Tuesday, November 3, 1998

Cowboys defeat Eagles

By David Moore

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

PHILADELPHIA - It wasn't vintage Troy Aikman.

It didn't matter. The Philadelphia Eagles are so bad and Deion Sanders is so good that Aikman was afforded the opportunity to ease back into action without a challenge.

The Cowboys' 34-0 victory over Philadelphia on Monday night at Veterans Stadium was methodically thorough. Dallas wrapped its hands around the Eagles' throats from the start and never let go.

In other words, the Cowboys (5-3) treated Philadelphia as shabbily as they have everyone else in the NFC East. Dallas has run off four consecutive wins against the division, outscoring its not-so-worthy opponents, 134-27.

It gets harder for the Cowboys the rest of the way, but not by much. Five of the seven teams left on the Dallas schedule lost Sunday.

Eight games remain. Only one of those games Minnesota on Thanksgiving Day is against a team above .500.

Talk of the the playoffs began to creep into the conversation after the game.

"I'd be disappointed if we weren't thinking about that," Cowboys coach Chan Gailey said. "We have a lot of work to do, but we should be thinking about the things we're working towards."

The focus entering Monday's game was Aikman's return. The quarterback hadn't played since fracturing his collarbone against Denver in the second week of the season. Veterans Stadium, where Aikman was 2-5 for his career, never had been a friendly environment.

Aikman shrugged off that albatross, along with an 0-4 record in his first game back from a prolonged layoff. The offense was sluggish at times under his direction. But he did lead the team on 14-play, 47-yard field goal drive to open the game. He did find Michael Irvin with a 10-yard touchdown pass over Bobby Taylor in the corner of the end zone near the end of the first quarter to lift the Cowboys to a 10-0 lead.

Aikman completed 14-of-26 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns. The Eagles were so inept, he was able to retire to the sideline for the final 10:41 and turn over the keys to the offense to Mike Quinn.

"Anytime you take a guy who has won three Super Bowls off the field, you lose something, and that's not taking anything away from Jason (Garrett)," Gailey said. "But there's no question having him back makes a difference."

Aikman's return was the most anticipated aspect of the game. But the most spectacular play and the one that broke this game wide-open belonged to Sanders.

Sanders worked his magic the game after Aikman was hurt. His performance against the New York Giants, in which he had a punt return and an interception return for touchdowns, lifted the Cowboys to a 31-7 victory.

Sanders was there again in the Monday night spotlight to welcome Aikman back. His 69-yard punt return in the final two minutes of the first half staked Dallas to a 17-0 lead. Since Philadelphia has scored more than than 17 points only once all season, it effectively put the game out of reach and allowed Aikman to work on his game without threat of reprisal in the second half.

For good measure, Sanders came up with his fourth interception early in the final period. Emmitt Smith, who carried the ball 23 times for 101 yards, scored on a nifty 15-yard run to complete the scoring.

"I'd like to schedule more Monday night games," said Gailey, who pointed to Sanders' punt return and Kavika Pittman's first-quarter fumble recovery which led to Irvin's touchdown as the big plays of the game.

This game turned out to be a far cry from what happened the last time these two teams met on Monday Night Football. In that 1997 game, the Eagles had a chance to win on a field goal in the final seconds, only to have holder Tom Hutton botch the snap.

The Eagles maintain they haven't been the same. Their 6-15-1 record since that incident indicates that's true.

The league's worst offense lived down to its reputation once again. The shutout was the second of the season for Philadelphia, and the first for the Dallas defense since it put the clamps on New York, 27-0, on Sept. 8, 1996.

Philadelphia quarterback Rodney Peete was the lucky one. He got to leave late in the first quarter with a lacerated right index finger. The pain inflicted on his replacement, Bobby Hoying, was much worse.

Hoying completed 13-of-39 passes for 124 yards and two interceptions.

"Our guys played extremely hard," Gailey said. "We mixed our coverages.

"Everything worked out."

(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.

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