Old article eerily shows Eagles/Cowboys roll reversal

Maikeru-sama

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Taken Out


Dallas defense takes a record thumping at home


11/16/2004


By JEAN-JACQUES TAYLOR / The Dallas Morning News

IRVING – In the Cowboys' illustrious 45-year history, their defense has never performed as poorly as it did in the second quarter against Philadelphia on Monday night.

Not when the Cowboys were an 0-11-1 expansion team in 1960. Not when they went 3-13 in 1988. Not even when they went 1-15 in 1989.

Those teams – as bad as they were – never allowed four touchdowns in a quarter.

Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb threw four touchdown passes and receiver Terrell Owens scored three touchdowns as the Eagles embarrassed the Cowboys, 49-21, before a national television audience and a crowd of 64,190 at Texas Stadium.

It was the most points the Cowboys had allowed in a home game, eclipsing the 48-7 loss to Cleveland at the Cotton Bowl in 1960.

"We took a bad beating tonight. We have to get back to work," coach Bill Parcells said. "I'm not going to get into the state of the union tonight, and I'm not going to give you any sound bites."

Parcells spent much of the week talking to his team about the tangible things it had to do to beat Philadelphia, which had won seven of its previous eight games against Dallas (3-6) by an average of 23.7 points.

He talked about reducing mistakes – penalties, sacks and turnovers – and about containing McNabb and the Eagles' big-play offense that revolves around Owens.

They followed his instructions perfectly for the game's first two series. Then the defense fell apart.

Owens turned a simple 10-yard reception into a 59-yard touchdown pass by catching the ball between cornerback Nate Jones and safety Tony Dixon, juking safety Roy Williams and outrunning Lance Frazier into the end zone for a 7-0 lead.

After forcing Philadelphia to punt on its next possession, Frazier fumbled and the Eagles recovered at the Dallas 14.

Four plays later, Dorsey Levens scored on a 4-yard run, giving the Eagles a 14-0 lead.

"I think emotionally we were ready to go, but we couldn't slow them down," Parcells said. "They were too much for us."

Philadelphia (8-1) looked unstoppable during one stretch, scoring on six consecutive possessions and bringing back memories of a hapless Dallas defensive stretch last month when Green Bay scored on its first seven possessions in a 41-20 victory over Dallas.

By the time the first-half carnage ended, Philadelphia had amassed 343 yards – 251 passing by McNabb – and a 35-14 lead.

McNabb took Monday's opportunity to show the nation why he's one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

Three times he scrambled around the pocket, eluding defenders and creating time for his receivers to separate from defenders.

He turned those plays into demoralizing gains of 60, 59 and 42 yards. Each drive ended with a touchdown.

Owens was equally spectacular, adding touchdown receptions of 27 and 16 yards to push his league-leading total to 12.

Dallas trails Philadelphia by five games in the NFC East, essentially ending any hopes of winning the division, with a trip to Baltimore looming Sunday.

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Maikeru-sama

Mick Green 58
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I attended that game and I decided to re-read what they said about the Eagles in the newspapers after totally destroying us 49-21.

It is eerie because it would seem that you could substitute Cowboy name's in for Eagles' names and the article would seem like a piece that was written right after we beat the Eagles last night. Not to mention T.O. dominated us that night and he dominated the Eagles last night and the Eagles were 8-1 coming into that game and we were 6-1

I think 2004 was the pinnacle of the Andy Reid/Donovan McNabb Era and this article gives a fine look at where the Eagles use to be as opposed to how horrible they are now in 2007.

Hopefully history doesn't repeat itself with regards to us having a small window to win a Super Bowl and it never comes to fruition.
 
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