Adrian Fedkiw
By the time the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles were ready to kick it off at Lincoln Financial Field in the season finale, all the Eagles had to do was win to get in.
It was only hours earlier that they needed a miracle.
And win they did, alright.
44-6.
Philadelphia’s defense forced five turnovers and returned two of them for touchdowns in the blowout victory over the Cowboys in Week 17 of the 2008 season, clinching the No. 6 seed in the NFC.
The Eagles had already opened up a 27-3 first half lead, but the game quickly turned into a laugher during the early to middle stages of the third quarter. Philly scored 14 points without running an offensive play. The Cowboys, meanwhile, gained 139 yards on their opening two possession of the second half, but were in the midst of fumbling the football on four straight drives. Chris Clemons returned one for a 73-yard touchdown and Joselio Hanson followed that up with a 96-yard score. Brian Dawkins forced both turnovers.
The rout was on.
Philly needed the Houston Texans to beat the Chicago Bears and the 13-point underdog Oakland Raiders to upset the Tamp Bay Buccaneers in the earlier games to force a winner-take-all showdown with the Cowboys in the late afternoon. The Eagles’ wishes were granted. They then beat the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild Card Round and top-seeded New York Giants in the Divisional Playoff before being ousted by the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game.
Donovan McNabb was 12-of-21 for 175 yards and two touchdowns and Correll Buckhalter carried the ball 10 times for 63 yards and added three receptions for 59 yards and a score for the Eagles, who finished the regular season at 9-6-1.
They were 5-5-1 and in the midst of a three-game winless streak following a 36-31 loss to the Giants, a despicable 13-13 tie to the Cincinnati Bengals in one of the worst games ever played and an abysmal showing in a 36-7 defeat to the Baltimore Ravens. But then the Eagles flipped the switch and won four of their last five games to close the regular season.
Tony Romo completed 21-of-39 passes for 183 yards and an interception and Terrell Owens hauled in six balls for 103 yards for Dallas, which dropped its final two games to finish at 9-7.
The teams exchanged field goals on consecutive possessions during the middle-to-late stages of the opening frame. Buckhalter broke off a nine-yard run and Brian Westbrook followed that up with a 16-yarder to put the Birds into field goal position and David Akers split the uprights from 40 yards out to make it 3-0.
The Cowboys slowly and methodically moved their way down the field on their ensuing series, needing 15 plays to cover 61 yards. Jason Witten had a 17-yard reception and Patrick Crayton added a 9-yard catch two plays later, but Hanson stopped Roy Williams shy of the first-down marker on a 3rd-and-1. Nick Folk booted through a 37-yard field goal to tie it.
Philly began to pull away with a 24-point second quarter.
Playing a little backyard football, McNabb scrambled to his right to avoid pressure and flipped to completion to Buckhalter, who scampered down the middle of the field all the way to the Dallas 6-yard line. McNabb snuck it in from a yard out on 3rd-and-goal.
The Eagles found the end zone again right before the two-minute warning. A pair of DeSean Jackson receptions, 12 and 34 yards, put the ball at the Dallas 3 and Buckhalter found paydirt with a four-yard swing pass in the left flat on 3rd down for a 17-3 Eagles advantage.
The last 10 points of the half came in the final 15 seconds and were set up by self-inflicted wounds by the Cowboys. Tony Romo threw an interception to Sheldon Brown, Pacman Jones was flagged for a personal foul after slinging Reggie Brown into the ground following a 13-yard reception, Terence Newman committed a pass interference penalty in the end zone and Jones fumbled the ensuing kickoff after Brent Celek hauled in a 1-yard touchdown. Akers’ 50-yard field goal snuck inside the right upright and staked Philadelphia to a 27-3 margin heading into the break.
Following the return scores, Trevor Laws recovered a fumble forced by Clemons, which set up Akers for a 41-yard field goal. A 42-yarder from Folk midway through the final quarter accounted for the final margin.