What was billed, as the game of the week was not much of a game at all? In fact, the Dallas Cowboys basically won the game in the opening 5 minutes. After that, it was all Dallas. In a game that was for the NFC East Title and first round bye for Philadelphia, the entire team forgot to leave the team hotel. Those were not the players we are accustomed to watching, they were imposters. It was the most lopsided Cowboys win over the Eagles since 1998, when Dallas won 34-0. It was the Cowboys only previous shutout in the history of this rivalry. It was a far cry from last season’s finale when the Eagles crushed them 44-6 at the Linc. That game eliminated Dallas from post-season play and it helped propel the Birds to the NFC Championship Game in Arizona. This loss ended the Eagles 6-game winning streak and gave the Cowboys their second NFC East Title in 3 years. The Eagles became the first team to win 11 games, but failed to win the division since the 2000 Eagles, when they finished a game behind the New York Giants.

Besides losing the bye, perhaps the Eagles threw away any real chance of winning the NFC and playing in the Super Bowl. The Cowboys battered the Eagles on offense, defense, special teams and even coaching decisions too. That coach, Wade Philips that most Eagles’ fans laugh at had his best coaching performance ever, out-foxing Andy Reid at every move and making the big red head look more like Elmer Fudd stuttering the R-sound. Dallas dominated on both sides of the ball, controlling the clock for less than 40 ½ minutes. The Eagles had possession of the ball for just over 19 ½ minutes. When they did have the ball, they looked pretty pathetic as they managed only 228 total yards. The non-existent running game featuring the invisible Brian Westbrook had just 37 yards on 10 carries. Donovan McNabb had one of the worst games of his career as he was mostly running for his life as Dallas sacked him 4 times. His overall passing numbers were not totally awful: 20-of-36 for 223 yards, but his receivers was also responsible for 6 dropped passes – and easy ones at that! Both Maclin and Jackson had identical passing numbers (3 catches for 47 yards), but both had stone hands most of the game. Only Brent Celek, put up big numbers with 7 receptions for 96 yards, but 69 of them came on one play.

Dallas on the other hand, bulldozed their way through the Eagles defense for 179 rushing yards and 474 total yards, all-told. The Cowboys scored 17 points on just four total possessions in the first half and if not for an Asante Samuel INT, it would have been 24-0 at the half. The ‘Boys put up 291 yards alone in the first half, with 104 yards on the ground. Both Felix Jones and Marian Barber ended up with 91 rushing yards. Jones’ big run, a 49-yard TD run right up the gut, sealed the victory for the Cowboys with 5:46 left in the third quarter. After that, the Birds had no fight. Cowboys QB Tony Romo tore apart an already short-handed Eagles secondary as he threw 2 TD’s along with 311 total passing yards. Miles Austin was able get open anytime he wanted with 7 catches for 90 yards. But it was Jason Witten, who the linebackers had no answer for as he caught so passes his hands must have been sore afterwards. The Eagles defense let the Cowboys’ receivers do whatever they wanted to in the middle of the field. It was an overall total failure in pass coverage. But is way that Dallas ran the ball that really had you shaking your head. Even in sure passing situations as the Eagles nickel defense was on the field and Barber always seemed to get the first down on every 3rd-and-long play. Dallas, overall converted just 5-of13 first downs, but was 5 for 7 in the first half when the game remained kind of competitive. The two stops were the Samuel INT and the other was a 44-yard FG.

Philadelphia had two sustained drives all game long. Well, maybe the word sustained is not quite the descriptive word of choice. OK, two drives into Cowboys territory. Drive #1 in the second quarter featured a 37-yard pass to Jeremy Maclin on the first play. On the third play, McNabb found DeSean Jackson for 32 more yards down to the Dallas 14-yard line. You just thought that maybe the Eagles would score a TD to cut the lead at the time to 14-7. But the next play, Eagles fans from all over the country had their hearts ripped out as McNabb lost concentration and fumbled the snap and Dallas recovered the ball. At first, you’d thought that the injury to Jamaal Jackson finally did the Eagle sin, but Nick Cole’s snap was just fine, it was McNabb who was at fault for the fumbled snap. Then right at the start of the second half, the Eagle drove the ball from their own 20-yard line for 45 yards on 6 plays, setting up a fourth down play. With 4th-and-2 on the Cowboys 35-yard line and the Eagles trailing 17-0 and the team appeared to be sleepwalking through the game, maybe Andy Reid would go for it. But no, Reid sent out David Akers for a long 53-yard FG. He missed and the Eagles season may have just ended with next week being just a formality.

The Eagles showed no heart in this debacle, nobody in midnight green had any answer to what was happening to their football team. For one of the few times in his career, McNabb cowered during the post-game interview, blaming this disaster on youth. His exact words, “We showed our youth, in situations where everyone began to look around to see who was going to make a play, rather than stepping up and making that play.” --- It was a total embarrassment to watch that game and be an Eagles fan hoping for a shot at winning the Super Bowl. It was the worse loss and first shutout, since that very forgettable game that I personally witnessed to myself back in Dec. 5, 2005, when during a Monday Night snowstorm, the Eagles lost 42-0 to the Seattle Seahawks. That 2005 Eagles team however did not set a franchise record for scoring as this 2009 team did. That team also missed the playoffs with a 6-10 record as the franchise QB Donovan McNabb missed the second half of the season on the IR. The Seahawks were up 35-0 at the half. This game went along those same boundaries, except Dallas did not score 40+ points, but could of if they tried. Dallas really did not try to very hard to score any second half points, sticking to the running game to run out the clock. Felix Jones broke free for a TD and the last points of the game late in the third quarter on a 49-yard run.

Philadelphia better just forget this game and quickly find a way to rebound next week as the entire season is on the line Saturday night at the Jerry Jones’ palace. It will be even louder next week. Don’t forget, Wade Philips is still 0-4 in the playoffs and Andy Reid is still undefeated in the team’s first playoff game each season the Eagles qualified (7-0). But even though Reid has not lost his initial playoff game, it’s hard to think of a reason now that would have the Eagles winning next week in the Big “D”. Even Tony Romo must be licking his chops as to put the Cowboys misfortunes in the playoffs to rest. Dallas is on a hot streak since beating the once undefeated New Orleans Saints back in NFL Week #14. Dallas is the team with momentum, while the Eagles defense is not going to improve any for next week’s rematch. Two of the 3 starting linebackers are on IR and the Eagles secondary has not recovered since losing its heart and soul in Brian Dawkins. Their starting safeties have not been able gain confidence of late and the bleeding seems to continue. If the season were to end next week, the defense will be the main reason why this team went down in flames. Though an injury-riddled offensive line would be a close second. Too many injuries and inexperienced safeties along with poor tackling have doomed this team. The Eagles managed just 2 sacks, and those were 2 meaningless plays during the fourth quarter after the game’s result was all but out of reach. They managed almost zero pressure as Romo had so much time in the pocket; he could of called his ex-girlfriend that he wanted to take her out for dinner after the game. Kidding aside, Romo alone in the first half, completed 10-of-15 passes for 187 yards and 2 TD’s. And if not for the INT, he would have had an almost perfect QB rating. For some add reason, the Eagles did not blitz Romo. They better find a way next week to pressure Romo, or we could watch a repeat of what happened Sunday afternoon. And find a solution fast as there are just 6 days to prepare for next week’s rematch.