Friday 28 November 2014 07:44, UK
Mark Sanchez exorcised the ghost of Thanksgiving Day past as he produced a fine display to help the Philadelphia Eagles to a dominant 33-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
It was a crunch meeting between NFC East rivals locked together at the top of the division, but it was a one-sided affair from the very start when Sanchez himself dived in for a touchdown on the Eagles' opening drive.
Sanchez’s last Thanksgiving game came during his ill-fated spell at the New York Jets when he ran into his own player and lost the ball in the notorious ‘butt fumble’ incident, but this time it was a different story.
Sanchez threw for 217 yards and crucially never turned the ball over, while LeSean McCoy ran for 159 yards and a TD as he passed 1000 yards for the fourth time in five seasons. Jeremy Maclin had 100 yards receiving while the Eagles defence was dominant.
The win takes the Eagles to 9-3 and in solo first place in the division over 8-4 Dallas, with the two teams meeting again in two weeks in Philadelphia in a game that will settle the division.,Dallas need to step up big after such a below-par performance in the big game.
The Eagles came flying out of the traps and their up-tempo offence was purring early on as Philly scored on five of their six first half possessions including two touchdowns.
The visitors scored on their very first possession, which was a nine-play drive of 80 yards which finished off with quarterback Sanchez running in from two yards out.
Dallas were unable to come up with much and Sanchez struck again as he fired a 27-yard strike to rookie Jordan Matthews, who has thrived since Sanchez took over as quarterback as he caught his fifth TD pass in five games.
The Cowboys responded early in the second quarter as DeMarco Murray ran in from a yard after a drive set up by a big 38-yard reception from Dez Bryant, Dallas' only big play of the game.
Philadelphia were in charge though and the pace of their play was visibly taking its toll on the Dallas defence struggling to keep up on a short week, although they restricted the visitors to just three field goals.
The third came after Coley Beasley coughed up possession just when Dallas needed to get on the board, but they would have been relieved to have gone in just 23-7 down after a half dominated by the visitors.
Dan Bailey booted a Dallas field goal as they failed to make the most of a LeSean McCoy fumble deep in Philly territory, and Philadelphia hit back stronger with McCoy making amends by powering through a huge gap to a 38-yard rushing score.
Parkey slotted another field goal in the fourth quarter, and the Eagles defence took it from there, intercepting Romo, forcing a turnover on downs and generally hassling and blunting anything Romo and his offence tried to do.
Romo finished with 199 yards and two interceptions while Murray was restricted to his lowest yardage total of the season of just 73 while Dallas yielded a season-high 256 rushing yards to McCoy and the Eagles.
Not only the win, but the manner of the victory for the Eagles will give them great heart, especially when they’re playing with their back-up quarterback, although Nick Foles may struggle to get his spot back if Sanchez puts in many more impressive performances like this one.
