It was the “Doomsday Show” for the Dallas Cowboys who fell to 3-6 after losing to the Philadelphia Eagles 49-21. The Monday Night “Showdown” became the ‘Big “D” Slaughterhouse Whipping”. The show starred Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens. McNabb completed only 53.6% of his passes (15-for-28). But he threw for 345 yards & 4 TD’s. He also threw no INT’s and added another 14 yards on the ground. He was sacked once and escaped another 4-5 possible sacks using legs to run out of the pocket. One play in particular will be remembered for a long time in Eagles’ lore like the famous “4-and-26” play in last year’s playoff game against the Packers. And don’t forget all those magical plays back in the 1980’s when a QB named Randall Cunningham was at the helm. On Monday night, Donovan added his name to that list with Randall for greatest plays ever on Monday Night Football. The score was 28-14 Eagles and it was third-and-ten from the Eagles 25-yard line. With just over 2 minutes left in the first half and mired in an 0-13 third down conversion slump, McNabb dropped back to pass on third down. McNabb at first could not find anyone open as the Dallas pass rush closed in on him. He escaped and ran out of the pocket to his right. Still no one open and Greg Ellis had him in his sight. No problem, McNabb ducked and spun back and ran all the way across to the other side of the field, while he picked up some blocks from both Artis Hicks and Jon Runyan. He appeared to have an opening to run for the first down, but at the last second pulled up and heaved the ball over 50 yards down the field to an open Freddie Mitchell. Mitchell caught the ball on the fly for a 60-yard gain and the team’s first first down in 2 games. Unbelievable!

Now, Freddie Mitchell has been the receiver on both of Donovan McNabb’s two most exciting and magical plays of his career. What’s even more amazing about this crazy play is the amount of time that transpired from the snap to when McNabb actually threw the ball. It took 14.1 seconds. Wow! You’re lucky if you have 6 seconds to rid of the ball. He took over 14 seconds and still almost completed the ball for a touchdown way downfield. Three plays later with only 28 seconds, Brian Westbrook punctuated the Eagles last five possessions with a fifth straight Eagles TD drive on his 1-yard plunge into the end zone. It was now 35-14 at the half. Donovan had a 140.0 QB rating and finished the day with a QB rating of 137.6. The other unstoppable force was Terrell Owens. He scored three more touchdowns and dug deep to devise new celebrations. With 6:10 left in the first quarter, McNabb hit Owens for a quick pass over the middle and an apparent first down. Except, the Cowboy defenders forgot to tackle him and before you knew it, Owens was headed towards the end zone for a 59-yard TD catch and run that give the Birds an early 7-0 lead. His first celebration was a simple imitation of an Olympic speed skater. Then 3:30 after Dallas cut the Eagles lead to 14-7, McNabb found T.O. uncovered in the end zone for a 27-yard TD reception. This time, Owens went over to the star on the Cowboys helmet and stood directly on the center of it and raised his arms as if he was bowing to an audience. His last TD celebration was a simple dunk over the goal posts when he scored on a jump ball from a 16-yard pass halfway through the third quarter.

It was another dominating win on primetime Monday for the Eagles. They are now 8-1 under Andy Reid on all Monday night games. The Philadelphia Eagles are now a NFC best 8-1 and are off to their best start ever. They are also 6-0 in conference play and have an incredible 29-8 road record since 2000. Even the Eagles defense came alive and held the Cowboys rushing game to only 71 yards compared to the 252 yards that Pittsburgh gained on the ground last week. Jeremiah Trotter is a big reason for this. He is finally back starting at his former regular position at middle linebacker for good now. He led the defense with 11 tackles and the team’s only sack of the game. After he sacked Testeverde, we saw his familiar wood chopping routine. Lito Sheppard, who returned an intercepted pass 1-yard deep into the end zone for a 101-yard TD return, carried out the biggest play on defense. It was the Eagles longest INT return by one player in team history. The longest ever was a 104-yard INT return by a combination of James Willis/Troy Vincent right here in Texas Stadium on Nov. 3, 1996. The Eagles dominated the Cowboys completely throughout. Dallas never had a chance and with the Eagles rolling up 485 total yards, really never could quite keep up either. Let’s just hope that McNabb can keep this high-flying offense on even keel into the future. If they do, it will be hard for any of the NFC teams to compete with these Eagles. It will be a fun-filled ride too if the Eagles offense consistently puts up numbers like the one put up in Dallas.