By Kevin Noonan
PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Eagles jumped back into the NFC East race by jumping all over the Dallas Cowboys, rolling to a 34-7 victory on Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
Running back LeSean McCoy led the Eagles' offense, rushing for a career-high 180 yards on 30 carries, including two touchdowns. Quarterback Michael Vick completed 21 of 28 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns.
Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo completed 18 of 35 passes for 203 yards, one touchdown and one interception, and running back DeMarco Murray - who rushed for 253 yards last week against St. Louis - had 74 yards on eight carries.
The Eagles (3-4) took the opening kickoff and put together perhaps their best drive of the season, marching 79 yards in eight plays, which included a 24-yard pass to wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, a 21-yard run by McCoy and a 15-yard run by Vick before Maclin scored on a 12-yard screen pass with 10:41 left in the opening period.
The Eagles defense did its part, stopping the Cowboys (3-4) cold thanks to a couple of sacks by end Jason Babin and tackle Trevor Laws. The Eagles got the ball back on their 10 and this drive was even more impressive than their first one - the Eagles moved 90 yards in seven plays and a 34-yard run by McCoy put the ball on the Dallas 2-yard line. McCoy scored over the right side to make it 14-0 with 2:40 left in the first quarter.
The Eagles' steamroller kept chugging along early in the second quarter, after cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha intercepted a pass from Romo on the Eagles' 33. The big play of this drive was a 20-yard pass from Vick to wide receiver Jason Avant to put the ball on the Dallas 9. On the next play, Vick found tight end Brent Celek in the back of the end zone and the Eagles led the stunned Cowboys 21-0.
And the Eagles weren't finishing tormenting their long-time divisional rival, as another long drive - this one started at the Eagles 13 - ended with another score. Once again big plays were the key, as Vick hit Avant for 18 yards, Celek for 22 yards and Avant again for 24, which moved the ball to the Cowboys 6-yard line at the two-minute warning. The Dallas defense stiffened and the Eagles had to settle for Alex Henery's 23-yard field goal, which made it 24-0 at halftime.
The Eagles rolled up 324 yards of total offense in the first half against a Dallas defense that was giving up an average of 300.5 yards per game. Philadelphia kept pouring it on in the second half. The Eagles' defense stopped the Cowboys again and their offense moved the ball enough to set up another Henery field goal, this time from 26 yards, for a 27-0 lead.
The Eagles made it 34-0 on McCoy's 13-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter, and then the Cowboys got a little redemption when Romo hooked up with wide receiver Laurent Robinson on a 70-yard bomb with 12:44 left to play.
