Philadelphia outlasts Dallas in yet another primetime meeting of NFC East
Hey, NFC East: we love you, we do, but come on. Your games have, for the most part, reached the status of high-school cafeteria lunches: inescapable and indigestible.
Once again, the NFC East took over Sunday Night Football. And once again, we have no idea whether the Dallas Cowboys or Philadelphia Eagles are any good, because all they did was beat up on each other in ways that veered from exhilarating to cringeworthy, the same way they and the Giants do pretty much any time they show up on Sunday night. Philadelphia won 33-27 in overtime, but they looked awfully ugly doing so.
It’s obvious why the NFL and NBC love the NFC East: Philly and New York are major media markets, and every bandwagon fan on Earth gravitates to Dallas. That’s why NFC East teams have filled 7 of the 18 available slots on Sunday Night Football despite the fact that, you know, none of them are much good.
Oh, sure, there were high points. Dez Bryant showed why his injury-related absence hurt the Cowboys so badly in the season’s first half, reeling in a genius-level touchdown. Cole Beasley became an instant Texas folk hero, catching two touchdowns as part of his 112 yards. Philadelphia’s Jordan Hicks played far beyond his rookie status, making 11 tackles and snagging a key pick-six, while teammate DeMarco Murray has finally begun showing signs of his 2014 level of play. Dan Bailey booted Dallas into overtime with a bank-shot field goal as time expired. Quarterbacks Matt Cassell and Sam Bradford played well enough to keep their teams in the game but not well enough to put it away. Jordan Matthews scampered 41 yards for the decisive, game-winning touchdown in overtime, denying Dallas a chance even to touch the ball in the extra frame.
This game was like seeing a photograph of a bug without a penny nearby for scale. You have no idea how big the bug is, and you have no idea whether exceptional plays are the result of a talented offense or a below-competent defense. Nine weeks in, and we still have no idea to make of the 4-4 Philadelphia Eagles. Are they a good team with a tendency to stumble, or a weak team with occasional flashes of brilliance? We don’t know, and chances are they don’t either.
On the other side of the ball, Dallas has shown the effects of missing one of the game’s best quarterbacks. Dallas has now lost six straight, and you can bet that wouldn’t be the case were Tony Romo still in the lineup. Romo is scheduled to return in a couple weeks, and it’s a testament to the weakness of this division that Dallas (2-6) could go winless in October and still have a reasonable chance of reaching the playoffs. This division, man. This division.
Next week, Dallas travels to Tampa Bay, while Philadelphia welcomes in Miami. Both are winnable games. Better news for the rest of America? Barring flexes, the NFC East doesn’t show up on Sunday nights for the rest of the year.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter.
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