As with any big game, the focus of the NFC East championship matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles was squarely on the quarterbacks. This game featured two passers with very different stories.
Nick Foles, despite getting beat out for the starting job in the preseason by Michael Vick, replaced the starter after he got injured and played in 12 games coming into Sunday’s finale. Foles’ season was a historic one as the former third-rounder completed 64 percent of his passes for 2,698 yards, 25 touchdowns, and just two interceptions. At the same time, his worst game of the season came in his last meeting with the Cowboys when he completed just 11 of 29 passes for 80 yards and no scores.
On the other side was Kyle Orton, a backup quarterback making his first start since Week 17 of the 2011 season, taking over for an injured, big turnover prone Tony Romo. Many believed Orton would be an upgrade over Romo since he’s seldom had higher than a 2.6 interception percentage.
Tony Romo may not have been at Cowboys Stadium on Sunday but the ghost of Tony Romo clearly was as Kyle Orton marched the Cowboys 44 yards down the field only to see DeMarco Murray fumble the ball away on the game’s very first drive.
Led by a 34-yard catch by Chris Polk, the Eagles converted on the turnover and put up a 48-yard drive capped off by an Alex Henery field goal.
Dallas responded by moving the ball 40 yards again but being forced to punt. Again, the Eagles had no trouble marching downfield against a terrible Cowboys defense. Foles and LeSean McCoy orchestrated a 10-play, 88-yard drive capped off by a 22-yard pass to Jason Avant that set up a short dump-off pass to Shady.
Two three-and-outs later, Kyle Orton nailed a huge 39-yard pass to Terrance Williams on a 66-yard drive that finished with a 17-yard touchdown strike to tight end Gavin Escobar. The 6-foot-6 rookie leaped and flipped into the endzone over Eagles’ Nate Allen for Dallas’ first score of the game.
The Cowboys were able to stop the Eagles on their next drive but Orton, channeling Romo, was picked off by Mychal Kendricks on Dallas’ next possession. That pick set up a 35-yard pass to tight end Brent Celek and another 14-yard throw to the tight end for his sixth touchdown of the season to put the Eagles up 17-7.
Orton settled in on the next drive, driving the ball for 54 yards, including a big 28-yard pass to Jason Witten, that led to a Dan Bailey field goal to get Dallas back to within one touchdown. After forcing a three-and-out, the Cowboys put up another solid drive as they ran nine plays for 41 yards and set up another Bailey field goal to get to within four points.
On the next drive, the Dallas defense delivered again as they sacked Nick Foles to force a fumble. Dallas only managed to get two yards but the field position was good enough to set Dan Bailey up for a 36 yard field goal to put Dallas within a mere point of the suddenly stumbling Eagles.
A couple of three-and-outs later, DeSean Jackson returned a punt for 23 yards to the Eagles’ 48-yard line. That set up a solid eight-play, 51-yard drive that led to a fourth-and-goal from Dallas’ one-yard line. Nick Foles tried the QB sneak but was stuffed by a huge pile of Dallas defenders and turned the ball over at the goal line to close out the third quarter.
Starting from inside his own endzone, Kyle Orton orchestrated an impressive 59-yard drive only to see DeMarco Murray stopped at the Eagles’ 42 to force a fourth down. Jason Garrett opted to go for it on fourth down but Orton’s pass attempt was batted down by Connor Barwin at the line to force yet another turnover.
The Eagles converted on a Dallas turnover once again as LeSean McCoy led an 11-play, 60-yard drive that was capped off by a Bryce Brown six-yard touchdown run.
On the Cowboys’ next drive, a faulty play clock that started counting down at 25 seconds instead of 40 caused Dallas to be called for a delay of game without anyone noticing which may have helped the Eagles force a fourth-and-nine on that set of downs. With under four minutes left in the game, the Cowboys went for it and Orton threw a strike down the middle to Dez Bryant who brought it in for a 32-yard score to put the game to 24-22. The Cowboys were forced to go for the two point conversion which Orton failed to convert as he threw an incompletion the way of Bryant in the endzone.
The Eagles started their next drive at their own 16 but Dallas forced a three-and-out. As usual, the Cowboys game was going to come down to the final minutes. Surely, this would be Kyle Orton’s coming out party. Surely, this would be when he proves indeed better than Romo and leads the Cowboys to the playoffs en route to their destined SuperBowl greatness.
On the very first pass of their drive, Kyle Orton was intercepted on a short pass to Miles Austin by Brandon Boykin to finish off yet another heartbreaking game and playoff-less season for Jerry Jones’ Cowboys.
Eagles won 24-22 and will face the Saints at home next week. The Saints are undefeated at home this season but just 3-5 on the road. With Nick Foles as their main quarterback, Chip Kelly’s Eagles have won seven of their last eight games, including four straight at home.
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