A hopeful turning point for the Eagles

“Everything in the game of football revolves around the quarterback and everybody’s looking for that Tom Brady-type player”.

The question has been raised by more than a few people thanks to the way the Cowboys’ season has unfolded – will Tony Romo play if Dallas’ chances of making the playoffs are remote? Bryant outjumped a pile of players for an 18-yard touchdown catch to tie it. “The way they protected for me, the way they blocked in the run game, I mean, in every facet of the game they played well tonight”. The defense showed me enough in holding the defending NFC champions to a single offensive touchdown. Three lesser opponents awaited the Cowboys in their next three games – Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and Miami, all with losing records. Those are three extraordinarily winnable games, and the Eagles really can’t afford to drop any one of them. Along with Murray Ryan Mathews has been a quality addition to the backfield, which already included Darren Sproles.

But I figured wrong.

The Cowboys have hope in the mediocre NFC East as they remain just two and a half games behind the division leading NY Giants (5-4), who play the undefeated New England Patriots on Sunday.

Defensively, the Cowboys must stop the run and force turnover-prone rookie quarterback Jameis Winston into obvious passing situations.

That would be a risky assumption. Four of those six quarterbacks combine for six Super Bowl wins and the only quarterback that even slightly was close to the level of play that the Cowboys were now working with was Bradford. It was balanced and potent and deserved to win.

Matt Cassel doing damage in the 2013 Vikings-Eagles game. In the games Miller runs for less than 50 yards, the team is 0-5. They’ll be the ones who opened themselves up to heartbreak because they believed. The Cowboys didn’t. Ballgame. Remember linebacker Jordan Hicks? The Cowboys could even have to consider having Romo sit out the remainder of the season if they lose this week to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If Cassel wants to stay on the Cowboys for a long period of time, he is in desperate need of a win this Sunday. Were it not for the fact that they play in the AFC East, they may be in a similar position than the Eagles in terms of hunting down a playoff spot. Philadelphia entered the game with an NFL-high 19 takeaways. Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters was out, so Lane Johnson moved over from right tackle and deep bench lineman Dennis Kelly came in and shined, especially in the run game. Cassel looked like his job security could be in trouble as well before Sunday’s reasonable effort, which included 299 passing yards and three touchdowns but also a fourth-quarter interception that was returned for a touchdown. Sam Bradford should be able to have a solid performance again and it would benefit him to do so. But Philadelphia won the coin toss, took the ball and rammed it down the throat of the Dallas defense. Philadelphia defeats Dallas 33-27 in overtime.

The Cowboys never saw the ball in overtime.