From: dwelch@mpd.tandem.com (Dan Welch)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro
Subject: Cowboys thrash Eagles 34-10
Date: 11 Jan 93 19:26:42 GMT
Organization: Tandem Computers (MPD) Austin, TX

Wow!  I couldn't have dreamed up a better game than this one.  The Cowboys
stood tall and beat the Eagles offensively, defensively, and on special
teams.  They served notice that not only was their NFC East title well
deserved, but also that they have shaken off all their monkeys and are
going to be a team, maybe *the* team, to be reckoned with for many years
to come.

Even a 24 point victory didn't show the dominance.  The Cowboys lost another
touchdown or field goal on an Emmitt Smith fumble that wasn't (more on that
later), and gave the Eagles a consolation prize touchdown at the end of the
game.  The Eagles' only legitimite score came on their opening drive, and
even that was given to them by an offsides call against Ike Holt, when
the Eagles had already punted the ball away.  Considering that Cunningham
was running for his life when he threw the touchdown, narrowly avoiding
his sixth sack, the game could have very easily have been a shutout.

But for 57 minutes, the Eagles were tossed all over the field.  Randall
was sacked five times, had two passed knocked down, and was harassed all
day long.  He finished 17-30 for 160 yards, one touchdown and no INTs,
but 70 of those yards and six of those completions (along with the TD)
came in the final two minutes when the Cowboy defense was barely paying
attention.  Randall only had 22 yards rushing, but that was ten more
than the Eagle star from last week, Heath Sherman.  Walker lead them with
6 carries for for 29 yards, all in the first quarter (in fact, all in the
first drive, I think).  The Eagles totaled 63 yards on the ground.

The Cowboys offense fared no better for the first 27 minutes.  After the
initial touchdown drive, they got zip for three or four drives, three
plays and out.  Aikman in particular started off shaky, completing only
three of his first ten attempts.  Then he hit Alvin Harper on the right
side for 41 yards (Harper's only catch of the day, incidently), and a
few plays later, the Cowboys were on top 14-3.  They never looked back
from there, as the offense starting clicking in the second half.  Aikman
hit 12 of his last 15.  Aikman really should have had about forty more
yards passing, but Eric Allen mugged Alvin Harper (who very nearly caught
it anyway) and got flagged for interference.  Emmitt got 69 of his 114
yards in the third quarter, and sat out the fourth almost entirely, only
running once for five yards.

As I'm sure most of you have seen, in the second and third quarters
Dallas outgained Philly 227-10, and outscored them 20-0.  Yet it was
really the third quarter where they took the game for good.  Philly
was limited to an incredible -25 yards of offense in the third quarter.
The Cowboys, in contrast, looked unstoppable.  When Emmitt fumbled,
I was almost happy, because it gave me a chance to see Cunningham
get pounded for three more downs.  Sure enough, three plays and a
sack later, the Eagles were punting again.

Now back to that fumble.  I don't know how it was called a fumble,
and why the announcers never mentioned it, or nobody on the Cowboys
sideline complained -- maybe the game was already enough in hand.
Emmitt is knocked down, falls on his back, and the ball pops loose
as a result of the impact.  I always thought that once the runner
hits the ground, he's down, but apparently not.  It wasn't as if
he merely fell -- he was knocked down, hard.

On the whole, it was a pretty mistake-free game.  The Eagles fumbled
four times, losing two.  One went for a field goal, and the other they
got back a few plays later on the Cowboys' only turnover.  Mistakes
were not really a factor in the game -- it was simply one team coming
out and dominating.  The Cowboys have proven that they can play and
beat the best teams in the league.  The last stepping stone they have
to reach is the Super Bowl; we'll see about that next week.

Plays of the game:  defensively, Jim Jeffcoat had the most outstanding,
a fifteen-yard solo sack of Cunningham on 3-and-10 that knocked the
Eagles out of field goal range on their opening fourth quarter drive.
A close second was Charles Haley, pursuing Cunningham, and reaching
up with his left hand to bat away the pass while running full out.

Offensively, of course, it goes to the main man, Emmitt Smith, for his
23-yard touchdown run, a beautiful piece of running by him and blocking
by the line and the wide receivers.  Second place was Aikman's pass to
Irvin on the nine-minute fourth quarter drive.  What a beautiful throw.

Special teams goes to Kelvin Martin and Kenny Gant, Martin for his 45
yard return of the Eagles first kickoff and Gant for his huge whack
on Vai Sikahema in punt coverage.

Daniel Welch
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro