ARLINGTON, Texas — With all due respect to the Philadelphia Eagles, the biggest thing Jason Garrett had to overcome Sunday night was his own defensive coordinator. Rob Ryan, son of the famous Buddy, did his best to breathe life into an Eagles offense that is simply trying to make it through the season.
For the second consecutive game at Cowboys Stadium, a rookie quarterback with Texas roots carved up Ryan's unit and had the Eagles on the verge of their fourth win of the season. Fortunately for Garrett, the Eagles' defense was just as pitiful as his, and the Cowboys (6-6) escaped with a 38-33 win that kept their faint playoff hopes alive.
And as long as Tony Romo can keep going 10-for-10 for 169 yards and three touchdowns in the second half, the Cowboys will have a fighting chance. Ryan may try to hang his hat on Morris Claiborne's 50-yard fumble return for a touchdown that gave the Cowboys a 38-27 lead late in the fourth quarter, but there's still no excuse for giving up 423 yards to an offense that was missing its starting quarterback, running back and top wide receiver. Rookie Bryce Brown, taken in the seventh round out of Kansas State, gashed the Cowboys for 169 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. And he was running behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league.
"That runner is good," said Garrett. "He's had a good couple of weeks running it, and we just didn't defend it well enough. The inside runs, outside runs. And over the course of the game, I thought we made a couple of adjustments to slow those things down. Obviously, we have to defend the run better."
Trailing 31-27 with four minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Eagles were on the move. But a week after losing two fumbles in a loss to the Panthers, Brown coughed up the ball at midfield and Claiborne returned it for the touchdown. But if rookies such as Foles and Brown can overwhelm this Cowboys defense, just think what Bengals second-year quarterback Andy Dalton might do to it next Sunday.
As they nearly always do at home, the Cowboys fell behind 14-3 in the first half. They squandered a chance to have the ball at the Eagles' 1-yard line early in the second quarter because right tackle Doug Free was called for holding. The penalty offset a pass interference call on Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in the end zone, and Dallas had to settle for a field goal on the drive.
And Garrett even screwed up while his team was scoring a touchdown just before the half. He inexplicably called a timeout before DeMarco Murray's 1-yard plunge with 41 seconds. He left just enough time for Foles to move the Eagles into field-goal position and take a 17-10 lead at the half. It's not often that Andy Reid wins the clock management battle, but he found an easy mark in Garrett.
The Cowboys were able to climb back in the game, in part because they finally had the threat of a running game. Murray missed six games with a sprained left foot and the Cowboys had hinted that he would be limited against the Eagles. Instead, he carried the ball 23 times for 83 yards and caught all four of the passes thrown his direction. Murray told FOXSportsSouthwest.com after the game that he didn't feel right Thursday and Friday after practice, but that he suddenly was confident he could go while resting Saturday. He gained 14 and 8 yards on his first two carries, and his presence seemed to energize this much-maligned offensive line. He came off the field at one point and visited with athletic trainer Britt Brown, but he was back on the field the next series. It was striking to see how much more efficient the passing game was with the Eagles having to respect the run.
"We kind of wanted to watch him about not only how his foot was doing, but also about his conditioning," Garrett said of Murray. "He's just a damn good football player, he really is. It's fun to have him back and it made a real difference tonight."
It also helped that Dez Bryant came alive with five catches for 84 yards in the second half. The Eagles had use a safety over the top to slow him down in the first half, so Romo spent much of the half throwing underneath to Jason Witten. On the first possession of the third quarter, Romo escaped pressure and found Bryant for a 23-yard touchdown to tie the score at 17. And when the Eagles took a 27-24 lead in the fourth quarter, Bryant beat Rodgers-Cromartie off the line of scrimmage and caught a 35-yard pass down the sideline before taking a shot from Eagles safety Kurt Coleman. The drive ended with Bryant catching the ball in the flat and basically carrying Rodgers-Cromartie into the end zone. After the play, Romo approached Bryant on the sideline.
"He told me that great stuff can happen when we're on the same page," Bryant told FOXSportsSouthwest.com. "Earning that respect has been huge for me. It's still a process, but we've taken some steps in the right direction."
In his third year, Bryant has emerged as the best receiver on the team. And the Eagles didn't have any answers for him in the second half.
Unfortunately for the Cowboys, they've run out of games against the Eagles this season. It's a safe bet the Bengals defense won't be quite as forgiving.
