo and the Cowboys beat the Eagles three times in one season. The first meeting between these teams pitted two 5-2 teams against each other at the Linc.
The Cowboys' first drive is stalled by a sack and the Cowboys punt. On first down, Donovan McNabb is incomplete, again incompletion on second down but a 5-yard penalty of Terence Newman. On 3rd and 5, McNabb throws a completion...to Gerald Sensabaugh. Thanks for the gift, Philly!
Tashard Choice goes left for 10 yards and a first. Romo then completes passes to Marion Barber, Jason Witten, and Kevin Ogletree for 12, 9, and 21 yards to get the Philly 2. From there, Choice punches it in to give the Cowboys a 7-0 lead.
Both the Eagles and Cowboys next two drives are nothing to write home about except for a Jay Ratliff sack on McNabb. At the start of the second quarter, the Eagles have the ball down seven points. McNabb completes two big throws of 20 and 23 yards to Jason Avant and Brent Celek. LeSean McCoy then cuts to the right for 17 more yards. At the Dallas 17, on a 3rd and 9, DeMarcus Ware sacks McNabb and David Akers gives the Eagles three points. It's 7-3, Dallas. The Cowboys respond with another three and out.
With Philly's next possession, McCoy is gashing up the defense before the Eagles' drive stalls on a 3rd and 4 at the Dallas 31. Akers cuts the Cowboys lead to one point with a 48-yard field goal at 2:00 minutes left in the half.
Felix Jones busts out a nice return of 17 yards on the kickoff. Two plays later, Romo connects with Patrick Crayton deep right for 64 yards. With 27 seconds left, he connects with Ogletree for 17 more yards to the Eagles 4-yard line. After three straight incompletions (because Roy E. Williams can't catch), Nick Folk drills a 22-yarder to put the Cowboys up 10-6 at the half.
David Buehler kicks the ball 64 yards and Ellis Hobbs returns it 96 yards for the score. However, Philly is called for holding and it's coming back. No big deal as McNabb completes an 11-yard pass to Celek, 6-yarder to Alex Smith and then busts out a 45-yarder to LeSean McCoy on a screen. On the very next play from the Dallas 11, McNabb tosses what looks like an illegal forward pass to Celek. On the replay, the play is called a touchdown for the Eagles and they take a 13-10 lead over the Cowboys.
Romo then tosses an interception on the next Cowboys' drive but Philly can't make anything of it. The Cowboys then take 8 plays to travel 30 yards before Romo is sacked and the possession is over. On 1st and 10 from their own 23, McNabb throws his second interception, this time, to Mike Jenkins.
Dallas starts the fourth quarter by Folk hitting another field goal to tie up the game. Philly is struggling to move the ball on the tighter Cowboys' defense and on 4th and 1, the Cowboys stuff McNabb after he keeps it. On their own 45, Barber runs up the middle for 10 yards, then Romo connects with Crayton for another 10. At the Philly 49, Romo finds Austin deep left for 49 yards and the touchdown to give Dallas a 20-13 lead.
Philly is able to get another field goal out of it with 4:33 on the clock after the Cowboys' defense prevails and sacks McNabb for the third time. Romo is back out there and after gaining a few first downs to chew the clock, Romo kneels it down to give the Cowboys the 20-16 victory and improve to 6-2 on the season.
Dallas would go on to beat Philly again in week 17, shutting them out 24-0. The Cowboys finished the season 11-5 and division champions. Philly had already secured a wildcard berth but was beaten again by the Cowboys 34-14 in the wildcard round. Dallas' season ended the next week at the hands of Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings.
After the wildcard loss, Andy Reid stated that McNabb would remain the Eagles' starting quarterback in 2010, but the Eagles traded him for a second-round pick to the Commanders. McNabb would have his worst statistical season at quarterback in 2010 and was traded to the Vikings in 2011. He played only one season there and retired from the league in 2013.
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