Cowboys falter at home again, 33-10 to Eagles

 

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – Maybe being on the road for three of their last four games will be good for Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys.
Except they have to go to Philadelphia in about 2 1/2 weeks.
The Eagles dominated in their first Thanksgiving Day game against Dallas in 25 years, with LeSean McCoy running for 159 yards and a touchdown in a 33-10 victory Thursday that began as a matchup of NFC East co-leaders.
Dallas (8-4) lost its third consecutive home game, and all of its losses this season have been inside team owner Jerry Jones’ $1.2 billion showplace stadium.
”I’m disappointed because this was a great day … we had a great Thanksgiving Day crowd, the stage was set,” Jones said. ”But what’s different about standing here last year (when) we were beaten by Philadelphia and our playoff opportunities were gone, is we’ve got another chance to play them, and we have other games.”
Romo looked ragged in the first quick turnaround for his surgically repaired back, completing 18 of 29 passes for 199 yards with two interceptions. He was sacked four times, and didn’t throw a touchdown for the first time in 39 games.
”They made things a little bit tougher. I missed a couple of throws that I normally won’t miss,” Romo said. ”They pushed the pocket and did things that make things a little bit more challenging.”
The Eagles (9-3) opened with quick drives of 80 and 88 yards for touchdowns. They took sole possession of the division lead with four games remaining, including the rematch Dec. 14.
”We’re not into statements,” Eagles coach Chip Kelly said. ”We’ve given ourselves the opportunity to play meaningful football in December, and in this league, every week is a whole different deal, a whole different animal.”
McCoy had his fourth 100-yard game in the past seven after going without one the first five weeks and secured his fourth 1,000-yard season since 2010. He averaged 6.4 yards on 25 carries on the same field where he clinched the rushing title last season while the Eagles beat the Cowboys in a playoffs-or-bust finale.
”This really felt like last year,” McCoy said. ”It really did.”
Although his deficit to Dallas’ DeMarco Murray in the rushing race this year is probably insurmountable, McCoy outgained Murray, who was held under 100 yards for just the second time this season.
Murray finished with 73 yards and Dallas’ only touchdown on 20 carries, the last a 6-yard loss when he was dropped by Mychal Kendricks on fourth-and-1 early in the fourth quarter.
Murray had room to run at times but couldn’t break one longer than 9 yards. Romo had plenty of time to throw most of the day, but one time in the first half tossed a third-down pass to nobody in particular.
The 34-year-old quarterback essentially sat down in the pocket with nobody in position to sack him on a third-down play after Jeremy Mincey recovered McCoy’s fumble at the Philadelphia 13 on the second play of the second half.
The Cowboys had to settle for a field goal, and Philadelphia answered immediately on McCoy’s 38-yard scoring run, putting the Eagles up 30-10.
What followed was a Dallas drive doomed from the start, with Romo sacked on the first play before a 1-yard completion. There was a reprieve when a defensive holding call wiped out an interception on a bad throw, but Romo later had consecutive incompletions before Cary Williams’ picked off one that stood.
McCoy appeared to fumble again inside the 20 on the next Eagles drive. But the call was reversed on replay review, and Cody Parkey kicked his fourth field goal a few plays later.
Parkey had two field goals in the final 1:35 of the first half for a 20-7 lead. The later came after Dallas had used all three of its timeouts to preserve time, only for Cole Beasley to fumble after a short catch on the first play after getting the ball back.
”We didn’t respond as well as we needed to when we were on offense,” coach Jason Garrett said. ”For them to make stops when they’re having success offensively, we were never able to kind of keep ourselves in this game and certainly that’s a disappointment.”
Notes: The only remaining home game for Dallas is Dec. 21 against AFC South-leading Indianapolis. … Philadelphia had 464 total yards, the most against Dallas this season. … Cowboys defensive tackle Josh Brent was inactive for the second time since the end of a 10-game suspension for his intoxication manslaughter conviction. He hasn’t played since Dec. 2, 2012, six days before the drunken-driving crash that killed teammate Jerry Brown.
—
AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL