Cowboys-Eagles III: Lingering Questions

By Richie Whitt Mon., Jan. 4 2010 at 8:00 AM

What looks worse? The Cardinals' red or the 7-9 prediction?

As I said last week on 105.3 The Fan, the winner of Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles II would be the favorite entering the NFC Playoffs. No reason to alter that after Dallas' dominating 24-0 victory.

The Cowboys have a hot quarterback, a Super Bowl-caliber defense and a home game looming. They're also smart enough to throw only one pass to Roy Williams. The New Orleans Saints lost their last three games. The Minnesota Vikings lost three of their last five. The gap is gone.

Dallas should fear no one in the playoffs, regardless of where the game is played. But before we dig into Cowboys-Eagles III, a couple of leftovers from Sunday afternoon:

*With a 24-0 lead and less than five minutes remaining, why was Tony Romo in the game? Much less performing bootleg passes? Boggles the mind. It's an accomplishment that Romo took every regular-season snap. But an unecessary one.

*Do you trust kicker Shaun Suisham?

*Were you a little embarrassed to see players and coaches donning those gray NFC East Championship hats? I mean, this organization once measured success in Super Bowl banners, not divisional caps.

*As a defensive coordinator Wade Phillips gets an A-plus this year. As a head coach, his grade is still pending. I picked the Cowboys to go 10-6 and win a playoff game. He's still got to at least get them to the Super Bowl to come back, right? Or has the bar been so lowered that this is an already a successful season? I mean, of course, deserve to come back. The more we talk with owner Jerry Jones the more I'm convinced he's already made his mind up that Phillips is coming back next season.

*Seriously now, what the hell do you do with Roy Williams?

*I realize the Cowboys controlled the game, but in Saturday night's rematch can you realistically expect the Eagles to drop wide open passes at Dallas' 25, overthrow open receivers for would-be touchdowns and inexplicably fumble shotgun snaps inside the 20. I'd like to somehow give Dallas' defense credit for those plays, but I can't. You?