Bell: Cowboys forced to play catch-up with Eagles

ARLINGTON, Texas — Maybe the drubbing at the Big Circus Tent on Turkey Day won't definitively determine the NFC East title this season.

Maybe that happens in 17 days at The Linc.

Yet with a convincing 33-10 victory, the Philadelphia Eagles sure showed the Dallas Cowboys exactly where they stand if they think they are going to unseat the reigning division champs.

The Cowboys have a lot of catching up to do — in more ways than one.

There was none of that on Thursday.

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Not after the fast-acting Eagles ripped off 80- and 88-yard touchdown drives on their first two possessions – using just 5 minutes, 6 seconds on the clock – to set the tone.

So the halftime act was a rapper named Pitbull?

How fitting. The Eagles (9-3) attacked the sleep-walking Cowboys like a pack of pit bulls.

Or like Hitchcock's scary birds.

"Our guys came ready to play, played with great energy," Eagles coach Chip Kelly said afterward with his customary quick tempo. "We were excited about playing. We knew that it was a non-traditional week. We had nothing to do with the schedule, and if you tell us when to play, we're going to play."

This quick start didn't begin with the opening coin toss. Kelly saw something in his team on Sunday, when hours after the Eagles put a licking on the Titans, several players were roaming around the team's NovaCare complex on Sunday night, getting rehab and doing recovery protocols.

Coaches had started working on Dallas before the Tennessee drubbing, so this whole idea of getting a jump played out all over the place.

The Cowboys — down 14-zip before somebody, somewhere could pass the cranberry sauce — were no match for that.

It was something like a football version of the classic tortoise vs. hare matchup, given the contrasting styles in play. It was Kelly's fast-break football pitted against a refashioned Dallas plan under Jason Garrett that grinds and pounds behind NFL rushing leader DeMarco Murray and the brutish O-line.

The hare won.

This not only was demonstrated with the grand totals — like the 464 total yards, LeSean McCoy's 159 rushing yards and Mark Sanchez's zero picks — but also with subtle twists that exposed an improving Dallas defense as a unit with much more progress needed to become a championship unit.

Early in the second quarter, the Cowboys defense finally made a big play when Tyrone Crawford blasted Sanchez, filling in for injured starter Nick Foles. Even though the Eagles recovered the pop-up fumble, they faced second-and-19. And suddenly the body language of Dallas screamed giddy.

Boom. The Eagles used a quick snap. Sanchez zipped a quick pass to Jeremy Maclin out wide. Maclin used a quick move to dart past a defender. He cut across the field for 59 yards, quickly, to set up the first of Cody Parkey's four field goals.

The lesson: Do not take a breath between snaps, or risk getting burned. Quickly.

The Cowboys (8-4) have been in a few holes this season, yet have been so resilient in rallying while sticking to their newfound philosophy of running the offense through Murray.

They trailed 21-0 at St. Louis in Week 3, and won 34-31 on a day Murray had 24 carries.

They fell behind 10-0 at Seattle in Week 6, and won 30-23 with Murray logging 29 rushes.

Last Sunday night, they were down 21-10 and won 31-28. Murray finished with 24 carries.

On Thursday, they also opted not to abandon the running game.

But it didn't work this time.

That's because the Eagles defense had its best game of the season, with the plan starting by keeping Murray (20 rushes, 73 yards, 3.7 per carry) in check. It was just the second time in 12 games that Murray rushed for fewer than 100 yards.

"The key is not letting DeMarco get those long runs, which we did a good job of," said Eagles linebacker Connor Barwin.

Murray's longest run was nine yards.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia's active defensive line made life miserable on Tony Romo, who had his lowest-rated game of the season (53.7), was picked off twice and sacked four times.

Romo had none of the time he had during the comeback job against the Giants, with the internal clocks of the Eagles rushers dialed in to disrupt timing and close off the spaces where he could spin and create time in the pocket.

Yet perhaps time affected Romo in another regard.

It was Thursday. Typically, that's the day that Romo has returned to the practice field during the week as he's nursed and rested his back, finding the rhythm for of his most efficient seasons. Entering the game, Romo had a sparkling 21-3 TD-to-INT ratio since Week 1, when he threw three picks against the 49ers. His consistency was overshadowed by Murray's record-breaking brilliance.

But this time, Romo was playing rather than practicing on Thursday.

Not good. He knows.

"We needed to be better," Romo said.

This was accentuated on third downs. Dallas entered the game converting on 50% of its third downs, the second-best rate in the league. But on Thursday, Romo's typical practice day, they were 4-for-12 on third downs, with the low-lights including several downright ugly throws.

The good thing for the Cowboys — who have lost three straight at home and are undefeated on the road this season — is that there is still time.

The bad news is that the hare is way ahead — and giving no signs of slowing down.

Follow Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.