ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – Alex Henery kicked a 47-yard field goal and Philadelphia had a 3-0 lead over Dallas after the first quarter Sunday night in the game to determine the NFC East champion.
The winner gets the NFL’s final playoff spot, the No. 3 seed in the NFC, and will host New Orleans next weekend. The loser is done for the season.
Philadelphia got the field goal seven plays after DeMarco Murray’s fumble was recovered by Bradley Fletcher at the Eagles 23 to end the opening drive of the game.
This is the third season in a row the Cowboys have been in a playoffs-of-bust finale against an NFC East rival. They lost the last two on the road, at Washington and the New York Giants, and five years ago lost 44-6 at Philadelphia in the same situation.
Philadelphia is trying to win its first NFC East title since 2010.
Dallas was without quarterback Tony Romo and linebacker Sean Lee, its defensive leader.
Romo, a week after a fourth-down touchdown pass to win at Washington, had back surgery Friday and wasn’t even at the stadium. Lee missed his third straight game with a sprained neck.
LeSean McCoy will be the first Philadelphia running back since Hall of Famer Steve Van Buren in 1949 to lead the NFL in rushing. He had 28 yards on five carries in the first quarter, pushing his season total to 1,504.
Jamaal Charles, one of the Kansas City starters who didn’t play in the Chiefs’ regular season finale Sunday, was the closest to McCoy with 1,287 yards.
Dallas’ DeMarco Murray had 1,095 yards after running for 22 yards on five carries in the first quarter.
The last time Dallas made the playoffs was 2009, their first year in their $1.2 billion stadium. That meant playing the Eagles at home in consecutive weeks, winning the regular-season finale 24-0 and then winning in the NFC wild-card game 34-14 the next week.
When the two teams played Oct. 20 in Philadelphia, the Cowboys won 17-3 and were the only team to hold Chip Kelly’s high-flying offense without a touchdown this season. Lee had 11 tackles and an interception in that game,
Kyle Orton, who had thrown only 15 passes and played three games in two seasons as Romo’s backup, started and was 7-of-8 passing for 67 yards in the first quarter. He made his first NFL start in almost exactly two years.
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