Eagles Score Huge Christmas Day Victory

Though I expected the Eagles to win, all the imbibed Sam Adams Winter Brews, along with the frenzied conversation shared with my relatives, made the game play out like a dream, as they ran away with the game in the second half. Literally. The Eagles 204 yds rushing was three more than the Cowboys total offensive output. They ended the day with 426 yds of total offensive. But what was most impressive was how they were able to control the clock during long sustained drives: they ended the game with 37:06 minutes of possession compared to 22:54 for the Cowboys. On their opening drive Garcia overcame the momentary loss of L.J. Smith (Smith would return in the 3rd with a 65yd completion that helped set up a field goal) by connecting with his backup, Matt Scobel, for a 25 yard touchdown pass after a 13 play 89 yard drive that ate up seven minutes and twelve seconds from the clock. After exchanging possession via a fumble on the ensuing kickoff followed by a Jeff Garcia interception (Madden proved once again that he doesn't know what he's talking about as he said: "This is what Garcia does a lot of," as Garcia has thrown only two INTs in five games in addition to recently have a stint where he threw the most passes of his career without an INT), the Eagles defense shutdown the Cowboys on the goalline in dramatic fashion. Garcia took them right back down the field with another 89-yard drive (12-yards, 7:30) that resulted in a David Akers field goal to put the Birds up by 10.

Terrel Owens' lone bright moment of the day—a wide open catch in the end zone—made it 10-7. T.O. would finish the day with two catches, two dropped passes, and one offensive interference.penality. One of his dropped passes could have been caught at our 21-yard line for a game changing TD. We were up 16-7 when T.O. let a very catchable ball bounce off his chest and shoot right through his fingers. Early in the 4th, T.O.'s lazy play allowed Brian Dawkins to make an easy INT in the endzone, which again prevented the Cowboys from coming back into the game. In the press conference afterwords, Owens had the nerve to say that the he needed to get the ball early and often, and that his poor performance was due to becoming involved only late in the game. Motherfucker please .

Correl Buckhalter capped off another long drive with a one yard touchdown run to make it 23-7.