Spanking the Monkey

I told many a person this season that the Dallas Cowboys needed to beat the Philadelphia Eagles in order to be considered "for real". Sure they have played some good football this year, but the bottom line was not to get too excited until they could get the monkey off of their back.

Or in this case, an Iggle.

No matter how bad they may appear to be, the Iggle defense always gave the Cowboys fits. Its that defensive coordinator- Jim Johnson- who finds ways to stop the Cowboys offense dead in its tracks year after year.

Until this one. The Cowboys gave the Iggles a nice thumping and got the monkey off their backs.

This game played out like many of the Cowboy/Iggle games have over the last 5 years. Very early turnover turned into a touchdown. The other team comes back with a score of their own but then gets totally dominated for the last 3 quarters. The difference this time was it was the Cowboys doing the dominating, getting that early turnover, and then embarrassing the home team.

And every Cowboys fan had to love how Lincoln Field became quiet, and then empty in the 3rd quarter. The place was a morgue when Folk kicked the field goal. A bunch of empty green seats watched the ball sail between the uprights into the net. It was beautiful.

Thank you Cowboys for delivering a big win.

Couple of other thoughts:

• McNabb just doesn't move anymore. On one sack, it looked like he gave up. I believe it was DeMarcus Ware who came around the tackle and tackled him by his foot. Ware was laying belly down on the ground and grabbed his foot and twisted him down. I think every other QB in the league would have simply lifted it up and hopped away. Instead, McNabb went down. Sure not the McNabb of old who could run around forever and burn the secondary.


• I didn't even know Brian Dawkins was playing until the 4th quarter. For a guy who is the face of that defense, I didn't recall his name being called at all during the game until he deflected a pass at the end of the game. Sure he was coming back from injury but not hearing his name all game is a great sign.


• The Cowboys offensive line may have played their best game yet. One false start penalty. Just one. Blitzes were picked up. No sacks and Romo had plenty of time.


• It would have been nice to see Witten score after running down field without a helmet. That was a vicious hit he took. If there were any fans left at the game, I bet they were disappointed he wasn't hurt on the play.


• Nice to see Newman and Henry on the field together. The health of the corners is huge for this team. Reeves has done a good job filling in, but these need their starters out there with big games coming against the Giants, Packers, and Lions.


• It is the Lions game that scares me the most. They have the Cowboys' number. Plus, they are playing some good football. Shocking to see the thrashing they gave the Broncos yesterday.


• I am glad the hype of the Pats/Colts game is over. Next hype game will by the Cowboys/Giants for supremacy of the NFC East, followed by the Thanksgiving Day game between the Packers and Lions for NFC North supremacy, and then the Packers/Cowboys game a week later for NFC supremacy. Yep, it seems everything in the league nowadays is for "supremacy".
• Tried just before the game to get a bet on with Al. Guess he didn't get the text. I would have tried the Blonde but she still hasn't paid off the bet from two years ago.


• Did I mention how nice it was to see all those Iggle fans leaving in the 3rd quarter, turning their backs on their team?

I have the game on DVR. I may watch it again tonight.