Kyle Orton throws interception in final minutes as Eagles beat Cowboys to win ...

EAGLES 24 COWBOYS 22

ARLINGTON Tex. Sometimes you really have to feel for the Cowboys.

On a night when they needed Kyle Orton to be Clint Longley he ended up being . . . Tony Romo.

The backup quarterback threw the ball as well as Romo could have he was comfortable in the offense. Like Romo he made big plays he provided leadership. But with a chance to finish what Romo out due to back surgery had started when he saved the season against the Redskins Orton repeated

what Romo has done so many times. His late interception his second of the game allowed the Eagles to escape with a 24 22 win another familiar futile finish to a third straight Cowboys season.

The Eagles (10 6) went from worst to first in the NFC East and will host the Saints at Lincoln Financial Saturday night. They sealed the deal when Brian Boykin came up with a ball that Orton threw behind Miles Austin at the Dallas 40 with 1 43 left and the game winning field goal within sight. Like the Redskins and Giants before them the prior two years they denied the Cowboys (8 8) the playoffs in a winner take all game.

Everybody puts in a lot throughout the season. This was my chance to contribute Orton said in front of his locker. We had a chance to win the game. We had momentum and I m disappointed.

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images Nick Foles has been a godsend for the Eagles leading them to the playoffs a year after they finished last in the division.

Orton the man the Broncos benched for Tim Tebow in 2011 would have gone down in Cowboys lore had he pulled it off. He came close to tying the game with 3 50 left when he led the Cowboys 80 yards on six plays and on fourth and 8 from the Philly 30 threw a strike to Dez

Bryant on a slant pattern. Bryant broke away from safety Patrick Chung and took it the rest of the way. Bryant was also the target on the two point conversion but was well covered and

Orton s pass fell short and incomplete.

When the Cowboys 32nd ranked defense which played one of its better game forced a punt Orton had another chance from the Dallas 32. The interception came on the first play.

PHOTOS NFL PLAYOFFS SET AS CHARGERS BARELY MAKE AFC BRACKET PACKERS THRILLER WINS NFC NORTH

I just threw a bad pass said Orton who finished 30 for 46 for 358 yards with a pair of TDs. Miles ran a great route same play we scored on before went to Miles this time and just threw it behind him. The guy made a nice catch on the ball. I just missed it.

Like I said we hit it on the touchdown to Dez. But everybody fought hard and battled throughout the game. We missed a few opportunities throughout the game interceptions three turnovers and kicked some field goals when we had a chance to score touchowns. We moved the ball pretty well but didn t cash in like we needed to.

Tony Gutierrez/AP Eagles running back Bryce Brown finds the end zone for a touchdown in the second half.

The Eagles never trailed in the game after scoring the first 10 points helped by DeMarco Murray s first lost fumble of the year on the Cowboys opening drive.

Nick Foles threw for a pair of first half touchdowns and Bryce Brown scored what proved to be the game winning touchdown on a 6 yard run with 6 09 left extending the lead to 24 16.

Chip Kelly s offense set a team record for yards and TDs in a season while LeSean McCoy set the Eagles single season rushing record to become the first Eagle in 64 years to lead the league in rushing.

But at the end of the night it almost seemed to be more about what the Cowboys weren t able to do as usual.

I thought Kyle played really well said coach Jason Garrett. Based on the whole body of work I thought he did a heck of a job. He had a great week of practice. He was prepared was confident the guys responded to him and he made a ton of plays over and over and over again. At the end he gave us a hell of a chance to win this game.

All in all he handled the situation really well not having played all year long. That s the kind of guy he is that s the kind of pro he is. We re lucky to have him.

Jerry Jones who will likely bring Garrett back for another season concurred even if the frustration is building up.

They never get easy to take the owner said. I saw good things. I saw plus things out there with our team. I liked the way we competed against a good team with our backup quarterback stepping in and playing like a starter.

In the end that was the problem.

Articles Source here