10 Eagles players who crushed the Cowboys
Legends are made when the Eagles play the Cowboys. There’s something special about the two games per year when these long-time rivals clash, and sometimes it doesn’t even matter what you do the rest of the year as long as you shine against Dallas.With Eagles-Cowboys coming up Sunday night at the Linc, we hit the archives to find the Eagles’ 10 greatest Cowboys killers.It wasn’t easy to narrow it down, but the 10 we selected - listed here in alphabetical order - all enjoyed tremendous success over the years against the Eagles’ biggest enemy.Honorable mentions go to Zach Ertz (63 catches, most ever by an opposing tight end), Brent Celek (51 catches, 4th-most by a TE), Pete Retzlaff (19.8 yards per catch, 5th-highest vs. Dallas), Lito Sheppard (7 INTs, 2 100-yard pick 6’s), Donovan McNabb (26 TDs, 5th-most), Jeremiah Trotter (2 pick 6’s), Clyde Simmons (13 1/2 sacks, 5th-most) and Randall Cunningham (7.4 rushing average, highest ever).
Considering that Buck’s knees never really allowed him to be a full-time player, he had remarkable success against Dallas. Buck had six games against Dallas with at least five carries and averaged 4.7 yards or higher in all six, including a 13-for-115 game in 2003 where he had a career-high 144 scrimmage yards. Buck’s 5.7 career average against the Cowboys is the highest ever among RBs with at least 50 career carries - just ahead of Hall of Famers Franco Harris’s 5.4.
Carmichael made a career out of making big plays against the Cowboys, and today, nearly four decades after he retired, the newly minted Hall of Famer still has the most catches ever against Dallas and the 2nd-most yards and touchdowns. Carmichael caught 63 passes for 992 yards against Dallas. The 63 catches is one more than long-time Cardinal Mel Gray, and the 11 TDs are three fewer than Gray. He also trails only Gray in yards. Oddly, Carmichael finished his career with Dallas, playing two games in 1984.
Dawk did the most impressive thing against the Cowboys. He beat them more than any other player in NFL history. Dawk was a part of 17 wins over the Cowboys - all as a member of the Eagles. No player in NFL history has participated in as many wins over the Cowboys. Dawk had four INTs and 2 1/2 sacks and four forced fumbles vs. Dallas, and the Eagles went 17-8 against Dallas with Dawk in uniform. Darrell Green and David Akers have the next-most wins against Dallas (16 each).
Harmon only played four healthy seasons in the NFL and faced the Cowboys just eight times, but the perennially under-rated interior lineman recorded eight sacks in those eight games, most ever by an opposing defensive tackle. The 49ers’ Dana Stubblefield is second with 6 1/2 and one-time Eagle Rhett Hall third with 4 1/2. Just over 20 percent of Harmon’s 39 1/2 career sacks came against the Eagles’ biggest rival.
Nobody in history picked off the Cowboys more than Wes. He recorded nine career interceptions against Dallas, tied with safety Terry Kinard of the Giants for most ever. Lito Sheppard ranks second with eight and Randy Logan is next with seven. Wes victimized Troy Aikman, Gary Hogeboom and Steve Pelluer twice each, Danny White once and running backs James Jones and Tony Dorsett once each on trick plays. Wes finished his career with 30 INTs, so 30 percent of them came against Dallas.
Shady had games of 185, 159, 149 and 131 yards against the Cowboys and career numbers of 918 yards and a 5.3 average in 10 games against Dallas. Among RBs with at least 100 career carries against the Cowboys, only Jim Brown has a higher average than Shady - 5.27 to 5.25. Only Shady and Walter Payton have had four career games with at least 130 yards against Dallas, and only Shady, Brown, Payton and John Riggins have had two 150-yard games. Among running backs who faced the Cowboys at least five times, only Payton (115) and Brown (105) have averaged more yards per game than McCoy (92).
It wasn’t just the 201-yard game in 2000. Staley is 6th all-time with 840 rushing yards against Dallas and also 6th with 1,193 scrimmage yards. His 4.9 rushing average is 4th-best ever against the Cowboys (minimum 100 carries), behind Brown, McCoy and Payton. Duce had three 100-yard games against the Cowboys plus a 93 and a 78. His 201 yards in the Pickle Juice game in the 2000 opener remains tied for the 4th-most ever against Dallas and 2nd-most ever by an opposing back in Dallas, behind Jim Brown’s 232 for the Browns in 1963.
Wentz’s 99.4 passer rating is highest ever by an NFC East quarterback with at least 50 career passes against the Cowboys and it’s 11th-highest among all QBs to throw at least 100 career passes against Dallas. He’s also 5th-most accurate at 68 percent. Despite facing Dallas only seven times, his 12 touchdown passes are already 16th-most. Six more get him in the all-time top-10. Wentz has had a passer rating of at least 90 in six of seven starts against Dallas and has 12 TDs to just two INTs.
Westbrook’s rushing numbers against Dallas were impressive, but his receiving and scrimmage numbers are incredible. He had seven 100-yard scrimmage games against Dallas, and only Tiki Barber, Ottis Anderson and Jim Brown had more. His 67 catches are 9th-most ever against Dallas (3rd-most by a RB), and his 1,288 scrimmage yards are 4th-most ever against Dallas by an opposing running back. His seven rushing TDs are 5th-most vs. the Cowboys, and his nine total TDs are second-most by a running back - one fewer than Jim Brown and John Riggins.
The first-ballot Hall of Famer recorded 17 1/2 sacks against the Cowboys, and only Michael Strahan has more (18). But White averaged 0.83 sacks per game against Dallas, higher than Strahan’s 0.72 and highest among any player that faced Dallas at least five times. White had four multi-sack games against the Cowboys. Nobody else has had more than two. The amazing thing is that White's 17 1/2 sacks are the fewest he had against any division team.
