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Eagles offered Cowboys one gift too many

By John Smallwood

Knight-Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - How many gifts did the Eagles expect the Cowboys to turn down?

This isn't the same Dallas team that dominated the first half of this decade by winning three Super Bowls, but it's still too talented for an opponent to commit as many mistakes as the Eagles did and hope to win.

Maybe Cowboys coach Barry Switzer went a little overboard by declaring the third game of the season a "must" win, but his team certainly played as if its 1997 life was on the line Monday night.

Any one of a dozen nightmares - blown special teams coverage, stupid penalties and, of course, that fumbled snap - will wake the Eagles from a cold-sweat sleep until they take the field in two weeks against the Minnesota Vikings.

Lucky? Sure, the 'Boys were lucky.

How else can you explain Eagles punter Tommy Hutton fumbling a perfect snap from center that didn't even give free-agent kicker Chris Boniol a chance to kick a 22-yard field goal that would have beaten his former team in the closing seconds?

Good fortune definitely shined on the Cowboys when the officials missed Mike Mamula tipping a Troy Aikman pass on a fourth-down play with two minutes left that would have negated a pass interference call on Eagles defensive back Charles Dimry that kept alive Dallas's game-winning drive.

"Someone up there likes us," Switzer said after the Cowboys pulled out their miraculous, 21-20 victory. " 'The first 59 minutes, I wasn't sure, but the last minute I guess He proved He did."

Asked if it sometimes is better to be lucky than good, Switzer replied: "Why sure it is. It was a chip-shot field goal. My head was down. I look up and the next thing I know, the game is over and I'm jumping on Tony Casillas celebrating a victory."

And so Dallas gets a big game up on the Eagles in the NFC East standings.

All the momentum the Birds gained from last week's huge, last-second victory over Super Bowl champ Green Bay is gone. All the frustration the Cowboys built up from last week's loss in Arizona was erased.

"A game like this is a real character builder for the team," Cowboys defensive back Kevin Smith said. "I look for us to benefit and grow from a win like this."

For most of this game, the Cowboys looked as if they would let the Eagles finally come up with that statement victory coach Ray Rhodes has wanted.

Five times, the Cowboys marched deep into Eagles territory, but five times they settled for less-than-satisfying field goals by Richie Cunningham.

Trailing, 20-12, with 5:25 minutes left, the Cowboys were virtually booed out of Texas Stadium by the hometown crowd after they failed to punch it into the end zone on consecutive runs by Emmitt Smith and settled for Cunningham's fifth field goal.

But with the Eagles looking to burn valuable time off the clock, the Cowboys defense, which had kept the game within reach while the offense struggled, stepped up one more time.

Three runs by Eagles running back Ricky Watters produced just 9 yards, and the Birds had to punt the ball away with 2:56 left in the game.

Not only was the Dallas offense faced with trying to reach the end zone for the first time since the season-opening victory over Pittsburgh - a span of eight quarters - it would have to do it without the services of big-play receiver Michael Irvin, whose right leg had cramped up in the Texas heat.

Two incomplete passes by Aikman and a 5-yard run by Smith left the Cowboys facing a fourth-and-5 from the from their 43-yard line.

Aikman rifled a pass for Stepfret Williams that instant replays showed was deflected ever so slightly by Mamula at the line of scrimmage.

But the officials didn't notice the ball's miniscule change in trajectory, so when Dimry hit Williams a few moments before the ball arrived, a yellow flag flew in.

"I tipped the ball," Mamula said. "However, the referees didn't see it. The game should have been over at that point, but that's the way it goes sometimes."

Only for the Eagles it seems.

Given life, Dallas got a 24-yard reception from diving tight end Eric Bjornson.

One play later, Aikman, after being flushed from the pocket by a heavy rush, rolled left and rifled a pass toward Anthony Miller in the back of the end zone.

Eagles reserve defensive back Tim Watson, who was in the game because starting cornerback Troy Vincent injured his shoulder late in the first half, had a chance to knock down, perhaps even intercept, the pass, but the ball went through his hands and Miller made the catch to put Dallas up 21-20 with 51 ticks on the clock.

It was a championship-caliber drive, the kind a team must make if it expects to win a must-win game.

"It was certainly an emotional ballgame for us," said Aikman, who, after starting out 1-for-9 in passing, finished with 17 completions on 36 passes for 205 yards. "For us to get a touchdown there, when we needed it - because a lot of people probably figured we wouldn't - was a big thing for us.

"You need games like this. Last week, we struggled and lost (25-22 in overtime at Arizona). This week, we struggled, but we had a chance to win and won. We've still got some work to do, but at least we go into the bye week feeling good about this ballclub."

Which is a whole lot more than the Eagles will do.

(c) 1997, Philadelphia Daily News.

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