Try as they might, the Dallas Cowboys just could not contain the Philadelphia Eagles explosive offense. Dallas was able to stay competitive through three quarters, but in the end it was too much DeSean Jackson, and too much LeSean McCoy, that propelled the Eagles to a 30-27 win at Cowboys Stadium.
DeSean Jackson torched the Cowboys defense for 210 yards and a touchdown on only four receptions. His 91-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter broke a 20-20 tie, and the Cowboys never recovered. Jon Kitna promptly threw an interception when Roy Williams slipped on a route and the Eagles converted that for a field goal that ultimately proved to be enough for a win. Dallas tried to make for an interesting ending when Jason Witten caught a touchdown with just over four minutes left to pull within three points, but LeSean McCoy was able to run out the clock. McCoy dominated the Cowboys rush defense in the second half and finished the game with 149 yards on 16 rushes.
The Cowboys managed to control the Eagles offense for good parts of the game, except for some notable exceptions. Primarily on the first play of the game when DeSean Jackson caught a 60-yard bomb to set up an Eagles touchdown. The Cowboys defense clamped down for a while, knocking quarterback Michael Vick around on multiple occasions. Then LeSean McCoy started to get loose and the Cowboys finally succumbed to a more potent offense.
The Cowboys offense couldn't find enough playmakers to match the Eagles. Jason Witten was the workhorse with seven catches for 69 yards and two touchdowns. Outside of that, the Cowboys struggled. The running game could never get going, the biggest play in that area was a Miles Austin reverse for 26 yards. Felix Jones had one big play on a screen pass, but the Cowboys offense didn't take many shots downfield. Jon Kitna had a very high completion percentage (25/34), but only averaged 6.9 yards per attempt.
The positive news is that the Cowboys were competitive and they tried to come back and win the game. The bad news is that for all the good Jason Garrett has done for this team, they still have holes, they still have work to do. They've raised their own expectations and they've raised ours, but they're not quite ready to meet them yet.